Just a Thought on This Night Before Court

One Family Celebrating Life

I can’t help but search for a pleasant image after viewing the hooded, handcuffed friends inside SWFPAC last November. We seem so vulnerable, but I felt so much at peace.  It was the right thing to do. The frightening thing is the fact that there is so much potential to destroy all life and that such weapons are sheltered on the Bangor Trident Base.  It was good to pray there, carrying the belief that Love and Truth will prevail. And so for my children and grandchild, and all the children of this world, today and in the future, I pray on forbidden ground. 

 - Lynne Greenwald

Disarm Now Plowshares Anniversary – “Discovering Life Through Resistance”

Dear Friends,

While the nation seemed transfixed in election day madness four dedicated peacemakers, who just one year before on the Feast of All Souls had travelled deep into the belly of the Beast, vigiled in celebration and thanksgiving on the anniversary of their Plowshares action.

Four members of the Disarm Now Plowshares five stood in vigil at the main gate to the Trident nuclear submarine base, Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington State on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.  Bill “Bix” Bichsel, S.J., Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, and Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, held banners as they stood by the side of the road, waving and flashing peace signs to those driving in and out of the base.  Drivers’ responses varied from supportive waves or peace signs to an occasional rude gesture; the vast majority were supportive. 

Crane’s and Montgomery’s banner read, “DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES, TRIDENT: ILLEGAL & IMMORAL.”  The banner held by Bichsel and Greenwald read, “LARGEST STOCKPILE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE U.S. AT NAVAL BASE KITSAP-BANGOR, DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES.”    

After the previous day of record rainfall around the Puget Sound region, the sun shone in glorious splendor as the Plowshares activists celebrated the first anniversary of their Plowshares action.  When I arrived at the gate I saw them standing on the other side of the roadway; each of their faces also shone bright with the deep, spiritual, conviction that led them to engage in their Plowshares action one year ago, and now gives them strength to challenge Trident in court.

Bill “Bix” Bichsel, S.J., Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, Steve Kelly, S.J., Anne Montgomery RSCJ, 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.  During the action they held a banner saying…“Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident: Illegal + Immoral”,  left a trail of blood, hammered on the roadway and fences around Strategic Weapons Facility – Pacific (SWFPAC) and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base.  They entered SWFPAC where they were detained, and after extensive questioning by base security, FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), were cited for trespass and destruction of government property, given ban and bar letters and released.

Ten months after their action a Federal grand jury handed down indictments for all five. The charges include Conspiracy, Trespass, Destruction of Property on a Naval Installation and Depredation of Government Property.  The major consequences for the various individual charges range between 5 and 10 years in prison, and from $50,000 to $250,000 in fines, as well as up to 3 years of supervised release, and/or up to 5 years probation.

One might well ask, “who should be on trial – those who cut some fences to expose the illegal and immoral nuclear weapons that lay hidden behind them or the government that continues to build up its nuclear weapons infrastructure and maintain its nuclear “posture” in preparation for nuclear holocaust?”

After vigiling the participants circled for prayer and thanksgiving.  Before leaving the main gate Crane and Bichsel attempted to share leaflets explaining the Disarm Now Plowshares action with members of the Marine security detail that was standing ready near the entrance gate guard-house, up the road from where we had been vigiling.  After waiting a few minutes for a response (the Marines did not budge) we packed up and headed back to Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (just up the road from the main gate) where we all shared a simple meal and fellowship.

In the closing circle at the gate Tom Shea read a prophetic passage from James Douglass’ book, “Lightening East to West”, published thirty years ago:

Given the presence already at Bangor of Polaris/Poseidon nuclear warheads, and the coming in 1981 of Trident, the base fence seems humble: seven feet in height with three strands of barbed wire at the top.  I reminds us again, with the government’s show of deer, fox, and pheasants roaming around the base, that official crimes have a psychological preparation.  The care at not alarming citizens is evident also in the public relations security force visible around Bangor, where Pan American has the contract for base perimeter security.  In the course of our civil disobedience actions, we became friends with these Pan Am guards and learned the nature of the real security system.  While the Pan Am guards patrol with their pick-up trucks on the roads just inside Bangor’s perimeter fence, there is a second civilian security force stationed farther in the base, and finally, at the center of Bangor lost to sight behind dense trees and higher fences, a third security force of Marines.  The Marines are assigned to nuclear weapons areas.  They drill with rifles and machine guns under standing orders “to use deadly force” (a phrase dropped by the base commander in a meeting with resisters).

If we can go to the heart of the Bangor base, in a gentle enough way, and in growing numbers, nuclear war preparations will be obstructed.  The life-force of persons in community, willing to give their lives nonviolently, is more powerful than any nuclear weapon.  Through such a life-giving process, a moral crisis can be realized which would be the beginning of a transformed consciousness and politics.

