NUKE DEBATE??? Let's have the real one...

Friends,

The front page of today's Seattle Times is embazoned with the headline:

Plan for $715 million Bangor wharf fires up

NUKE DEBATE

Under the headline is a mammoth photo of a Trident nuclear submarine somewhere in Puget Sound near Squim.  Each of these behemoths has 24 launch tubes, and is capable of carrying 24 Trident II (D-5) missiles, each with a capacity of 8 warheads, each warhead being either a W76 (100 kiloton) or W88 (475 kiloton).  In contrast, the Hiroshima bomb yield was somewhere between 12 and 15 kilotons.

Even if a single Trident sub carries only 24 missiles, each with only 4 warheads (as is supposedly the case due to current arms control agreements), that's a mighty big bang.  One Trident sub - and there are a total of 14, with 8 of them at Bangor - can easily wipe any nation off the face of the map in a matter of minutes... POOF!

The Times article stated that “the entire fleet carries enough nuclear warheads on its Trident missiles to obliterate every major city in Russia and China.” Wow!!!  If that seems like overkill, consider that the statement understates Tridents killing capacity.  Each warhead can incinerate hundreds of thousands or millions of civilians in an attack on a "major city."  With over a thousand warheads in the entire fleet, well... You do the math.

Should our government be crazy enough to start launching Tridents with armed nuclear warheads towards any nation all bets are off.  Besides the mass murders of scores of innocent men, women and children, the fallout and residual radiation - much of which would exist for countless generations - would render much of the planet uninhabitable, and would cause major climatic effects resulting in global famine.  Then, of course, there would be multi-generational birth defects, cancers and other radiation-related diseases.

It's safe to say that Trident is a "Cold War relic'" as retired Navy captain Tom Rogers referred to it in the article:

"Why are we doing this [building another Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor]? We're spending a whole lot of taxpayer money on a Cold War relic," Rogers said in an interview. "All we are doing is making defense contractors rich."

Indeed it is making weapons makers extremely rich, and if the Navy goes ahead with its plans to build a next generation ballistic missile submarine to replace the current Trident fleet the amount to be spent on the new wharf will seem like chickenfeed.  Just the construction cost of the news subs will likely be around $100 billion.

Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, has told Congress that the new wharf is "critical to nuclear weapons surety and our national security."  One has to wonder how, in an age when the Cold War is over and the greatest threat related to nuclear weapons or the fissile materials needed to make them likely would come from terrorists, a nuclear weapons system like Trident ensures our national security.  If anything, it's an impressive (and extremely expensive) symbol of military might.

At a time when we need to be shifting from our reliance on nuclear weapons in order to bring stability to (and ensure progress in) global disarmament and nonproliferation efforts we need to reduce our nuclear arsenal and its delivery systems.  If we do the math it is obvious that we have far more nuclear weapons than necessary to "deter" any adversary (that is assuming that the concept of deterrence is even applicable anymore).

Perhaps broader questions than those being debated about a Second Explosives Handling Wharf are in order.  Why does the U.S. assume a continued Cold War posture?  How can we possibly contemplate using weapons that kill indiscriminately and contaminate our environment for generations? 

We need to grasp the dangers that nuclear weapons present, and further accept the fundamental risk that the longer we continue to produce and deploy them, the greater the probability that they will one day be used either accidentally or intentionally.  And when that happens, it will be a dark day indeed.

As Tom Rogers pointed out - even with over a thousand nuclear warheads on all those Trident subs - we’re “not deterring anyone.”  What a waste!  So let's skip the small stuff and have the real debate -

Are nuclear weapons essentially obsolete???  Do we not need to learn to live together without threatening each other with annihilation???

As Martin Luther King Jr. said one year before his death, “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.”   These were (and continue to be) prophetic words.  Indeed, we have a choice and we are at the crossroads.  Let us make the right choice, if not for ourselves, at least for future generations.  We must work towards global nuclear disarmament, and the U.S. can (and must) lead the way. 

In Peace,

Leonard  

Note: URL for Seattle Times article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017193326_navywharf09m.html     

Navy Plans Rebuild of Trident Nuclear Weapons System

by David C. Hall, MD

The Pentagon and US Navy are planning to rebuild the Trident submarine nuclear weapons fleet over the next fifteen years at a cost likely to exceed $1 trillion over the life of the program. Currently eight of the fourteen Trident warships allowed under the START treaty homeport on Hood Canal at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington State. The other six homeport at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia.

In what may well be an opening salvo announcing the rebuild of the Trident fleet, the Navy plans to build a new and expanded Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor next to the one currently servicing these warships. Price tag: $783 million. The Navy claims to need 400 operational days a year to load and unload missiles from the warships over the next 30-plus years, and they can only get 300 operational days from the current Explosives Handling Wharf. (Editor's Note: Public comment on the Second Wharf Environmental Impact Statement was solicited through May 17, 2011 at www.nbkeis.com/EHW.)

What goes unsaid is the impact of current treaty negotiations to reduce the number of warheads and launch vehicles. While Trident warships are patrolling the world's oceans at Cold War levels, the number of warheads on the Trident subs has probably been reduced by half according to what data is available in the public record. The Navy, however, wants to upgrade the missiles and warheads, so presumably will want more handling days available.

This at a time when across the country we are cutting back basic medical care for indigent children, more people are out of work than at any time since the Depression, and people continue to lose their homes.

And then there is the unimaginable devastation these weapons are designed to create. Hiroshima was leveled in 1945 by a 12 kiloton atomic bomb. Trident warships can carry W-76 warheads rated at 100 kilotons and W-88 warheads rated at 450 kilotons, up to 192 warheads on a single warship. A single Trident submarine warship has the capacity according to recent climatalogical calculations to black out the sun in an entire hemisphere for weeks to months, an event named “nuclear winter” by Carl Sagan and colleagues in the 1980's. What sane motives continue to compel us to rebuild this doomsday system? How can human freedom hope to survive once such a weapon is used?

A single Trident-launched warhead could create a fireball with the heat of the sun over an area that would incinerate the heart of any city, and then the blast, firestorms, and radiation would expand that zone in waves of destruction over five miles and several generations.

