Letter to the Italian Government regarding the Steadfast Noon nuclear exercise

Dear Minister,

PeaceLink expresses concern over the NATO exercise "Steadfast Noon" and acts as spokesperson for the signatories of the open petition on the website www.peacelink.it 

We are writing to you as we will be asking the Prefectures of the provinces most directly involved, as well as those of the regional capitals, for the regional health emergency plans in the event of nuclear war or even simply prepared in case of the risk of nuclear war. The population is not aware of the civil emergency health plans related to the nuclear event for which the air force is training. Is the Ministry of Defence that you lead following the same logic? 

We are well aware that the launch of a B61-12 mock-up does not equate to the launch of a real nuclear bomb. And we know well that such a thing must never happen in reality. But for the purposes of the Steadfast Noon exercise, the launch of the mock-up (the so-called B61-12 mock-up), along with the sequence of preparatory events, effectively equates to the real event for which training is being conducted with strict and stringent timing. Everything is arranged as in reality, except for the final explosion, which can, however, be studied in a simulated form with extensive details using mathematical models.

Since every simulation must be complete, we request to know what simulation studies have been commissioned by your Ministry regarding the civil and health effects of a nuclear war scenario that could involve targets on our territory. And what civil emergency plans, particularly health-related ones, have been prepared based on the commissioned studies.

We believe that the knowledge of what we are training for must be complete and that the civil aspect affecting the entire population must be made public.

We ask this because we are used to studying, knowing, and responsibly caring for our common destiny.

We wish to be informed about what concerns us, with the awareness that every effort must be directed towards peace and conflict resolution according to constitutional dictates.

We are available for constructive dialogue.

We believe in dialogue, especially on issues of such wide-ranging significance.

In the hope of initiating such dialogue, we extend our best regards

The Board of PeaceLink

Giacomo Alessandroni
Adriana De Mitri
Carlo Gubitosa
Francesco Iannuzzelli
Alessandro Marescotti
Ida Merello
Domenico Palermo