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"Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium" face 26 years in jail
Dear Friends,
We are writing as organizers of a solidarity vigil which we hope
folks across Canada can replicate in front of U.S. consulates or trade
offices on Tuesday, February 29 or, if that date is no good, sometime
before the middle of March. (For those receiving this outside of Canada or
overseas, please feel free to take similar actions as well).
The vigil is to call for an end to depleted uranium, for an end to
the planning for and fighting of nuclear wars, and to show support for four
peace activists in the U.S. who face 26 years in prison for disarming two
A-10 Warthog fighter planes, the type most responsible for the dropping of
hundreds of tonnes of radioactive, depleted-uranium-coated munitions over
Iraq and the former Yugoslavia.
If you cannot make it out to the demo in Toronto, e-mailed messages
of support can be sent to tasc@web.net
The four-Philip Berrigan, Susan Crane, Steve Kelly SJ, Elizabeth
Walz, known collectively as "Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium" - acted in the
biblical tradition of beating swords into ploughshares: more than 70 such
actions have taken place since 1980. The four have asked that we help
generate media coverage of the issues raised by their action, and all are
eager to answer media questions from their Baltimore jail cells, where they
are held on prohibitively high bail awaiting trial.
Below is the flyer for the Toronto event, followed by a description
of the action, a statement of intent, and information on depleted uranium.
It should be noted that depleted uranium is becoming a growing
issue in Canada as well, what with the CBC story (although seriously
under-reported) that the Canadian Military is responsible for setting loose
tonnes of depleted uranium during war testing off the coast of Halifax-this
in prime lobster habitats.
Also, like their fellow soldiers in the wars against Iraq, many
Canadian veterans suffer from Gulf War Syndrome, a key contributing factor
for which is exposure to depleted uranium.
As the CBC reported, "When (Gulf War Vet) Terry Riordon of
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, died last April his wife allowed scientists to
harvest tissues from his organs and his bones. The tests were done at a
Canadian lab and analysed by Dr. Asaph Durokavic in Washington. 'We found
in the bone tissue, particularly cancerous bone, that it contained depleted
uranium,' said Durokavic.
"Depleted uranium was used to coat tanks and missiles to harden
them. It's radioactive.
"Durokavic believes when missiles exploded, radioactive dust was
breathed in by veterans. He says Riordon's tests show those radioactive
particles never left the body. Durokavic says he's also finding depleted
uranium in the urine of living veterans.
"But the Canadian military doesn't believe depleted uranium is a
factor in Gulf War illnesses. That's why it's not making the testing
available to veterans, unlike the United States, where depleted uranium
tests are done on any Gulf veteran who asks."
As you will read below, depleted uranium has left a deadly,
radioactive legacy in Iraq, former Yugoslavia, and wherever it has been
tested and manufactured. As Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium point out, the
wars fought against the people of Iraq and former Yugoslavia were nuclear
wars, wars whose legacy is an agonizing, drawn-out, cancer-filled future
for generations to come.
Please copy and circulate widely, then join us in speaking out from
wherever you are.
Peace
Matthew Behrens
Toronto Action for Social Change and Homes not Bombs, Toronto
Rev. Brian Burch
Community of St. Thomas
Anti-War Activists Face 26 Years in Prison for Disarmament Action...
Vigil of Support for
"Plowshares versus Depleted Uranium"
(Philip Berrigan, Susan Crane, Steve Kelly SJ, Elizabeth Walz)
Tuesday, February 29, 10 am (Leap Year Day)
U.S. Consulate, 360 University Ave. (between Dundas and Queen)
Join us for a Faith-based Service of Solidarity and
Demonstration Against Depleted Uranium. All Welcome
On December 19, 1999, "Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium" (Philip Berrigan,
Susan Crane, Steve Kelly SJ, Elizabeth Walz) disarmed two of the A-10
"Warthog" fighter planes which were responsible for firing 95% of the
depleted uranium in the war against Iraq and were used extensively against
the people of former Yugoslavia, leaving a deadly legacy of radioactive
poisoning.