On whose country would we deliver such wholesale killing, suffering, and environmental devastation? China would seem to be the principal target of the Pacific Trident warship fleet. We remember World War II, the Nazi holocaust, Stalinist Russia, and Mao Tse Tung's China – political and military catastrophes in themselves for people with any will to freedom and human rights. Yet there will be no democracy under nuclear fire. And if the United States is held responsible for the crime against humanity that a modern nuclear weapon would perpetrate, then what of the international backlash against us?

Imagine if the earthquake and tsunami assault on Japan had instead been caused by one or two nuclear weapons. The destruction could have been comparable with many more deaths, but what then would be the world's reaction against the perpetrator of such a crime? And where does it end?

This is not the world I want to leave for my grandchildren or their grandchildren.

Our world is much too interdependent and vulnerable to have its multifarious problems and injustices solved by military force, much less by weapons of mass destruction. We need national, international, and non-governmental institutions to broker negotiations across the panoply of threats to life on Earth.

It is time to outlaw and abolish nuclear weapons, not rebuild them. What is hopeful about abolishing nuclear weapons is that it is doable within a relatively short time frame, and it would propel other efforts at cooperative security and cooperative development to the benefit of all.

Our safety resides in our capacities to get along with each other. What sense does it make to threaten China daily with incineration by a Trident-launched hydrogen bomb when China now manufactures half of our consumer goods and holds nearly a trillion dollars of our debt? How about instead of spending another $783 million for a redundant and outmoded facility to service (illegal) weapons of mass destruction we instead invest in securing fissile materials worldwide, pass a nuclear weapons convention to abolish them, and develop cultural and educational exchanges with China, Russia, Iran and even North Korea to empower mutual understanding. That was a huge part of what helped to end the Soviet era of domination in Eurasia and bring an end to the Cold War.

David C. Hall, MD
Past President, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (psr.org and wpsr.org)
Member, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (gzcenter.org)
Seattle, WA
206-235-8245 cell
206-957-4702 office voicemail

Editor's Note: You can read other posts on the Second Explosives Handling Wharf and watch video of public testimony at the Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.

Help Mayors for Peace Grow!

Friends,

As the only cities to have suffered the horrific effects of nuclear weapons, Hiroshima and Nagasaki have consistently sought to persuade the world that nuclear weapons are inhumane, continually calling for their total abolition. In 1982, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki established Mayors for Peace to promote the total elimination of nuclear weapons as a vital step toward genuine and lasting world peace. The Conference was registered as a NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in May 1991.

Since its inception Mayors for Peace has gradually built up its membership of mayors of cities around the world acting in solidarity towards a world without nuclear weapons.  By 2003 when they launched their 2020 Vision Campaign, Mayors for Peace had 500 member cities.  As of March 2011 there are 4540 members in 150 countries and regions around the world.

The 2020 Vision Campaign aims for the global abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020, the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Working with many other organizations the 2020 Vision Campaign has built momentum with "The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol", a road map to its goal of nuclear abolition by 2020, and "Cities Are Not Targets (CANT)", that sends a clear message to nuclear weapon states that cities are no longer willing to be held hostage to the threat of use of nuclear weapons.

There are currently 150 mayors for peace members in the U.S.  As one of the world's two largest nuclear powers, we can do better.  Washington State, and particularly Puget Sound, is home to the single largest concentration of operational nuclear weapons, and that makes it even more important for mayors in our region to join Mayors for Peace in solidarity with other mayors working toward a nuclear weapons-free world.

Washington State has two current mayors who are members; Mayor Marilyn Strickland of Tacoma and Mayor Mary Verner of Spokane.  Other participating cities - where previous mayors were members - include Seattle and Olympia.

Maren Clifton and Kyle Jorgensen have started a Washington Mayors for Peace Campaign.  Their goal is to contact every mayor in Washington State and invite them all to join and support the goals of Mayors for Peace.  They can't do it alone!  Here is their request:

WE NEED YOUR HELP

As we send information to mayors (which we have organized by county), we would like to coordinate with local individuals and groups to follow up, write letters, or visit mayors in person to express the need for nuclear disarmament. If you are interested in getting involved or would like to know more, please contact us via telephone at (253) 219-6409, or email M4PWashington@gmail.com.

Best Regards,

Maren Clifton and Kyle Jorgensen

This is going to be a tough one; we live in a state with not only Hanford and Bangor (two major nuclear installations), but also one with a very large overall military presence.  It will take a great deal of work to break down the old thinking that nuclear weapons create security and are a credible "deterrent".

Please support Maren's and Kyle's efforts.  Contact them and find out how your city can join Mayors for Peace.  A nuclear weapons-free world is possible - with our efforts.

PEACE,

Leonard

P.S. - If you live outside Washington State click here and then click here to download materials to present to your mayor.

Honoring Dr. King by Resisting Nuclear Weapons

The Seattle Raging Grannies set the mood for honoring Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, Saturday at the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington.

Eighty three people from the Center participated in a vigil at the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale with the help of a full scale, 44 foot long, inflatable Trident D-5 missile. Each D-5 missile, deployed on Trident nuclear submarines, carries up to 8 warheads, each with an explosive yield of up to 475 kilotons. Each D-5 missile costs approximately $139 million.

Participants carried signs and banners calling for an end to war and nuclear weapons. Notable was a quote by Dr. King: "When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men."

Back at the Center for, Dr. David Hall, former president of Washington Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, presented the threats posed by these nuclear weapons stored at Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific and deployed on the Trident nuclear submarines based at Bangor Navy Base in Kitsap County.

The Seattle Raging Grannies chorus entertained participants with a series of musical parodies celebrating the day’s theme of “Billions for Life, Not Billions for Death.” The theme reflected Dr. King’s words: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

After nonviolence training 12 activists risked arrest by symbolically closing the Trigger Avenue gate during the afternoon shift change as an act of resistance to Trident, a first strike weapons system. Blocking traffic symbolizes stopping the horrific threat of Trident missiles, for a short time.

Rosy Betz-Zall, 60, of Seattle, WA; Anne Hall, 65, of Seattle, WA; Larry Kerschner, 64, of Centralia, WA; Brenda McMillan, 77, of Port Townsend, WA; Denny Moore, 66, of Bainbridge Island, WA; and Shirley Morrison, 88, of Seattle, WA walked onto Trigger Avenue with a banner reading “BILLIONS FOR LIFE, NOT BILLIONS FOR DEATH.”

Kitsap County Sheriffs arrested the six protesters. After initial processing they were transported by Sheriff’s van to the Kitsap County Jail for further processing. They were issued citations for blocking traffic and released.