The Trident campaign as an experiment in life-force is meant to connect with the lives of all people, all threatened with nuclear death.  If we were so graced as to feel the most distant life at its center, we would know from within its pain and compassion, its loneliness and its love – the human feelings of Jesus and Hitler, as different as they were in acting those out and failing to do so.  There is no one who doesn’t feel at the deepest levels something of our living unity.  An experiment in life-force is meant to touch that level in everyone.

Trident with its thousands of Hiroshimas is the end of the world.  The Trident campaign is meant to re-discover a new world, one world, the only world remaining.  The campaign can be seen as both spirit and body: Seeking first the kingdom of a deepening, widening community… in and through tactics of nonviolent direct action.  Renouncing any fixation on the fruits of action… while trying to choose actions which in themselves carry the seeds of a moral and political crisis.  Discovering life… through resistance.

The Disarm Now Plowshares five travelled (both figuratively and literally) “to the heart of the Bangor base”, unequivocally prepared “to give their lives nonviolently” in their own Plowshares “experiment in life-force.” 

May the nonviolent heart of the Disarm Now Plowshares deeply touch (and transform) us all, and may we all “discover life… through resistance.” 

Peace,

Leonard

Disarm Now Plowshares Activists Arraigned

Tacoma, Washington – October 8, 2010

 

Joan Staples blesses the 5 going into court. Photographer Leonard Eiger

- The five plowshares activists who entered the U.S. Navy’s nuclear weapons storage depot in Washington State in November 2009 had their initial day in court.

 

Over eleven months since they entered the U.S. Navy’s nuclear weapons storage depot at Bangor, Washington to symbolically disarm the nuclear weapons stored there, the five Disarm Now Plowshares co-defendants faced arraignment on October 8, 2010 in U.S. District Court, Tacoma, Washington before Magistrate Judge Karen L. Strombom.

Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Steve Kelly, SJ, Lynne Greenwald, Bill “Bix” Bichsel, SJ, and Susan Crane were all present to enter their pleas before Judge Strombom.

The government brought many serious charges against each of the Disarm Now defendants for their peaceful November 2, 2009 Plowshares action.  They include Conspiracy, Trespass, Destruction of Property on a Naval Installation and Depredation of Government Property.

The major consequences for the various individual charges range between 5 and 10 years in prison, and from $50, 000 to $250,000 in fines, as well as up to 3 years of supervised release, and/or up to 5 years probation.

Additionally, the judge made it clear that should the defendants be convicted on multiple charges, the court could order them to serve consecutive sentences, thereby greatly increasing the number of years they might spend in prison.

All defendants entered pleas of “not guilty”, to which each defendant added a personal statement.

Greenwald called “for the end of all wars, and an end to the threat of nuclear war.”  Crane made “a plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, for the children of future generations.”

Bichsel made his plea “for those who are dying now because of nuclear weapons because of funding going for weapons of mass destruction instead of health care, education, housing, employment and nutrition.  I plea for those dying because of the uranium mining cycle connected to nuclear weapons.”

Crane tried twice to enter a “Motion To Immediately Dismiss Charges and Memo in Support”.  The judge said that she would not hear it, and could not rule on it in these proceedings.  After the arraignment, Crane filed the motion for dismissal, and two others, with the clerk of court.

In their motion for dismissal the co-defendants conclude that, “Because this case involves unjust and illegal weapons of mass destruction, the use of which is a war crime under US and international law, and defendants actions were taken to protect a greater good and much higher law than the laws they are accused of violating, this case should be dismissed immediately.”

They cite numerous laws to show that the Use of Nuclear Weapons is a War Crime under US Law, and state that “Any threat or use [of nuclear weapons] is categorically prohibited and constitutes a war crime, crime against humanity or genocide as defined consistently by the U.S. Criminal Code,” citing the statute for war crimes, 18 USC 2441.

They also reference Article 23 of the Hague Convention IV of 18 October 1907, which applies because nuclear weapons are incapable of distinguishing between civilians and combatants and cause unnecessary suffering.

The Nuremberg Principles, 59 Stat 1544, clearly state that war crimes are committed by anyone who “participates in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of planning preparation, initiation or waging a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurance.”

Their last reference used to substantiate that the use of nuclear weapons is a crime under U.S. law is 18 USC 1091, which states that “the use of nuclear weapons can also be considered genocide because the weapons destroy, in whole or substantial part, groups of people, in indiscriminate fashion, killing military and civilian alike.

The five Disarm Now co-defendants firmly believe that there is sufficient legal doctrine substantiating their invocation of the necessity defense, and that the “Defendants’ actions are just and not at all illegal,” and therefore the case should be immediately dismissed.