The four face 5 charges.: Sabotage (carrying 10 years); Conspiracy to
commit Sabotage (carrying 10 years); Malicious Destruction of Property
(carrying 3 years); Conspiracy to Maliciously Destroy Property (carrying 3
years); and Trespass (carrying 90 days). The indictment defines Sabotage as
follows: to hinder, delay, or interfere with the preparation of the United
States for defense or for war, or with the prosecution of war by the United
States. All are held currently in prison on prohibitively high bail; former
U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark is among those offering legal support.
Like the lone soul who stood in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square, the
symbol of Plowshares versus Depleted Uranium is a powerful one which has
proven such a threat to the U.S. military that the four could spend the
next quarter century behind bars. What shall our response be to the crimes
they have attempted to highlight: the crimes of depleted uranium, the
crimes of ongoing preparation and fighting of nuclear wars, and ongoing
theft of resources from the poor to pay for the massive war budgets of the
U.S. and Canada?
Join us to respond on this day of solidarity. Join us in Hamilton on June
17 to protest the Hamilton War Show and its celebration of B-52s and the
A-10 Warthog. Support the 50 Homes not Bombs protesters facing criminal
charges from the Nov. 12 attempt to transform the War Dept. to the Housing
Dept.
******************************************************************************
"I am 76 years old, a married Catholic priest, with 35 years of resistance
to the empire's wars, nine years of imprisonment, numberless arrests,
surveillance and "dirty tricks" from the FBI...Enter my friends, sometimes
brusquely: 'Hey Dads!! Give it up to the young pups. It's rocking chair
time...'
"But, but, but...I cannot forget the dying children of Iraq, and the two
million Iraqis dead from our war, sanctions and depleted uranium. I cannot
forget what 78 days of NATO bombing did to Kosovo and Serbia. I cannot
forget my shame and sorrow over the second American nuclear war in Iraq,
and the third in Yugoslavia. (Despite the spin doctors who control damage,
depleted uranium shells and bombs are nuclear weapons). I cannot forget my
country's war psychosis-its obsession with better tools for killing, its
mammoth war chest, its think tanks and war labs." -Philip Berrigan
Write to Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium: Philip Berrigan #995-923, BCDC,
404 Kenilworth Ave, Towson MD 21204; Susan Crane #995-375, 200 Court House
Court, Towson MD 21204; Steve Kelly SJ #995-924, BCDC, 404 Kenilworth Ave,
Towson MD 21204; Elizabeth Walz #995-376, 200 Court House Court, Towson MD
21204
****************************************************************************
***
For more info.: Toronto Action for Social Change, (416) 651-5800
ACTION DESCRIPTION
The PLOWSHARES VS. DEPLETED URANIUM disarmed two A-10 Thunderbolt planes,
nicknamed Warthogs, at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Essex Maryland
in the early morning hours of December 19, 1999, the fourth Sunday of
Advent.
From a phone conversation initiated by Philip Berrigan, folks at
Jonah House (a resistance community in Baltimore) learned that he and three
others - Susan Crane, Rev. Steve Kelly S.J., and Elizabeth Walz - were
arrested at the National Guard base by Federal Air Police as they were
disarming two Warthogs. Phil and Elizabeth worked together on one plane,
hammering on the Gatling gun in the nose of the plane and on the pylons
under the wings, and pouring their blood into the engines of the plane.
Meanwhile Steve and Susan did similar transformation to a second plane and,
in addition, Steve climbed onto a wing, peeled back the vinyl cover and
poured his blood into one of the engines of the plane. They hung their
banner: PLOWSHARES VS. DEPLETED URANIUM on the site.
All four were stopped by Federal Air Police who were not quite
content with the speed with which Steve and Susan complied with their
orders and sprayed Steve with pepper spray - "to get my attention," as
Steve articulated it on the phone. Susan was tackled by security when she
did not desist.