Then another six Ground Zero Center activists crossed the ‘blue line’ designating federal control. Patricia “Patti” Bass, 63, of Poulsbo, WA; Carolyn Dorisdotter, 72, Seattle, WA; Norm Keegel, 71, of Bainbridge Island, WA; Gordon Sturrock, 52, of Eugene, WA; Sam Tower, 68, of Tacoma, WA; and Robert Friend Weber Whitlock, 32, of Olympia were arrested by naval security personnel, processed and released after being issued citations for trespassing.

Relating to the day’s theme of “Billions for Life, Not Billions for Death, according to Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation, “Washington State is planning to cut schools, health care, public safety and other programs by more that $4 billion. While Washington State taxpayers have paid $28.6 billion so far for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” That figure does not include the annual defense budget or nuclear weapons spending.

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing as many as 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. Current estimates place the number of warheads at approximately 1000.

For over thirty-three years Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Contact: Leonard Eiger, Media and Outreach

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action

www.gzcenter.org

subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com

(425) 445-2190

Nuclear Weapons: Resistance Is NOT Futile!

Dear Friends,

The anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have come and gone. The weekend surrounding those two anniversaries was filled with activities commemorating the events. In Hiroshima it was the first time ever that the U.S. Government sent a representative to attend the ceremonies to mark the moment the first atomic bomb was dropped.

There were also other events around the world commemorating the atomic bombings. Some, such as the From Hiroshima to Hope Lantern Floating Ceremony at Seattle's (Washington State) Green Lake brought people together for peace and nuclear disarmament.

Other events also commemorated the atomic bombings in their own unique solemn fashion by condusting nonviolent resistance actions in which some participants engaged in creative acts intended to symbolically close facilities engaged in the design, production, storage or deployment of nuclear weapons.

People vigiled, demonstrated and acted (nonviolently), and some participants were arrested for their actions at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (aka Sub Base Bangor), Vandenburg Air Force Base, California, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, The Pentagon, the Strategic (Nuclear) Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, Lockheed-Martin's nuclear weapons facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, California.

Nuclear resisters (from left to right) Alice Zillah, Macknight Johnson and Rev. Anne Hall holding a banner, blocking the entrance to Trident nuclear submarine base Bangor, symbolically closing the base, on August 9, 2010. A total of nine resisters blocked the roadway and were arrested that day. Resisters ranged in age from 21 to 88.

People sometimes ask why people choose to engage in such actions when there are other "legal" avenues available to voice one's opinions, avenues that include voting, letters to the editor, correspondence and visits with elected officials, and public demonstrations.

The answer most provide is that they have tried all of these methods, but feel that they have had little, if any, real impact. And in light of what many international legal experts cite as the illegality (and don't forget the immorality) of nuclear weapons and the threat of their use under international law, we (as citizens) must act; we believe that it is essentially our moral obligation and our legal right.

But don't take my word for it; you should hear it from someone who has been arrested more than once, and tried and convicted for her actions. Ann "Kit" Kittredge was recently tried for her action with another resister, Denny Moore, during a Ground Zero vigil honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on January 16, 2010, in which they set up a wooden ladder near the base entrance at the Trident nuclear submarine base and strategic weapons storage facility at Bangor, Washington, and attempted to climb over the barbed wire fence onto the base. They carried with them a letter to the base commander imploring him to disarm the base.

At Kittredge's trial on May 3rd she testified on her own behalf as to the reasons for her action in January. She spoke purposefully and passionately about her act; you can read a copy of her testimony (below), which she provided. My hope is that this testimony of one resister will help people better understand why some choose to resist.

I know many people see resistance as a futile gesture, but for those who make the difficult choice to resist, it is anything but futile. It is a statement of hope, of faith, of a deep abiding belief that we can create a peaceful and sustainable world free of nuclear weapons for future generations.

May it one day be so.

Peace,

Leonard

Testimony of Ann Kittredge in United States District Court, Tacoma, Washington on Friday, July 16, 2010.

My name is Ann Marlowe Kittredge.

I am a mother, grandmother, firefighter/EMT, Massage Therapist, Organic Farmer and Peace Activist. i am 11th generation American and a Daughter of the American Revolution. I was taught that the United States Constitution gives me the right to the petition for redress of grievances and that as a citizen of this Democracy and the world it is my patriotic duty and responsibility to do so.After exhausting countless other lawful avenues to advocate for the removal of nuclear weapons and the threat
and/or harm from their potential use I chose to attempt to reenter Naval Base Kitsap to bring to the attention of the relevant officer my concern.

When our Congress and the Federal Judiciary FAIL to ensure that the Executive Branch act within International and U.S. law, to limit method and means of the threat or use of military force, WE THE PEOPLE are compelled to act without being treated as criminals.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention various types of weapons are prohibited under all circumstances. The Trident Nuclear missile submarines at Naval Base kitsap are one of these. These barbaric first-strike Weapons of Mass Destruction are incapable of distinguishing between combatants and civilians and therefore are in violation of International Law per Geneva Protocol of 1925 and by the US Army Manual 27-10 on the Law of the Land National Law. The Charter at the Nuremberg Tribunal made explicit that violations of the Law of War are criminal. Furthermore the United States is obligated under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty to negotiate the elimination of it's nuclear weapons and is failing to do so.

I cannot look my children and grandchildren in the eye and tell them I am aware of this atrocious, destructive, unlawfulness and that I did nothing. I feel it is imperative that I take action in upholding the law for peace and justice or I am complicit in this illegal behavior either by cooperation or by silence.

This is why I chose to reenter Naval Base Kitsap.

Thank You

They found the WMDs! OMG - right in our back yard!

Friends,

On this day in peacemaking history twelve years ago an international Citizens' Weapons Inspection Team from Vancouver, British Columbia, organized by the Canadian peace group End the Arms Race, and accompanied by members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Poulsbo, Washington attempted to enter Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, then known as Submarine Base Bangor, to document the presence of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery vehicles.

The Canadian team was led by Canadian Member of Parliament Libby Davies (NDP - Vancouver East) and was composed of nine Canadian community and religious leaders and peace activists. Ther group wrote to the base commander a few days prior to the inspection to request access to the base, announcing their intention to conduct:

a tour of the base and access to all documentation that confirms whether or not weapons of mass destruction or the delivery vehicles of any such weapons are present on the base. We also request access to inspect any nuclear weapons or their delivery vehicles that may be present at Naval Submarine Base Bangor.