During the arraignment all of the Disarm Now defendants stated that they look forward to the opportunity to discuss the illegality of our nation’s production, maintenance and preparations for the use of nuclear weapons during their upcoming trial.

Before the arraignment approximately 80 Disarm Now supporters gathered in front of the Tacoma courthouse to stand vigil, hand out leaflets about Disarm Now and participate in an interfaith service to bless the Disarm Now co-defendants.

The judge set a trial date for December 7, 2010 at 9:00 AM in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Tacoma.  A pre-trial conference date is set for November 22, 2010.

There have been more than 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 west of 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) and costs approximately $60 million.  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

Contact:  Leonard Eiger, 425-445-2190, subversivepeacemaking@comcast.net

Disarm Now Plowshares activist arrested at Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex

Fr. Bill Bichsel at Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Fr. Bill Bichsel, along with 12 others,  went through the fence at Y-12 National Security Complex, where essential components of nuclear warheads are made, including warheads used on Trident submarines.

Fr. Bill Bichsel walked for several minutes onto the grass at the National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. For this, he, and the other 12,  were held overnight, brought to court for a detention hearing, charged with federal trespass, and released under strict conditions.

The US Attorney announced at the detention hearing that they faced a fine of not more than $100,000, one year in federal prison, one year of supervised release, and a special assessment of $100.

Compare that to last November, when Fr. Bix and four others brought hammers and walked onto the US Naval Base in Bangor, Washington. The Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor is home to the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the US. Fr. Bix, one of the Disarm Now Plowshares activists, walked for four hours through the night, and at dawn cut through two high security fences to enter the Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific where the nuclear warheads are stored. The plowshares activists were right next to the nuclear bunkers when they were arrested.

Fr. Bix was held for several hours, and released. There were no conditions on his release, and the misdemeanor charges  were dropped. Captain Mark Olson, Commander of the Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor, must have been very embarrassed that Bix and the others were able to get into the high security area, and indeed was so embarrassed that no charges have been brought (this eight months later)!

Thank you, Bix, for your faithfulness.  Thank you for upholding the command to love one another. Thank you for continuing to uphold international law.  We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves – thank you for being a good neighbor to all of us.

Susan Crane

Utsumi Shoenin, Bill Bichsel, Sr. Denise, Shelley and Jim Douglass

Anticipating Court, Jail and a Loving Community

by Lynne Greenwald

As I prepare to enter a “not guilty” plea on January 6, 2010 for charges from the November 2, 2009 Disarm Now Plowshares, I remain strongly committed to the need to disarm the Trident subs, and all nuclear weapons. I also stand ready to face the court in an attempt to declare the illegality and immorality of these weapons. And I stand here today as a mother, daughter and sister fully aware of a variety of needs, hopes and dreams that I may not be available to share with my family.

My daughter, Alissa, is pregnant and she and her husband, Brad, are happily expecting their first baby this coming June. My other daughter, Christy, lives in San Francisco, searching for meaningful work and a good life. Noah is about to take off on a quest to understand who he is and how to live peacefully. I’m fortunate to have wonderful adult children who continue to support their mother’s actions.

My parents and sister, Karen, live in Erie, Pennsylvania – my birthplace and 3000 miles away. I traveled West to “find myself” and to live and work for peace in a nonviolent community in 1980.  I have a small family and my parents are in their 80′s now. My sister just found out she has cancer. Testing continues to determine a better diagnosis and necessary treatment. She has lived with my parents for several years and has no other family.

These words are being shared now as I face the experiences of life and death for loved ones, and as I anticipate probable jail time.  What were abstract thoughts for the past year have become reality today. Of course the court could deliver a not guilty verdict and recognize that this action of entering the storage area (SWFPAC) for the highest concentration of nuclear weapons in the U.S., was a necessary step in exposing the Trident threats to destroy lives, and all life.

I will be in court January 6 and face the consequences along with my 4 partners in upholding peace, truth and love – Bix, Susan, Anne and Steve. I will ache and cry for my family in whatever joy and suffering they encounter. I pray for a healthy future for all children, for cures for cancer and all that brings about pain and suffering, for nuclear disarmament and the end of war.

And because we are a community seeking a better world, I am asking for your gifts of prayer and thoughts, for my family and all those who are victims of horrible wars throughout this world, and for military men and women who lose their lives or are severely injured and traumatized. My life, as a “peace activist” is no different than these others, except I chose to cut through the fences at the Trident Base in Kitsap County to expose a hidden truth. I chose to celebrate life by entering the base with my hammer, pruning shears and sunflower seeds to begin disarmament.

Missioning Letter for Fr. Bill Bichsel

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 2^nd, 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