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January 25, 2019 by Nukewatch 2 Comments

Gerd Büntzly, Crime Fighter

Gerd Büntzly (right) with attorney in appeals court

By John LaForge

HAMBURG, Germany — I was with Gerd Büntzly, 69, of Herford, in a demonstration in Germany July 17, 2017. So were Steve Baggarly, Susan Crane, and Bonnie Urfer, all of the United States. Ours was a peaceful if covert, night-time occupation of a protected aircraft shelter or bomb bunker far inside the Büchel Air Force Base, near the beautiful Mosel River valley.

We were there to help prevent the unlawful use of the shelter in nuclear attacks or nuclear war preparations. Routine nuclear war planning by US and German Air Force personnel there, using US B61 nuclear bombs (NATO’s so-called “nuclear sharing”), violates the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and several other international treaties, all binding on the United States and Germany.

A rally in support of Gerd took place before the hearing.

In spite of our formal complaint to state prosecutors against “selective prosecution” of Gerd, and the violation of his “equal protection” rights, only he was charged, tried, and convicted of trespass and property damage (for clipping fences) in January last year. This Jan. 16, he was in court again appealing the conviction. Susan Crane from California and I travelled to Koblenz to speak on his behalf. Attorneys were quite sure that we two could testify, but ultimately were not allowed.

We wanted to explain that international law has the force of state and federal law in Germany and the United States, a fact recognized by Germany’s Constitution (Art. 25) and the US Constitution (Art. 6). According to Univ. of Illinois Law School Prof. Francis Boyle, writing recently for other nuclear weapons resisters, “International law is not ‘higher’ or separate law; it is part and parcel of the structure of federal law. The Supreme Court so held in the landmark decision in The Paquete Habana (1900), that was recently reaffirmed in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in 2006.”

Contrary to modern military strategists, there is no such thing as a “limited nuclear war.” Nuclear weapons only produce massacres. Beginning with 8 to 10 million degrees at detonation, followed by indiscriminate mass destruction from blast effects, city-size mass fires (firestorms) in which nothing survives, and uncontrollable radiation poisoning that produces genetic damage unlimited by space or time, nuclear weapons are just massacre delivery systems.

Supporters hoped to testify in the hearing.

International law has prohibited the planning and not just the commission of such massacres since 1946.

Professor Boyle wrote last November 1st: “The Judgment of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal meted out severe punishment in 1946 against individuals who, acting in full compliance with domestic law but in disregard of the limitations of international law, had committed war crimes and crimes against peace as defined in its Charter.”

The Nuremberg Charter and Principles apply to individual civilians like us and oblige individuals to disobey domestic laws that protect government crimes. And Nuremberg prohibits all “planning and preparation” of wars that violate international treaties.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit indiscriminate attacks on noncombatants, attacks on neutral states, and long-term damage to the environment. The 1907 Hague Conventions forbid the use of poison and poisoned weapons under any circumstances.

Under the 1970 NPT, it is prohibited for Germany to receive nuclear weapons from the United States and for the US to transfer them to Germany. Germany and the United States are both formal state parties to all of these Treaties.

“By implication,” Boyle explains, “the Nuremberg Judgment privileges all citizens of nations engaged in war crimes to act in a measured but effective way to prevent the continuing commission of those crimes. The same Nuremberg Privilege is recognized in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice which has been adopted as a Treaty (the United Nations Charter) by the United States” [and Germany]. In my opinion, such action certainly includes nonviolent exposure and inspection of sites of ongoing war crimes.”

Because nuclear weapons cannot be used without violating these binding international treaties; since Germany and United States at Büchel are planning and preparing war that violates these treaties; and because the Nuremberg Charter and Principles forbid this planning and preparation, and apply to civilians and military personnel alike, and hold citizens individually responsible; and require citizens to disobey illegal orders, to refuse participation in or ignore international crimes, civil resistance at Büchel is no offense but a civic duty, a lawful obligation, and an act of crime prevention.

Some of the German and international supporters from the Netherlands and United States await the trial.

In the courtroom, crowded with 40 people, the three-person “bench” (two lay volunteers and one criminal court judge) found Gerd guilty — but reduced his fine from 1,200 Euros to 750 — after making a few standard quips about “deterrence.” Prescient as ever, Professor Boyle’s latest book is, “The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence” (Clarity Press 2013).

