The Nuclear Resister

Creech 14 before court (Mariah Klusmire not in photo)

Published on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 by Las Vegas CityLife
http://blogs.lasvegascitylife.com/cityblog/2010/09/14/vegas-drone-trial-makes-history/

by Jason Whited

Fourteen anti-war activists may have made history today in a Las Vegas courtroom when they turned a misdemeanor trespassing trial into a possible referendum on America’s newfound taste for remote-controlled warfare.

The so-called Creech 14, a group of peace activists from across the country, went on trial this morning for allegedly trespassing onto Creech Air Force Base in April 2009.

From the start of today’s trial, prosecutors did their best to keep the focus on whether the activists were guilty of allegations they illegally entered the base and refused to leave as a way to protest the base’s role as the little-known headquarters for U.S. military operations involving unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, over Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

But a funny thing happened on the way to prosecutors’ hope for a quick decision.

ARRAIGNMENT  NOW SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 8

A federal grand jury finally handed down a litany of indictments against five nuclear resisters who entered the U.S. Navy’s West Coast nuclear weapons storage depot in a plowshares action on November 2, 2009.

On September 3, 2010 the United States Attorney announced the indictments handed down by a grand jury in Tacoma, Washington, against members of Disarm Now Plowshares, which came ten months after their plowshares action in which they entered Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor 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.

Photos by Joshua McElwee, Staff Writer for the National Catholic Reporter

Construction on the first of three new nuclear weapons production facilities was brought to a halt on Monday, August 16, when demonstrators occupied the Kansas City, Missouri site.

Among those arrested was Nuclear Resister co-editor Felice Cohen-Joppa.

Writing for the National Catholic Reporter, Joshua McElwee reports:

“The acts of civil disobedience came at the end of a three-day conference which drew peace activists here from around the nation. The efforts were aimed at building awareness of and resistance to the construction of the weapons plant, which will replace an existing plant here.

“The new plant, which will make non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons, is set to be the nation’s first new major nuclear weapons production facility in 32 years.

“Before their arrest the protestors walked onto a soybean field being plowed by several earth moving vehicles as part of the plant building preparation effort. The group, walking in a single file, held hands; some carried large signs. They approached and surrounded one of the vehicles, forcing the driver to stop her work, and eventually leading 20 other vehicles to halt theirs as well.

Double-click on image to view in full-screen mode (18 minutes)

Celebrating Nuclear Resistance from the Nuclear Resister on Vimeo.

A slide show with music prepared for the Resistance for a Nuclear Free Future gathering, July 3-5, 2010, at Maryville College, Tennessee, and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex. Celebrating 30 years of the Nuclear Resister, Nukewatch, and the Plowshares Movement.

Report from George & Maureen Kehoe Ostensen

On July 22, 2010, we packed up our 1982 VW camper van and drove to Lubec with the intention of crossing the Canadian border to explore the coast for wildlife, to experience the incredible tides and to do some bicycling. However, the Canadian Border Patrol people decided that George was “inadmissible”, meaning that we had to return to the United States because of his long record of acts of nonviolent resistance to militarism.