The four were transported to the police precinct in Essex where
they were photographed and finger-printed.
Berrigan and Rev. Kelly were first brought to court for a bail
review hearing before District Court Judge Robert Dugan. He informed the
defendants of their charges: 1] trespassing (a maximum 90 days in jail
and/or a $500 fine); 2] malicious destruction with a property damage of
more than $300 (three years and/or $2,500 fine); 3] burglary-third degree
(ten years); and 4] burglary-fourth degree (three years. Bail was set at
$75,000.
The women would appeared before District Court Judge Barbara Jung.
A male prisoner, charged with first degree homicide, smiled when he was
told his bail was $10,000. Crane's bail, however, was $50,000, and Walz was
given $15,000 bail. The charges were the same as for the men, except Crane
was also charged with assault-second degree, which carries a possible
sentence of 10 years and/or a $2,500 fine.
It unexplainable why a defendant charged with first degree homicide
would receive a bail less than a peace activist. Why would a federal air
police officer charge Crane with assault, after he tackled her?
Plowshares defendants share little hope that the U.S. justice
system will embrace pacifism, international law, God's law or the Nuremberg
Charter. Nevertheless, they will try to argue at trial the necessity
defense, though it is unlikely that the court will allow it.
Below is the statement of the Plowshares group:
PLOWSHARES VS. DEPLETED URANIUM
December 19, 1999 - Fourth Sunday of Advent
Attack a village with an A-10 Warthog and leave a trench.
Attack a village with an A-10 Warthog firing depleted uranium and
leave a poisoned graveyard - the people dead, plants dying or sterile, the
earth eternally toxic.
The A-10 is an aircraft built around a gun - a 30 mm 7 barrel
Gatling that can spew 3,900 rounds per minute. This criminal plane fired
95% of the depleted uranium deployed by the U. S. during the Gulf War,
leaving behind 300-800 tons (Dutch Laka Foundation) poisoning humans and
the elements in Kuwait and Iraq.
Sanctions (a crime against humanity) and depleted uranium (a war
crime) have killed 2 million Iraqis since the war's end. Said Dr. Jannan
Ghalib while showing Olivia Ward of the Toronto Star a photograph album of
malformed babies: "This one, no head. This one, legs fused together.
Another, no limbs and tiny buds on the misshapen chest. Then a face with no
eyes, just flaps of skin over the empty sockets. Another with a huge
water-swollen head with no brain." (Atomic Veteran's Radiation News, Vol.
3, No. 6)
Depleted uranium is a delayed response weapon which burns its way
through tank armor and oxidizes, throwing radioactive particles as far away
as 25 miles. When ingested, these particles cause chemical and radioactive
damage to the bronchial tree, to kidneys, liver and bones, causing somatic
and genetic trauma. Cancer often results.
Iraq and Yugoslavia are template wars, blueprints for future
imperial wars - targeting the total of a society - military, civilians, the
unborn, the infrastructure, the ecology, the health and spirit of a people.
These wars even overflow against the troops that fight them. 90,000
American Gulf War veterans are now chronically ill. A U. S. Department of
Veterans Affairs study of 251 veterans' families in Mississippi shows that
67% had children with severe illnesses or birth defects.
The U. S. has made another fatal mistake with depleted uranium - it
has given it away to a score of other countries, openly inviting them to
make their own weapons, fight their own nuclear wars and infest the planet
with more radiation.
December 19th ends Advent - a time of reparation and conversion. We
mark this day by mourning the civilians killed in America's wars - nine
civilians to every soldier, and by converting one hellish instrument of
their death. They die forgotten and alone - no grateful nation to sorrow
their passing - no flags nor official ritual. They are expendable; they are
the true cannon fodder.
We come to the Maryland Warfield Air National Guard Base to convert
the A-10, as Roman Catholic Christians, in obedience to God's prohibition
against killing. Also, to embody Isaiah's vision of a disarmed world where
hearts are converted to compassion and justice and the weapons are
converted to the tools of peace. Finally, to atone for another nuclear war
in Iraq, and a third in Yugoslavia. So help us God.