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, Photo Gallery, US Bombs Out of Germany, War, Weekly Column

January 14, 2019 by Nukewatch 2 Comments

Appeal to be Heard in Case of German Nuclear Bomb Bunker Protest Conviction: US Activists to Testify

Gerd Büntzly (right) with anti-nuclear activists before entering Büchel Air Force Base on July 17, 2017.

An appeal court trial for Gerd Büntzly, 69, from Herford, Germany, will begin Wed., Jan. 16, 2019 at 2 p.m. in County Court Koblenz, Germany.

Büntzly has appealed a January 2018 conviction on trespass and property damage charges stemming from a July 2017 protest at the Büchel Air Force Base, in Germany’s Eifel region, which experts say deploys at least 20 U.S. nuclear gravity bombs for use by the German Air Force. Büntzly was sentenced to a fine (40 times his day’s wages) that could translate into 40 days in jail.

Büntzly, 69, who teaches German to refugees, is a retired music teacher, pianist, and an orchestral arranger, and is a founding member of Liebenslaute (Life Sounds), a German resistance orchestra that combines musical performance with social action. (Büntzly is available for interviews before and after the trial.  (+49-522-138-0866)

On July 17, 2017, Büntzly along with four U.S. activists clipped through several chain-link fences at the German nuclear weapons base, and were eventually able to occupy the top of a heavy nuclear weapons bunker known as a protected aircraft shelter. The activists say they acted, to “end our complicity with the unlawful deployment of 20 U.S. B61 nuclear bombs on the Büchel air base.” German air force pilots of the country’s PA200 Tornado fighter jets train at the base to use the U.S. nuclear bombs under a NATO program called “nuclear sharing.”

Two of the U.S. activists that joined Büntzly in the 2017 occupation of the bunker on the base, Susan Crane from the Redwood City Catholic Worker in California, and John LaForge from Nukewatch in Wisconsin, have come to Germany for the appeal trial, where they hope to testify. Susan Crane said, “We don’t want to be complicit the ongoing planning, preparation, possession, deployment, threatened use or the use of the 20 U.S. B61 nuclear bombs at Büchel. These are violations of international humanitarian law and the Nuremberg Principles. We hope the court will recognize the Treaties that forbid nuclear weapons threats, and then reverse Büntzly’s conviction.”

International law experts from the US and Germany have condemned “nuclear sharing” as a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which both the U.S. and Germany have ratified. The NPT’s first two articles prohibit the transfer of nuclear weapons to or from other countries that have ratified it. Anabel Dwyer, an international legal expert from Michigan, has submitted a formal Declaration on behalf of Büntzly, arguing that citizens are permitted to try and prevent unlawful or criminal government conduct, especially alleged violations of Treaties outlawing the planning of war crimes.

Marion Küpker, spokesperson for the German-wide campaign “Büchel is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!” also said that Büntzly’s nonviolent civil resistance was justified. “In 1999, a Scottish court recognized a ‘defense of crime prevention’ under international humanitarian law, when it acquitted three women who had acted against Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine program by throwing parts of its maintenance system into the sea,” Küpker said.

Germany’s “Büchel is Everywhere” campaign has now been endorsed by 60 groups and organizations, and sponsors a nonviolent action camp outside the Büchel base from March 26 to Aug. 9. In the past two years, more than 60 individuals have joined “go-in” actions during the weeks of peace camp. In 2019, there will be another 20 weeks of nonviolent protests at the base.

In the coming years, a new U.S. B61 bomb, the B61-mod 12, is set to be built at a cost of around $12 billion, and the U.S. plans to deploy the new bomb at Büchel and six other NATO bases in Europe where the U.S. Air Force’s current B61-3s and B61-4s are now used. The other “nuclear sharing” sites are in The Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey and (two in) Italy. #####

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, US Bombs Out of Germany, Weekly Column

January 9, 2019 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Committed Loudmouths against Nuclear Lawlessness

Homeland Security or Abbott and Costello meet the Keystone Kops?
By John LaForge

HAMBURG, Germany — You have to wonder if the Department of Homeland Security is insecure or just lame.

