SAN FRANCISCO: Monks, peace activists use walk to spotlight the horrors of war

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 7/17/5 | Todd Wallack

[SmithL]

Sixty years ago this weekend, the nuclear age began.

At a top secret test site near Alamogordo, N.M., scientists successfully exploded an atomic weapon for the first time -- paving the way for a pair of nuclear bombs to be dropped on Japan a month later to end World War II.

On Saturday, a small band of Zen monks and peace activists began a 1,600- mile walk from San Francisco to the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico to remind the world of the horrors of nuclear war and to help ensure the weapons are never used again.

Some of the monks traveled from Japan aboard the Nippon Maru ship, carrying a lantern that was lit from a famous peace flame in Japan. The flame, in turn, was originally kindled from the embers of Hiroshima, after it was hit by a nuclear bomb in August 1945.

Kerrie Ann Garlick, 34, a peace activist from Melbourne, Australia, said she was one of about two dozen people who would make the entire journey. But she said hundreds more volunteers would walk short sections of the route. "We will never forget'' Hiroshima, she said. "That's why we walk."

The 25-day walk also comes at a time when many peace activists have been more focused on conventional violence and warfare, especially in the Middle East. With the end of the Cold War, most Americans have also been more concerned about the possibility of terrorism than a nuclear war.

[SmithL]

Good, now if we can get ALL of these whackos to take a hike, the world WILL be a better place.

[dts32041]

I have an idea start your walk in down town peking, or maybe downtown mecca.

[EagleUSA]

Join the campaign to clean out San Francisco's whackos, and its city government. And restore it to the city it once was -- which had some respect.

[Ichneumon]

I guess the days are gone when monks would set themselves on fire to protest a war:

This younger generation just doesn't have the same level of dedication, I guess.

[truth_seeker]

The 2 nukes which ended WWII in the Pacific were a great act of compassion, aimed at SAVING human lives.

Truman looked carefully at several estimates of deaths and injuries, from other methods to fight this war.

Nuclear blasts saved lives; Japanese and America.

Facts like this cannot penetrate the skulls of indoctrinated anti-war leftists. But they remain facts, nonetheless.

[cmsgop]

Let me get those Monk's a Tall ,Cool, Refreshing Cup of WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

[FlingWingFlyer]

Aren't these the same "monk" jugheads that financed the Clinton/Gore campaign?