Rear-Admiral William Center initially invited the team to tour the base, including one of the Trident submarines, but within hours rescinded the invitation. What was this guy thinking?!?!?! At any rate, the group travelled south-of-the-border, finally arriving at Bangor for the February 26 inspection.

The group hoped, among other things, to "illustrate the paradoxical behavior by nuclear weapons states ... threatening military force to ensure that a Third World Country has no weapons of mass destruction." Upon arrival at the gate they were met by the base public relations representative, who reiterated the Navy's refusal to admit the inspection team, and when questioned about the presence of nuclear weapons at Bangor, would neither confirm nor deny their presence.

Vancouver East Member of Parliament Libby Davies (NDP) at the Bangor gate

The inspection team did conduct a flyover - something one could do in the pre 9/11 world - to survey the base. They had a birds eye view of the entire facility, and observed the extensive nuclear weapons storage bunkers in the section of the base known as Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific (SWFPAC) as well as nearby Trident nuclear submarines.

In their post-inspection, public report they noted that Bangor does, indeed, harbor weapons of mass destruction based upon their review of public documents, observations of submarine and truck movements in and out of the base by local activists, and the observation on February 26th from a chartered plane by inspection team members of Trident submarines berthed near the nuclear weapons storage bunkers.

Before the Canadian team left town, they posted this notice on the fence outside the Bangor gate:

THIS FACILITY CONTAINS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

That certainly cleared up the rather nebulous statement by the Navy's public relations representative. And it's just 20 miles (as the gull flies) from Seattle!

So what are you waiting for. Go out and join your local Citizens' Weapons Inspection Team, or start one of your own. It's fun, and who knows what you might find behind those seemingly benign fences. The peope have the right to know!

Peace,

Leonard

Thanks to The Nuclear Resister for information and quotes used in this post (source: http://www.serve.com/nukeresister/nr112/bangor.html).

"WE MUST FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO WAR"

Dear Friends,

Here is a slideshow of a somewhat atypical celebration of the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action celebrated with a traditional vigil and nonviolent action at the gates of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, West coast home of the U.S. Navy's Trident nuclear submarine fleet, and storehouse of roughly one-fourth of all U.S. nuclear weapons, probably the most nuclear weapons at any one site in the world. The theme of the event was "WE MUST FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO WAR".  I think Dr. King would have approved.  Enjoy the show - Then go out and abolish those nukes!

Peace,

Leonard

View all

Get your own

Disarm Now Plowshares - What It Was Really About

Friends,

On November 2, 2009, the Feast of All Souls, a group of five people entered the Bangor nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County, Washington to engage in a plowshares action they called “Disarm Now Plowshares.” They reached the nuclear weapons storage bunkers before being arrested by Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) security personnel. Before being arrested they were able to unfurl a banner that read, "DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES; TRIDENT- Illegal, Immoral", pour vials of their own blood on the roadway (shedding their blood so that others may live), and bang on the roadway with hammers (a symbolic act of beating swords into plowshares).

These were deeply spiritual people engaging in a religious act based on the Biblical prophet Isaiah who said that one day the people "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall no lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."  The Plowshares movement began in 1980 when eight people entered the General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, PA where nose cones for the Mark 12A warheads were made.  The Plowshares Eight hammered on nose cones, poured blood on documents and offered prayers for peace before they were arrested.  Nearly thirty years later, one of the original Plowshares Eight, 83 year old Sr. Anne Montgomery, was also one of the Disarm Now Plowshares Five.  Sister Anne rocks!!!

These long-time peace activists understand that nuclear weapons are illegal under international law; but more importantly for them, they believe that they are an abomination in the eyes of a loving, peaceful God, and they are driven by a deep, abiding faith to bear witness to the immorality of these omnicidal weapons. Their plowshares action was intended not to demonstrate that they could sneak into a high security nuclear weapons storage facility, but to symbolically disarm the many nuclear weapons stored there, and to let the world know that these weapons lay out of sight in their bunkers, waiting to be deployed on missiles, and incinerate millions of people if used.

While politicians and the Pentagon continue to speak of the need for a nuclear deterrent, these five people were willing to risk everything to bear witness to the insanity of such thinking. The longer we embrace our nuclear weapons, the greater the chance that they will one day be used. They are, in a very real sense, the ultimate expression of violence. Perhaps Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best when he described our choice in the nuclear age: "The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence."

Peace,

Leonard

Bangor Nuclear Submarine Base Closed (someday)

News Release  April 1, 2014

World's Largest Peace Group Celebrates 100 Years of NON-VIOLENCE

For release 4/1/2014

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) joined with kitsap County's Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and other allies to permanently close the Bangor Nuclear Submarine Base and open the Northwest Regional Center for Nonviolence Training.

Rear Admiral Smith, the current commander at Bangor, said, "Thank you FOR and GZ.  We couldn't do this because we're under the command of our civilian leaders."

President Obama, now in his second term, along with the newly appointed Secretary of Peace, Rachel Maddow, attended the ceremony.  "I hope that we, as peace-loving Americans, can use this center as a model for transforming other defunct military bases in the U.S. and around the world," said the president.

While nearly all base personnel have found other jobs, all interested citizens are encouraged to call the Green Jobs Hotline with ideas for repurposing Bangor's subs and missiles.

XXXX

The Fine Print:  My Friends, As you can see by the date, this press release represents a vision, the deepest wish of all who yearn for the abolition of Trident and all nuclear weapons, and the creation of a just, peaceful and sustainable world.  This wonderful bit of crystal ball gazing was created during last weekend's Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation's (WWFOR) Fall Retreat.  It is a vision of hope for the future by people deeply engaged in getting there.  I am grateful for such people.  Thanks to Joy Goldstein (and FOR) for allowing me to share this with you.  Peace, Leonard 

Lethal Force vs the Nonviolence of Jesus

Friends,

I previously shared nearly all the documents carried onto Bangor Submarine Base by those engaged in the November 2nd Disarm Now Plowshares Action.  There is one last document, written by Father William Bischel, that I would like to share.  It speaks to not only the heart of someone who has spent his life caring for those in need and working for justice, but also to the very heart of the violence from which we must extricate ourselves in order to build a world at peace.  This gentle man of God speaks truth far more powerful than any weapons.  Read "Lethal Force" below.