On Dec. 31, I was just about to board a flight to Hamburg, when a pair of its employees stopped me and asked a few questions. My mistake was to forget to ask their names, their jobs, and if I was under arrest. Instead I calmly answered their irrelevant queries. Nothing they asked related to anybody’s homeland.

Three pieces of paper that one officer handed me did not concern me or my international travel plans. They were sections of the United States Code regarding “subversive activities” at United States military sites. I’m in Germany to attend the appeal court hearing of a nuclear weapons abolitionist, Gerd Büntzly, whom I joined in 2017, along with three other US citizens, in a protest at the German Air Base Büchel. There are 20 US-manufactured nuclear weapons (B61-4s) at the base, but it’s a German air base. The USAF just works there (under the name 702nd Munitions Support Squadron) to guard, support and train German pilots in use of the US H-bombs.

Gerd, 68, a German language teacher, pianist, orchestral arranger and former music teacher from Herford, Germany, intends to testify at his own appeal that nonviolent resistance at the Büchel base is a lawful act of crime prevention because Germany and the United States deploy the US nuclear bombs there in violation of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The NPT prohibits the transfer of nuclear weapons to or from other states that have signed it. Both the US and Germany are parties to the NPT. (What the US has said to rationalize its nuclear lawlessness is: 1. The H-bombs are under USAF control at the base until war starts; and 2. The NPT doesn’t apply in wartime when the bombs would be transferred to German Tornado fighter jets.) Now that’s subversive activity at a military base!

One inquiring officer wanted a look inside my cornet case even though it had already passed two sets of airport security. (Of course, you never know about cornet players!) The other officer asked if I knew it was unlawful to enter a military installation without permission. I should know after having done so in at least two dozen protests. I said Yes.

After skimming the badly copied sections of the US Code, I asked why the officer was giving them to me. One said, “So you can’t say you haven’t been warned.” But none of the text I was given involved warnings, just federal statutory facts. The US Code is addressed to the US population as a whole. The material was neither addressed to me, nor had a date or the name of an issuing officer. Two pages had a DHS seal shabbily stamped in red. The pages were just photocopies or web page print-outs, complete with comical errors: One elaborately defined federal misdemeanor was said to have a penalty upon conviction of “a fine not to exceed ,000.” Wow, some warning.

The airport interruption was perhaps a sort of “proof of surveillance” demonstration by the cops — a useless and absurd one. One officer then felt the need to inform me that, “‘No trespassing’ signs at military bases are written in English.” I thought, What would become of the nation without the stern Dept. of Homeland Security!  I walked down the causeway to my seat.

Regular readers know that your Nukewatch reporter has protested and engaged in civil resistance against nuclear weapons and war since long before the advent of the Dept. of Homeland Security. Perhaps the attempted scare tactic was actually a message meant for everyone else. By reporting on the airport delay, maybe I only help the DHS put on notice those readers who may be considering opposition to US militarism.

What the DHS hasn’t figured out is that hokey theatrics used to shoo people away from political dissent only succeed against those few activists who were born yesterday. There are just too many time-honored, practical, hard-headed, ethical and strategic reasons for nonviolent political action (against the tyranny of the war system, misogyny, homophobia, racism, sexism and human exploitation) to ever intimidate committed loudmouths.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, Office News, On The Bright Side, US Bombs Out of Germany, Weekly Column

January 3, 2019 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Let’s Stop Taking Doomsday to the Bank

A mock-up of the new nuclear-armed gravity bomb known as B61-12 was wheeled into a congressional hearing room so lawmakers could see and feel the reality of planning and preparing for indiscriminate, uncontrollable mass destruction with firestorms, radiation and long-term genetic mutations.

By John LaForge

Nineteen governments have ratified the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. With 31 more, it will become international law. The International Court of Justice in 1996 declared that any use of nuclear weapons would be “generally unlawful” and referred to them as the “ultimate evil.” UN General Assembly Resolution 1653 says in part: “Any state using nuclear or thermo-nuclear weapons is to be considered as violating the Charter of the United Nations, as acting contrary to the laws of humanity and as committing a crime against [hu]mankind and civilization.”

Yet the US government is actively proceeding to build ever more “usable” nuclear weapons, increasing the likelihood of the unthinkable — by accident or design. One is the new B61 gravity bomb (model 12) now being developed by more than a dozen US companies that are gratuitously taking doomsday preparations to the bank.