WHY THEY CHOSE THE WARTHOGS - DEPLETED URANIUM
1. DU is a dense radioactive waste used in munitions because it can
pierce 4 inches of armor. It is radioactive; it is a heavy metal; it
poisons environment and people. It has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
2. Uranium-238 is mined and U-235 and U-234 removed in an
enrichment process for nuclear weapons and power plants. What remains,
depleted of the enriched isotopes, is a radioactive waste. Stockpiles of
depleted uranium have accumulated since the 1940s, (about 500,000 tons).
The government has been looking for a use for this radioactive waste to
reduce storage difficulties and costs.
3. DU has physical properties that are useful to the military. It
is almost twice as dense as lead. On impact, it ignites and aerosolizes,
spreading fine dust particles of DU that can travel far as 26 miles.
4. The US began producing DU ammunition in 1978; the munitions were
first used during the Gulf War. 940,000 DU shells were fired from U.S.
planes and 14,000 DU shells were fired from tanks. 300-800 tons of DU
particles and dust were scattered over ground and water in Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia and Iraq. The majority of the DU rounds fired in the Gulf were from
the Fairchild A-10 '"tank-killer" aircraft. About 564,000 pounds of DU were
fired from A-10 planes during the Gulf War.
5. DU weapons are toxic, radioactive weapons which cannot be
contained in time or space, and are indiscriminate weapons which violate
international law.
6. In the US Army base in Doha, Kuwait, an ammunition vehicle
caught fire on July 11, 1991. An estimated 9,000 pounds of DU were burned.
During the Gulf War, 29 US vehicles were contaminated with DU through
friendly fire incidents. Soldiers inside the vehicles were wounded;
soldiers assigned to recover the vehicles were contaminated. Thousands of
Iraqi vehicles were contaminated by DU. American soldiers entered these
vehicles to salvage equipment, look for souvenirs or pose for pictures.
They were not warned that there was DU dust on the equipment and in the
air.
7. Of the 697,000 US troops in the Gulf, over 90,000 reported
medical problems. DU could be responsible for respiratory, liver, and
kidney dysfunction, memory loss, headaches, fever, low blood pressure and
birth defects.
8. The people of Iraq - particularly in the south - have been
contaminated through the air, water, soil and crops. Doctors in Iraq have
documented an increase in leukemia and other cancers.
9. DU threatens unborn generations. Children are the most affected
because DU accumulates in their bones, replacing calcium. High rates of
leukemia, lymphoma, bone cancer have been recorded in Iraq. DU causes birth
deformities: children are born with shortened or webbed arms and legs,
lacking eyes, mouth, brain, and abnormalities in the number and shape of
organs.
10. The military use of DU has contaminated areas of Iraq, Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, and Bosnia, US military bases in Vieques, Puerto Rico and
Okinawa, Japan as well as neighbors of weapons manufacturers, such as in
Colonie, NY where the National Lead Plant was manufacturing DU penetrators.
Research and development of DU penetrators and armor has been done at the
nearby Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.
Further reading:
Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium, Ramsey Clark, Rosalie Bertell,
Michio Kaku et al., International Action Center, 39 W. 14th St, Room 206,
NY, NY 10011 email: iacenter@iacenter.org
LAKA Foundation, Kotelhulsplein 43, 1054 RD, Amsterdam, Netherlands
email: laka@laka.antenna.nl
Swords to Plowshares (Veterans Group) 995 Market, 3rd floor, San
Francisco, CA 94103
Military Project, 471 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Lewiston ME 04240
email: mtp@igc.apc.org
forwarded by:
------------------------------------------------------
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
541 McLeod St., Ottawa Ontario Canada K1R 5R2
Tel.: 613-231-3076 Fax: 613-231-2614
Email: ad207@ncf.ca
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