Blessed are the Peacemakers,

Leonard

P.S. - There is an entertaining bit of video from Fox News that they called "Breaking News", even though it was aired 3 days after the plowshares action.  Click here to watch 'Going to the Dark Side'.

The photo of Father Bischel was taken on October 7, 2009, in front of the U.S. District Courthouse, Tacoma, Washington.  And no, Bix was not at the courthouse for one of his many appearances before a judge; he was there to witness another trial and stood with us outside during the lunch hour, leafleting for Keep Space for Peace Week. 

*************

LETHAL FORCE by William J. Bichsel, S.J.

On November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, by the grace of God I choose to enter the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor Washington. I wish to walk to the idolatrous place of nuclear weapon bunkers where lethal force is authorized to guard the hiding places of the most lethal forces in the world. I wish to walk in solidarity with the poor of our world who live with lethal force constantly directed against them. My vulnerability to this lethal force is minimal compared to the lifetime vulnerability of the condemned of our world. My compelling reason for entering the Trident Submarine Base is to be present at this Auschwitz place in order to witness in faith to the transforming power of Jesus’ non-violence and Resurrection which can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh and compassion. At this place of global death and hopelessness I wish to witness in faith to the life giving and transforming power of this presence which can expel the demon of violence from the hearts and minds of people possessed by the need for nuclear weapons. I believe the life giving power of the Resurrection can flow over the nuclear death machine and stop its destructive force. Compassion can then grow in hearts and minds of people who have been liberated from the prison of fear and violence.

Millions upon millions of people throughout our world live with lethal force being directed against them. Our brothers and sisters and children live in war ravaged places where violence reigns and starvation, disease, absence of medical resources, absence of shelter eventually bring death. One hour from our shores in Haiti, where one in twelve children do not reach the age of five, parents give children mud cakes made of earth, oil, sugar and salt to diminish the effects of hunger pains. From the Sudan to Sub Saharan Africa, mothers watch as their infants and children become emaciated with swollen stomachs and lifeless eyes then die. All of these lethal forces are authorized.

In the U.S., except for the poor, we have been protected and insulated from the death sentences under which half of the earth’s population lives. The drive for security has numbed our citizens to accept nuclear weapons as the ultimate protector of the American way of life. In effect this choice means the acceptance of the use of nuclear weapons if the United States considers itself threatened. The people of the United States accept the deaths of millions of people if a preempted strike is ordered. Thus the use of lethal force is authorized.

Across our nation there are vast numbers of U.S. citizens who face lethal forces directed against them which are not as immediate or instantaneously murderous as the lethal forces directed against the 3rd world poor. In our capitalistic system there are many who will not receive the health care, education, employment, appropriate housing and nutrition needed to live full human lives in this culture. These forces attack the body, soul and spirit of our citizens which eventually bring death of the spirit and then the body. This is especially true of one segment of our population – the mentally-ill, who live on the streets, under bridges, in door ways, jungle camps or in jails and prisons. They belong nowhere. They die. These lethal forces are also authorized.

The continued possession of nuclear weapons by the United States means that resources that could be used to divert the lethal forces that are now killing the poor of our world will continue to be used to fuel the killing machine.

Father Richard McSorley, S.J. has maintained that “the tap root of violence in our society is the acceptance of nuclear weapons.” We must bend our efforts to make known the Non Proliferation Treaty Review which will take place on May 2, 2010 at the United Nations. By our presence we must insist that the NPT Review Committee in the very near future organize a nuclear weapon global conference of these treaty nations which will set a firm date for nuclear weapon abolition.

Nuclear Plowshares - Disarming Our Hearts

Friends,

The five members of Disarm Now Plowshares Action (on Nov. 2, 2009) carried with them a number of documents as they made their way deep into the heart of darkness, the Strategic Weapons Facility - Pacific (SWFPAC).  Among those documents was one written by Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore, MD.  Susan wrote Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor, and in her letter reminded us that, "There is no 'us' and 'them.'"  This reminded me of something once written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn:

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" (from The Gulag Archipelago, 1973

It was the thinking of the "us" and "them", the "evil people", in our hearts and minds that drove the arms race that drove humanity ever so close to the brink of self destruction, and ironically it is those same hearts and minds that can (and must) undergo a sea change in order to bring us back from the brink.  As Susan states in her letter, besides the blood, hammers and sunflower seeds they brought with them that cold, clear morning under a bright moon, they brought something far less tangible, and yet perhaps much more important, "disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed world."

May we all hope and pray (and work) to disarm our own hearts so that we may then disarm the hearts of others.  Here is the entire, unedited text of Susan's letter.

Peace,

Leonard
 

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Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor

All Soul’s Day, Nov. 2, 2009

Today in the US more and more people are coming to food pantries, needing food for their families. The numbers of home foreclosures increase, leaving families homeless; unemployment increases; and many, even those with health insurance, can’t get their basic health needs met. Class size increases as teachers are laid off and dropout rates increase. Many returning vets must struggle for benefits. States are near bankruptcy, and our infrastructure is falling apart. And day by day climate change threatens us all.

As a nation, we know all this. We experience it personally, and hear it on the nightly news. But what we don’t hear is that there may be solutions to these problems. We need to look at where, as a nation, we are allocating our resources: where do our federal tax dollars go? Where do our brightest and best scientists find work? Where do our idealistic and dedicated youth end up? We know that over half of every federal tax dollar is used for warmaking. And we know that the American people never have a chance to vote on a bond issue for the next fighter plane or nuclear weapon. Every dollar that is used for warmaking, killing or planning to kill other people, is a dollar that is not used for human needs, or healing the earth.

Here in Washington state, I was thinking about the Trident submarines which have nuclear warheads on them, and are constantly roaming the oceans. There are 8 subs homeported here at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor. And each of these subs carries 24 Trident II D-5 missiles, and each of the missiles carries multiple nuclear warheads. Some of the warheads are 32 times the explosive heat and blast of the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

The Trident subs are stealthy, and at sea their location is secret. They can launch nuclear weapons to anywhere in the world in 15 minutes, which is a constant threat to people in other nations. Here in the US we don’t live under a threat like that.

My faith tradition teaches me that we are to love our enemies, to love one another. Planning to kill others is not an act of love…Indiscriminate killing of whole cites of people, animals and plants is not an act of love.