The National Nuclear Security Administration hired the contractors to design, test, build and maintain the B61-12s (a gravity bomb dropped from fighter jets and heavy bombers), set for mass production in 2020. The biggest weapons profiteers in the world are cashing in on the B61 project. Addresses and phone numbers of the nuclear war grifters are listed below in case readers want to directly give them some grief. These are some of the nuclear holocaust hucksters:

  • Consolidated Nuclear Security Corp. (CNS) is the giant partnership that operates the sprawling Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and produces the bomb-grade uranium “jacket” of the future B61. CNS’s members are a Who’s Who of the nuclear war system including: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bechtel National, and Orbital ATK, among others.
  • Boeing has designed and is producing the “tail kit” for the new B61-12, steerable fins that will radically improve accuracy, and give the H-bomb new military capabilities.
  • Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest military contractor, is helping Boeing make the B61-12 in effect the world’s first “smart” nuclear bomb.
  • Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico is the lead designer for the B61-12 which is expected to cost over $12 billion. Indeed, all three national nuclear weapons laboratories — Los Alamos and Sandia, in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in California — have contributed to the design of the B61-12. Think of it as a jobs program for PhD dead enders.
  • Bechtel National, Inc. normally “puts the US on the cutting edge of missile development” as its website says, but at Y-12 it’s got a piece of the B61 golden goose.
  • Orbital ATK, Inc. (formerly AlliantTech Systems) is also in on the B61 boondoggle at Y12. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, ATK designs and builds missile propulsion systems, military electronics, precision weapons, armament systems, and large- and small-caliber ammunition — including 120mm depleted uranium shells.
  • Honeywell runs the Kansas City Plant in Missouri making non-nuclear components for all nuclear warheads including the B61s, and has contracted to run the Sandia National Lab.
  • Integrated Technology Corp. is an information management firm; while Fluor Federal Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fluor Corporation of Irving, Texas, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance, and project management.
  • Longenecker & Associates, Inc. is a consulting firm that provides specialized, technical and management services to nuclear industries, particularly the planning of “startup and commissioning” of nuclear systems and facilities.

It is the blind careerism and money grubbing of these companies and their congressional lackeys that is driving nuclear weapons production in the United States. Civil society is in a fierce struggle against them in order to see the Bomb stigmatized and banned — like chemical and biological weapons, landmines and cluster munitions.

Plowshares movement defense attorney Kary Love has suggested that “Rather than targeting governmental installations, a program hitting corporate sponsors could succeed. Divestiture movements, public shaming, moral condemnation may bear fruit.” Here are a few to start with:

Lockheed Martin, 6801 Rockledge Dr., Bethesda, MD 20817; 972-603-9818.

Boeing Defense, Space and Security, PO Box 516, St. Louis, MO 63166; 314-232-0232.

Bechtel National, 50 Beale St., San Francisco, CA 94105; 415-768-1234.

Honeywell / Kansas City Plant: 14520 Botts Rd., Kansas City, MO 64147; 816-488-2000; & New Mexico location, 2540 Alamo SE, Bldg. A., Albuquerque, NM 87106; 505-267-4020.

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) Corp., Y-12 National Security Complex, Bear Creek Rd., Oak Ridge, TN 37830.

Orbital ATK, 45101 Warp Dr., Dulles, VA 20166; 703-406-5000.

Integrated Technology Corp., 1228 North Stadem Dr., Tempe, AZ 85281; 480-968-3459.

Fluor Federal Services Corp, George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99354; 509-376-6808.

Longenecker & Associates, Inc., 2514 Red Arrow Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89135; 702-493-5363.

You can also take part in an international campaign to take money from the financiers of the companies producing nuclear weapons. Dont’ Bank on the Bomb!

Filed Under: Direct Action, Military spending, Weekly Column

December 31, 2018 by Nukewatch 2 Comments

Update on the Kings Bay Plowshares

from the Kings Bay Plowshares Support Group

December 22, 2018

Friends,

We are waiting for the decision on the Religious Freedom motions, fitting in this Advent season of waiting. A decision is expected by the end of January and then a trial date may be set. A memo from lead attorney Bill Quigley follows, explaining in more detail how he expects the legal process to proceed. There is also a note about Mark Colville’s decision to go back to jail after his successful cancer surgery.  As the season of giving comes upon us, we also come to you to ask for more donations.  

