How We Stopped Loving the Bomb

President Barack Obama brought to the White House his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and re-energized the peace movement around the globe. But the nuclear powers cling to their instruments of mass murder, even though public opinion favours a global ban. Two decades after the end of the Cold War, more than 22,000 nuclear weapons are still in existence, and a catastrophe could happen any time. Nobody loves the bomb any more except, it seems, powerfully-placed defenders who won't let go and terrorists who would like to build one. But the desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons is gathering momentum. Senator Douglas Roche, a former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament and a leading authority on the subject, tells the dramatic story of the struggle now going on to end the threat of nuclear warfare and to build human security without nuclear weapons - an issue President Obama has put back at the centre of world politics.

With a Resources section listing important nuclear disarmament websites, films, and books.

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"I admire Senator Roche's courage in writing this book and I am deeply grateful because it provides both the inspiration and the tools to take up the cause."

---Senator Romeo Dallaire (from the Foreword)

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"Former Canadian Senator and statesman Douglas Roche has devoted his professional life to public service and his latest book, How We Stopped Loving the Bomb, follows in that noble tradition.

The book addresses three grave risks posed by nuclear weaponsthose from existing stockpiles, those from the proliferation of such weapons to additional States, and those from nuclear terrorism. He argues that we should respond to these challenges not simply out of fear, but out of a conviction that it is possible to construct a safer world for all without such weapons.

As he says in his book, what people want most is a reason to hope for a better future.

This book makes an eloquent and persuasive case that nuclear disarmament offers the strongest foundation for constructing such a future. He explains how a nuclear-weapon-free world is not just desirable but achievable. And he rekindles our belief in the unlimited potential of what people can achieve when they work together in the interest of humanity."

---Sergio Duarte, UN High Representative for Disarmament

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One day in the future the bomb, a nuclear weapon, will be detonated on purpose or by accident - and the world will wryly remember Canadian Doug Roche who has made his life's the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Or, one day the last nuclear stockpile will be destroyed and a thorough inspection program put in place to prevent the building of any new nuclear weapons - and the world will happily remember Doug Roche's successful life work.

We can take our choice - one or the other.

For the sake of my children and grandchildren, I sincerely hope for the second choice.

I also hope that more people will read Roche's new book, How we Stopped Loving the Bomb. In good plain English he explains the problem and the solution. Read it and become part of the solution.

---Jim Creskey, Publisher, The Hill Times and Senior Editor, Embassy

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