Still Unrepentant After All These Years

Friends,

Bix sat down with “The News Chick” – that’s what they call KIRO Radio’s Linda Thomas – for an interview the other day.  As usual Bix spoke truth, and she allowed him to pour it out.  At the end of the interview Linda asked Bix if he had any regrets or remorse for what he did (at Bangor), and whether he would do it again.  Bix replied, “You might say I’m unrepentant.”  Yes, one might say that about Bix!!!

Perhaps those who truly need to repent are the ones dutifully dismantling and re-assembling the W-76 nuclear warheads that, after being refurbished, will be returned to the Bangor base where they will be attached to their missiles and deployed on the Trident submarines.  Perhaps those who cruise silently beneath the sea, prepared to dutifully “press the buttons that will initiate the great festival of destruction…” (to quote Thomas Merton) need repentance.  And perhaps it is those who dutifully work in laboratories further developing and refining the technologies that prepare for the end of the world in dire need of repentance.

Walking the Road to Conversion

Reflection by Susan Crane

As the sentencing date approaches, I’m thinking about our walk onto the US Naval Base Bangor, and thinking about the nuclear weapons  at the Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific.  Where do these warheads and missiles come from? Where are they made?

We know that the secondaries for the nuclear warheads are made at the Y-12 plant in Tennessee, and locally, both Bix and Jackie Hudson are both awaiting trial for walking onto the Y-12 property.

We know, from the discovery papers that the government gave us before the trial, that Lockheed Martin maintains the Reentry Bodies that carry the warheads from the D-5 missile to their target.  The day we walked into SWFPAC, Lockheed Martin said that they couldn’t work on the re-entry bodies  (RB lockheed martin)  and the cost impact was $40,000 dollars that day.

Jury Reaches Verdict in Disarm Now Plowshares Trial

From left: Bix, Susan, Steve, Anne and Lynne

Tacoma, Washington, Monday, December 13, 2010: The federal criminal trial of five veteran peace activists that began December 7 ended today after the jury found them guilty on all counts. The five defendants, called the Disarm Now Plowshares, challenged the legality and morality of the US storage and use of thermonuclear missiles by Trident nuclear submarines at the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base outside Bremerton Washington.

Jury for Tacoma Trident Peace Activists Still Out

Editor’s Note: We are grateful to Bill Quigley, Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights; Professor, Loyola New Orleans, for authoring this news release, originally posted at the Huffington Post on December 10, 2010 09:31 PM

The federal criminal trial of five veteran peace activists facing several charges was recessed until Monday after their jury announced late Friday they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on one of the counts. The Tacoma Washington trial has been going on since Tuesday. The five defendants, called the Disarm Now Plowshares, challenged the legality and morality of the US storage and use of thermonuclear missiles by Trident nuclear submarines at the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base outside Bremerton Washington.

Is Anyone Paying Attention?

a reflection by Sr. Anne Montgomery, RSCJ

Is anyone paying attention?

A few realities this holiday season of shopping, feasting, football, but also of the jobless, homeless, hungry of the world; of melting glaciers, disappearing species, drought and flood.

20 miles west of Seattle,  between the Olympic Mountains and the waters of Puget Sound, lies Naval Submarine Base Kitsap Bangor.  At its heart, beneath rows of concrete bunkers, Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) houses more than 1,000 nuclear warheads, approximately 24% of the entire U.S. arsenal, more than the total of England, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea combined.

January 6 courtdate for Disarm Now Plowshares arraignment

Security at Nuclear Bunkers Breached, but no mention of nuclear weapons in charging documents.

“On 02Nov09, at approximately 0630 hours, the following individuals were detained at gunpoint by US Marine Security Forces in the Main Limited Area (MLA), Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC), aboard Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bangor, WA.