Here in the northwest where the Trident subs are homeported, the land is beautiful; the trees are aromatic; the water is healing. And I hope that we come to our senses and experience this land we live in, and realize that we—and people all over the earth—are brothers and sisters. There is no “us” and “them”. As individuals and as a nation; we all have good in us; we all have a shadow side. We can all work together if we choose to.

With hope for peace and disarmament, the five of us, Steve Kelly, S.J, Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Bill Bichsel, S.J. and myself, go to Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor on All Soul’s Day. We remember the 150 million people killed by warmaking and related consequences of war in the last 100 years. It is in solidarity with all who live in lethal force zones that we enter the lethal force zone on the naval base.

We bring our own blood to pour on the missiles, nuclear weapons, trident subs, or perhaps on the railroad tracks that carry the weapons. We pour our blood to remind us all of the consequences of warmaking. We bring hammers to enflesh the words of Isaiah to hammer swords into plowshares. We bring sunflower seeds to sow to begin to convert the base, and we bring disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed world. I go onto the base with the support of all at Jonah House, in Baltimore, carrying their prayers in my hip pocket.

Susan Crane

Disarm Now Plowshares - In Their Own Words

Friends,

Seattle's KOMO News did a story today on the Disarm Now Plowshares Action, interviewing Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald and Anne Montgomery. Watch it below and hear them tell about the action - what they did, and why. What drives them? "Hope" and "Faith".

Peace,

Leonard



Click here to read the KOMO story, 'These weapons can wipe out everything'.

Plowshares and Prophets

Friends,

The Bible (Luke 4.24) tells us that no prophet is ever welcome in his (or her) hometown or country. That is as true today as it was in the time of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Let's face it. People just don't want to hear that God is displeased with their behavior, and that they really need to change their ways (just like those crazy Israelites). So, what's a prophet to do??? Keep at it, that's what.

While it often seems that so many Christians are complicit in the violence of the world, there are those who are steadfast in following the nonviolent Jesus, and fewer still are those who are prophets - endowed with extraordinary spiritual and moral insight, and called to proclaim peace to the world. Father Bill "Bix" Bischel, who was one of the participants in yesterday's Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action, definitely fits that description.

It is natural for people steeped in the structures of violence so deeply embedded in our society to dismiss those who engaged in yesterday's action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (see the previous post for details). And just like the prophets of old, Bill (and his plowshares companions) will be reviled by many who are unable or unwilling to look at not only the violence inherent in omnicidal (nuclear) weapons, but also the violence within our own hearts.

I hope that the missioning letter (below) from the provincial, Patrick J. Lee, SJ, provides an insight into Father Bischel's depth as prophet and peacemaker.

Peace,

Leonard

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Missioning Letter

October 23, 2009

William J. Bichsel S.J.
Bellarmine Jesuit Community
2300 S. Washington St.
Tacoma WA 98405

Dear Bix,

A provincial writes a lot of letters missioning Jesuits to do the work of God. This is one of the hardest I’ve written, but also one that seems clearly blessed and confirmed by God.

I have told you that I see your role in our province as a prophet – called by God to proclaim a message of peace. Prophets are never appreciated by everyone. Their message is often painful and difficult to hear. Certainly that has been your experience. You have suffered scorn, indignities, and even prison for the message you have proclaimed. Now you find what God is calling you toward may result in more of the same.

We had thought that perhaps your days of protest were over, and that you might be able to live the remainder of your life with some rest from civil disobedience. But in Nagasaki you once again heard God calling you into action. I know you have listened hard to that call, praying and discerning for over a year to make sure it truly was from God. Now there is no doubt.

And so I mission you to hear and respond to what is in that deepest part of your heart. On November 2nd, the Feast of All Souls, you will return to the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor, Washington, to take part in what will happen there. Go with my blessing and my prayers, Bill. And know that you carry with you the prayers and blessing of the Oregon Province.

I will also pray that your life as a prophet and a witness to peace will be an inspiration to younger Jesuits who may be hearing God’s still distant, disturbing call to prophecy against the violence and war.

May God bless your desires, and give you the courage, the strength and the abundant grace to fulfill them.

Patrick J. Lee S.J.
Provincial

Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action

Friends,

In the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, the five members of the Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action, ranging in age from 60 to 83, secretly entered Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, West Coast home port of the nation's Trident nuclear submarines, and also a major nuclear weapons storage facility. These brave peacemakers came to symbolically disarm one of the most deadly places on our planet, and expose it to the world. Read about it in the press release below. I have also included two other documents along with biographical statements about the participants.

Peace,

Leonard

***********

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5 people arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor

The “Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action”

Bill “Bix” Bischel, S.J., 81, of Tacoma, Washington; Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore MD; Lynne Greenwald, 60, of Bremerton Washington; Steve Kelly, S.J., 60, of Oakland, CA.; Anne Montgomery RSCJ, 83, of New York, New York, were arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor. They entered the Base in the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, with the intention of calling attention to the illegality and immorality of the existence of the Trident weapons system. They entered through the perimeter fence, made their way to the Strategic Weapons Facility – Pacific ( SWFPAC) where they were able to cut thru the first chain link fence surrounding SWF-PAC, walked to and cut the next double layered fence, which was both chain link and barbed wire, onto the grounds of SWFPAC. As they walked onto the grounds, they held a banner saying…… “Disarm Now Plowshares : Trident: Illegal + Immoral”, left a trail of blood and hammered on the roadway (Trigger Ave and Sturgeon) that are essential to the working of the Trident weapons system, hammered on the fences around SWFPAC and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base. They were then thrown to the ground face down, handcuffed and hooded, and held there for 4 hours on the wet cold ground. They were taken, hooded, and carried out through the very holes in the fence that they had made, for questioning by Base security, FBI and NCIS. They refused to give any information except their names, and were cited as of now, for trespass and destruction of government property, given a ban and bar letter and released.

In a joint statement, the group stated that “The manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is immoral and criminal under International Law and, therefore, under United States law. As U.S. citizens we are responsible under the Nuremberg Principles for this threat of first-strike terrorism hanging over the community of nations, rich and poor. Moreover, such planning, preparation, and deployment are a blasphemy against the Creator of life, imaged in each human being. “

There have been approximately 100 Plowshares Nuclear Resistance Actions worldwide since 1980. Plowshares actions are taken from Isaiah 2:4 in Old Testament (Hebrew) scripture of the Christian Bible, “God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations will not take up swords against nations, nor will they train for war anymore.”

