Peter Maurer Quotes
It has always been clear that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
Maurer, Peter. "Nuclear weapons: A catastrophic humanitarian threat." International Committee of the Red Cross, 18 Feb. 2015.
This is a very important quotation. It is often cited by preventive war hawks to show that deterrence might not be a sufficient inhibitor against an extreme ideological enemy. In this case it was political philosophy that would make the enemy willing to have the majority of its population die to reach the ideological objective. More fearful is the prospect of the Theocracy of Iran where the leaders may believe that nuclear jihad is a commandment of God. More critical is the Islamic theology which says that if most of the Iranian Muslim population die in a nuclear war that they start all those people will be martyrs and immediately go to God’s Paradise. Thus, even the dead Muslims are not victims and the nonbelievers should be killed. For extremely fanatical Muslims nuclear war can be a logical and holy course of action.
I can go into my office and pick up the telephone, and in 23 minutes 70 million people will be dead.
He had been asked if the impeachment proceedings weakened him as the President.
This is one of the earliest uses of the phrase “weapons of mass destruction.” Panneloek quoted it in 1948, so it was used by Urey before then.
The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. Oppenheimer was the great physicist who directed the successful development of the atomic bomb so as to build the weapon before Hitler did in World War II. However, as the technology evolved, he had doubts as to the wisdom of creating even more powerful hydrogen weapons. His viewpoint was hurting the administration’s policy of rapid unlimited nuclear weapons development, and he was the victim of a character assassination whereby his security clearance was withdrawn. The “father” of the atomic bomb was the first American casualty of atomic weapons development.
Peter Maurer (born 1956) is a Swiss diplomat who has been serving as the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since 1 July 2012. Maurer was born in Thun, Switzerland.