Mark Colville Returns to Jail

As you may know, Mark bonded out of the Glynn county jail in September to get surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his nose. He chose to go back to jail on December 11 after successful surgery and recovery. With the oppressive curfew restrictions and ankle monitor he felt that he was halfway in jail and getting no credit for it. So after some confusion as to how to proceed, as defendants rarely return voluntarily to custody after getting out on bail, he reentered the jail to join Steve Kelly and Liz McAlister and has the same address and number as previously. He wrote a moving letter before going in which is posted on the website in the Jail Addresses section.

LEGAL UPDATE

from Bill Quigley, November 19, 2018

Since the last update on 9.26.18, there have been two pre-trial hearings in federal court to allow the Kings Bay Plowshares to put on evidence about why their religious beliefs led them to take their actions and why this prosecution should be dismissed.  One hearing was on November 7, 2018 and the second was on November 19, 2018.

The Kings Bay Plowshares asked the court to dismiss these prosecutions for several reasons.  Nuclear weapons are illegal under US law.  Nuclear weapons are illegal under US Treaty Law.  Nuclear weapons are illegal under international law.  And prosecuting peace activists for taking action based on their religious beliefs violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The court heard arguments on the motion to dismiss and then asked for more briefing on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Additional briefs and affidavits on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act were submitted and are set out in the 9.26.18 legal update.  As part of those pleadings, the Kings Bay Plowshares asked for an opportunity to tell the court what their religious beliefs are and why those beliefs led them to symbolically disarm the nuclear weapons at Kings Bay.

The court heard their testimony at the two November hearings. During those hearings each of the Kings Bay Plowshares took the stand and told the court why they took the actions they did.  The government put on a few witnesses as well arguing that there was no way the government could be expected to accommodate these actions by religious people.

At this time, the US Magistrate has not ruled on the pre-trial motions.  Once the hearings are transcribed both the prosecution and defense will be given 20 days to submit short memos.  Then the Magistrate will issue his report and recommendations on the various motions to dismiss filed by the defendants.

After the Magistrate issues his report and recommendations, those will be sent to US District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood for her decision.  The Kings Bay Plowshares and the government will be given another opportunity to respond in writing and likely have oral argument on the pretrial motions to dismiss at that time.

Complicating all this is the fact that there is a new US Magistrate presiding over preliminary matters in the Kings Bay Plowshares federal prosecution.  Benjamin Cheesbro replaced Stan Baker as Magistrate after Baker was nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the US Senate to become a new District Court Judge.  Baker presided over the bond hearings and the first argument on the motion to dismiss.  Cheesbro took over and presided over the last two hearings.

Support the Kings Bay Plowshares Seven

You’re reading this because you are part of the Plowshares movement. You wonder and are concerned and pray around what will happen to our friends for their witness and sacrifice. You want to make the most of what they have given. Thank you.

You may have donated already. We ask you to give again. And ask one friend or several to join you. It will give you a chance to deepen their involvement for peace.

As you read herein, in November the seven had their hearing on their motion for dismissal under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and they are expecting to go to trial early next year. There are a lot of expenses involved around their witness and the trial and support. Almost everything, including their excellent legal defense team, is being done by volunteers. We have a budget of $50,000. We have raised about 70 percent of that goal so far. We need to cover upcoming housing, travel, and related expenses which will help with our efforts to maximize publicity and awareness.

Our friends have met the epic threat of omnicide with epic action and sacrifice. Let us support our sisters and brothers who put their lives and freedom on the line to shake our culture from its slumber, to witness us awake. Their action is necessary to our times. Please join this effort to support them and to amplify their call to action. You will be supporting local organizing in the community around the base as well as the trial costs.

Now we need your support to get us to our goal. Please give until it hur… feels really warm and fuzzy!

You can donate online at kingsbayplowshares7.org and click the donate button or send a check payable to Plowshares to PO Box 3087, Washington, DC 20010.

We can’t thank you enough for your support, for your being a part of the Plowshares support community, and helping to make the most of our friends’ witness and sacrifice.

Peace and blessings upon you this Christmas season!

 Steve Dear

 

Filed Under: Direct Action, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, Quarterly Newsletter

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