The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined.

The base has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455 kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb.) The D-5 missile can also be armed with the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead.

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DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES

“I will purify you from the taint of all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and make you conform to my statutes.” Ez. 36:25-27

We walk into the heart of darkness, the Naval Submarine Base Kitsap-Bangor, housing and deploying over 2,000 nuclear warheads for Trident submarines. By their very existence they are endangering the environment, threatening the indiscriminate destruction of life on earth, and depriving the hungry, homeless, and jobless of billions of dollars that could supply human needs throughout the world.

The manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is immoral and criminal under international law and, therefore, under United States law. As U.S. citizens we are responsible under the Nuremberg Principles for this threat of first-strike terrorism hanging over the community of nations, rich and poor. Moreover, such planning, preparation, and deployment is a blasphemy against the Creator of life, imaged in each human being.

We are called by Isaiah to take seriously our own responsibility to act as citizens of the nation that subjected the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the hell of nuclear bombing and its deadly consequences. The United States continues to research and develop even more inhumane weapons of mass destruction.

We are called by Ezekiel to transform our own hearts and to invite all those whose hearts are hardened by blindness, fear, and mistrust of the “other” to allow theirs to be transformed into “hearts of flesh:” disarmed, compassionate, and generous.

We bring carpenters’ hammers to symbolically transform these weapons of death into material useful for homes and factories. On this day of remembrance, All Souls Day, we bring our own blood in solidarity with the victims of war, who are invisible to those who target them. We bring sunflower seeds to plant the hope of new life in this violated earth. We intend to beat swords into plowshares as one step up the holy mountain where all nations can unite in peace.

At the beginning of the International Decade of Disarmament, we join with the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 2020 Vision Campaign to abolish all nuclear weapons by that year at the latest. Nuclear weapons can never be guardians, defenders, or upholders of peace. They are sheathed in stainless steel and metal coverings that conceal the evil incarnate lying within. They are filled with death-dealing agents that tear apart humans and leave survivors scarred for life. They leave no place for human care for the thousands who suffer and die in agony. Nuclear weapons are a lie. Their “protection” is an illusion. They must be abolished.

“God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4

Washington State , November 2, 2009

Steve Kelly, S.J., Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Susan Crane, Bill Bichsel, S.J.

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Disarm Now Plowshares

November 2, 2009

Hand Delivery

Captain Mark Olsen
Commander US Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor
120 South Dewey St
Bremerton, WA 98314

YOU have been involved in the housing, deployment and threatened use of immoral and illegal nuclear weapons on Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor. These weapons and their delivery systems include Trident submarines, Trident II D-5 missiles, and W-88 and W-76 nuclear warheads. These weapons, and their delivery systems, threaten the destruction of other nations and people and as such constitute violation of International Law and of Ruling of the International Tribunal of Justice of 1996.

You are hereby notified that effective upon receipt of this letter that the disarmament of all nuclear weapons at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor is to begin immediately and continue until all nuclear weapons are disarmed and removed.

You are further informed that delay or failure to begin disarmament will lead to the prosecution before the International Tribunal of Justice of all naval and civilian personnel responsible for the delay.

This barment letter is issued for the protection and security of people, animals, and all creation of our world.

Any compelling reason for naval or civilian exemption from prosecution by the International Tribunal can be entered with the secretariat of the International Tribunal.

(Address; International Tribunal, International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands)


Steve Kelly, S.J., Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Susan Crane, Bill Bichsel, S.J.

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Disarm Now Plowshares Biographical Statements

Steve Kelly, S.J. During his religious formation in our inner cities, in Sudan, Africa, as well as refugee work in Central America following ordination, he encountered the messiah, Jesus incarnate in the poor. At the same time, the relevance of Jesus as a real shepherd inserting himself between the danger of wolf or thief and the flock in his care inspired this Jesuit to try to imitate Jesus. His current collaboration with Catholic Workers and the Pacific Life Community confirms the analysis that the nukes represent, just in their making, a contemporary larceny from the poor, while the wolf, the imminent danger of their use, demands the embodiment of Isaiah 2:4. Will that hammering wake us, those professing faith in a loving God, from our idolatrous slumbers?

Lynne Greenwald is the mother of three children and has worked professionally as a Registered Nurse, Family Therapist and Social Worker for nearly 40 years. She has also been actively involved in the Nonviolent Peace Movement since the mid-1970s. Lynne moved to Kitsap County in Washington State 26 years ago to join Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and to become a neighbor to families involved with the Trident Base and other facilities in this predominately military community. “While the existence of Trident is obvious, the truth of Trident’s nuclear threats and illegality remains hidden. My action of conversion today is one committed out of love for all life.“

Anne Montgomery is an eighty-three year old Religious of the Sacred Heart and former teacher in high schools and programs for dropouts and learning disabled children. As a member of the Gulf Peace Team in 1991 and of Christian Peacemaker Teams from 1995 to 2009 she served in Iraq and Palestine. Since 1980 she has been active in the Plowshares movement and other forms of civil resistance to U.S. militarism, especially nuclear weapons. Since 2005 she has also participated in Witness Against Torture and the Free Gaza boat trip to open the port of Gaza. She acts now to support all efforts to convert weapons of death into resources for human life, especially for the most neglected and oppressed of the threatened earth.

Susan Crane is the mother of two sons, and has taught at a school for marginalized youth in California. More recently she has lived at Jonah House, a nonviolent community in Baltimore, which speaks out against all warmaking, and specifically nuclear weapons. Aware that we take better care of nuclear weapons than of our nation’s children, and that we spend more than half of every federal tax dollar on warmaking rather than human needs, she acts to transform these weapons of mass destruction to life- giving materials.

Bill Bichsel, a Tacoma native, entered the Jesuit Order in 1946 and after studies and teaching was ordained a Jesuit in 1959. He has served in parishes, taught in high schools, and was Dean of Students at Gonzaga from 1963-1966. In 1969 he returned to Tacoma where he served at St. Leo’s Parish for over 7 years and then co-founded the Tacoma Catholic Worker (Guadalupe House) which offers hospitality and transitional housing to the homeless. The Guadalupe Community lives in the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker foundress. Bichsel still resides and serves at the Tacoma Catholic Worker—one mile from where he was born and raised. He has served jail and prison terms many times for his resistance to the violence of the Trident nuclear weapon system and the violence of the S.O.A. training at Ft. Benning, GA. He believes that unless we, the American people, actively work to abolish nuclear weapons we as a people will continue to threaten destruction to the global community and continue to deprive the poor of the world of resources necessary for life.

Ladders and Missiles Don't Mix!

Well Blow me down Mateys. It appears that the U.S. Navy has scuttled another command at Sub Base Bangor, more politely known these days as Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. According to the Navy, Captain Timothy J. Block, the commanding officer of Bangor’s nuclear weapons facility was given the heave-ho because of a loss of confidence in his ability to continue to lead, according to a Pentagon spokesperson.

The Pentagon also said that there was no “specific issue or incident” that led to Block’s removal and that public safety was not jeopardized at the facility, which assembles, stores and places nuclear weapons on submarines. Phew - We can all breathe easy now. But then again, this IS the second time in just six years that a Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) commander has been relieved of his command for "a loss of confidence", and this is the facility where the U.S. stores roughly a quarter of its nuclear weapons!

In case you aren't familiar with the previous (serious) incident that ultimately caused heads to roll, here is the one minute version. November 7, 2003. Missile handling crew preparing to remove a Trident C4 missile from missile tube number 16 (on the USS Georgia) opens tube hatch, lowers access ladder into tube (ladder used to attach hoist to lift missile out of the tube), crew member attaches hoist, and they all take a break. Now comes the fun part. They come back from their break, start hoisting the missile (not a good idea since they had not yet removed the ladder), and the missile's nose cone is impaled by the ladder, slicing a 9-inch hole in the nose cone. And by the way, the ladder came within inches (quite literally) of one of the nuclear warheads before the crew stopped hoisting!!!

The Bangor explosives handling wharf

Just a few more inches, and the 2003 accident could have resulted in non-nuclear explosions, dispersal of plutonium into the air and water, and even fire involving missile propellant. SWFPAC failed a week long nuclear weapons inspection conducted in December 2003, resulting in multiple reassignments and courts-marshal.

Although we have heard nothing specific as to the recent dismissal of Captain Black, the 2003 incident only became public knowledge when the Kitsap County Sheriff heard about it from a reporter. One can only wonder why the Navy has relieved another commander of one of the largest nuclear weapons depots anywhere. If the December, 2003 Seattle PI article is an indicator, we should all be watching. Rear Admiral C.B. Young, director of the Navy's strategic weapons systems programs in Washington, D.C., cited only "a lack of confidence" as the reason for sacking Bangor's commanding officer after the most serious (known) nuclear weapons-related accident in recent years. Isn't that the exact phrase used by the Pentagon to describe the most recent dismissal???

Peace,

Leonard

Navy Fires Top Officer at Bangor Nuclear Weapons Facility, Kitsap Sun, Friday, August 21, 2009
Nuclear missile allegedly damaged, about the 2003 accident, Seattle PI, Thursday, March 11, 2004
Bangor officer in charge of key missile systems loses his command, Seattle PI, Thursday, December 25, 2003

Stop Bangor's Expanding Nuclear Waste Line

Friends,

Trident nuclear submarine base Bangor, known as Naval Base Kitsap Bangor (just 20 miles west of Seattle, Washington), wants to expand at a time when the United States is not only desperately trying to find ways to reign in spending, but also trying (according to at least President Obama and a few others) to lead the world towards nuclear disarmament. The U.S. Navy has been quietly planning for quite a while to build a second explosives handling wharf, and only now is being forced to surface to seek public comments for the Environmental Impact Statement.

The current Explosives Handling Wharf is used to load and offload the Trident D-5 missiles with their multiple nuclear warheads to and from the Trident submarines based at Bangor. Ironically, Bangor (according to Navy records) should not need a (expensive) second Explosives Handling Wharf until 10 Trident submarines would be based at Bangor; there are currently 8 Tridents based at Bangor. Does this sound like a tremendous waste of money at a time when the upcoming 2010 Nuclear Posture Review will most likely reduce, or at least freeze, the Trident fleet.

Besides the environmental impacts of such a large-scale project, it is also a budget drainer - cost estimates range from $336 million to $780 million. Hey, who needs education, health care or anything else when you build such a nice, new explosives handling wharf; and when it's sitting idle, they can go fishing off the end of the pier. Doesn't everybody want one of these???
But really folks - If the Navy's desire to over consume and expand its waste line bothers you, there is time to have your say. There will be three meetings around Puget Sound starting tomorrow, and the public comment period ends July 17, 2009. Make your voices heard!!! The plan for a second wharf not only makes no sense economically or in terms of the President's focus on nuclear disarmament, but it also sends a dangerous message to Russia and every other nuclear power (and nuclear wannabees) that the U.S. intends to increase its reliance (and the size of the fleet) on Trident.

All three meetings are open house format and run from 5:30 to 8:30.

• Tuesday, June 23 - Poulsbo Fire Station Main Headquarters, Multipurpose Room, 911 NE Liberty Road, Poulsbo


• Wednesday, June 24 - Port Ludlow Fire Station 31, Training Room, 7650 Oak Bay Road, Port Ludlow


• John Stanford Center for Academic Excellence, Auditorium, 2445 3rd Avenue South, Seattle

To make comments using the EIS projects Web form, click here. You can also email your comments to nbkehweis@ssp.navy.mil.

Click here to read the Sunday, June 21st, Kitsap Sun newspaper article about the Navy's plan. it has further details on how to submit your comments on the EIS.

You can learn more about the EIS process and statement below. Thanks to Glen Milner for the following links to information on the Environmental Impact Statement for the Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor EIS for the Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor
https://ehw.nbkeis.com/_Docs/NBKEHW_ProposedAction.pdf

Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor, Federal Register
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2009/May/Day-15/i11004.htm

Navy Region Northwest statement on the Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=45476

EIS process for the Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor
https://ehw.nbkeis.com/_Docs/NBKEHW_NepaProcess.pdf

Let's make our voices heard: It is time to cut back, not expand, Trident!!!

Peace,

Leonard

Note: Photo courtesy of Tom Karlin, taken at Sub Base Bangor during the May 31, 2008 Feast of the Visitation Vigil and Direct Action