Nukewatch

Working for a nuclear-free future since 1979

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Peoples’ Nuclear Disarmament Action

 

On Sunday, July 15th 2018, eighteen people from four different countries cut through fences to reclaim German Air Force Base Büchel, which hosts about 20 U.S. nuclear bombs. The activists are from the USA (7), Germany (6), The Netherlands (4) and England (1).

The peace activists cut through razor wire and some other fences and several made it to the runway; three activists walked to a nuclear weapons bunker, and climbed up to the top where they were undetected for an hour. All 18 were eventually found by soldiers, handed over to the civil police, ID checked, and released from the base after 4-½ hours.

This action was part of the international week during the 20 weeks of protests by the German campaign ‘Buechel is everywhere! Nuclear weapons-free now!’. The campaign demands the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Germany, the cancellation of the upcoming nuclear modernization and compliance with international treaties.

On this air force base, German pilots stand ready to fly Tornado fighter jets with U.S.  B-61 nuclear bombs and could even drop them, on orders from U.S. President Donald Trump on targets in or near Europe.

This “nuclear sharing” within NATO is in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which does not allow Germany to take nuclear weapons from other countries and forbids the U.S. from sharing its nuclear weapons with non-nuclear weapons states. The activists demand of their governments that they sign the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, of July 7th 2017, which was supported by 122 UN members.

On top of a nuclear bomb bunker

“Civil disobedience is often necessary to make important changes possible, like the abolition of slavery, the women’s rights to vote, and the civil rights movement,” said John LaForge, co-director of Nukewatch, the Luck, Wisconsin peace group, which helped organize a 9-person US delegation to the protest. The nonviolent campaign is part of the ICAN network, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, and recently called for nonviolent direct actions on nuclear bases to urge more countries to sign the treaty ban. The Dutch activist Frits ter Kuile said: “My motivation is the commandment to love one’s “enemies”, and the Nuremberg principles stating that everyone is responsible for the crimes their government commits. We have the duty to take down the fences that protect nuclear mass destruction, and reclaim the land for the people and their real needs”.

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An Appeal to the Personnel of Büchel Air Base

L to R: Marion Kuepker, John LaForge, Susan Crane, CeeCee Anderson, Max Smay, Ann Suellentrop, Anthony Donovan — at the Main Gate, Büchel Air Base, Germany
From the United States peace delegation to Germany, July 2018

We feel an overwhelming responsibility to warn you of the unlawful nature of your work in support of the mission of Büchel Air Base, i.e., preparations for nuclear war.

It is likely that your superior officers have inadequately informed you of the legal implications of your work here. Participation by individual military or civilian personnel in actions they know to be or could assume to be unlawful cannot be justified by citing superior orders.

The endorsement by the United States and Germany of the Geneva Conventions, Air Force Service Manuals, and the Nuremberg Principles make the refusal of unlawful orders a legal obligation. Taken together, the Constitution of the United States, the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Conventions, and your military service manual(s) prohibit citizens or military personnel from cooperating with policies they know to be unlawful. Furthermore, U.S. and German judges are competent and responsible to restrain the execution of internationally outlawed government policy.

In the August 31, 1987 Draft Report on the Principles of International Law and Nuclear Weapons, the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy warned that: “The threat to use nuclear weapons constitutes ongoing international criminal activity: namely, planning, preparation, and conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, as well as grave breaches of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, Additional Protocol I of 1977, and the Hague Regulations of 1907…”

With the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause” and expert legal advice in mind, we hereby warn and appeal to the men and women of Büchel Air Base to stop participating in the perpetuation of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as detailed in the following international legal prohibitions; and we urge you to end your personal participation in the U.S. and German governments’ unlawful nuclear war planning.

1. Relevant Law

• U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Set. II, “the supremacy clause”: “All treaties … shall be the supreme law of the land, and every judge in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution of the laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”
• The 1949 Geneva Conventions¬ on the laws of war prohibit reprisals, as do the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Army field manual The Law of War, the U.S. Law of Naval Warfare, and U.S. Air Force policies on International law: The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations.
• Nuremberg Principle One: “Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable to punishment.”
• UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, July 7, 2017: Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to:
(a) Develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
(b) Transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly or indirectly;
(c) Receive the transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices directly or indirectly;
(d) Use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
(e) Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
(f) Seek or receive any assistance, in any way, from anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
(g) Allow any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in its territory or at any place under its jurisdiction or control.

2. Crimes Under Provisions of the Nuremberg Principles “For Which There Shall Be Individual Responsibility”:

• Article VI: “Crimes against Peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances.”
• Article VIII: “The fact that the Defendant acted pursuant to order of his government or responsible officials in Government Departments shall hot be considered as freeing them from responsibility…”
• Article IX: “At the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the Tribunal may declare that the group or organization of which the individual was a member was a criminal organization.”

3. Crimes Under Treaties, Pacts, Protocols, Charters, Conventions

• The 1868 Declaration of St. Petersburg limits all warfare to military forces alone.
• The 1899 Hague Regulations which especially prohibit the employment of poison or poisoned arms, the killing or wounding treacherously of individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army, and the employment of arms, projectiles, or materials of a nature to cause superfluous injury.
• The 1925 Geneva Gas Protocol which prohibits the use of poisonous or other gasses, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices.
• The 1928 Kellog-Briand Pact which condemned and renounced recourse to war as an instrument of national policy.
• The 1948 Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide which criminalizes all “conspiracy to commit genocide” against a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
• The 1968 Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) at Article I prohibits the transfer of nuclear weapons to other states, and at Article II prohibits the reception of nuclear weapons from other states. So-call “nuclear sharing” agreement by which Germany receives, deploys and trains to use U.S. B61 hydrogen bombs is an open violation of this Treaty by both countries who are both signatories to the NPT.

4. Violation of natural law and religious teachings

The threatened use of nuclear weapons violates Natural Law by putting at risk the entire living ecosystem, the genetic heritage of planet Earth, and the very existence of the human race. Hundreds of religious leaders have proclaimed that nuclear weapons are inherently immoral and that planning for their use violates religious laws against premeditated murder. For example:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said May 22, 2010: “Nuclear abolition is the democratic wish of the world’s people, and has been our goal almost since the dawn of the atomic age.”
Pope Benedict XIV said Jan. 1, 2010: “[O]ne can only encourage the efforts of the international community to ensure progressive disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons, whose presence alone threatens the life of the planet and the ongoing integral development of the present generation and of generations yet to come.”

5. Precedent

Nuremberg Tribunal Judgment, Oct. 1, 1946, in which the court, upon trying German civilians and military personal, found:
• “International law, as such, binds every citizen, just as does ordinary municipal law. Acts adjudged criminal when done by an officer of the government are criminal when done by a private individual.”
• “The activities with which the accused were charged were commercial transactions conducted by civilians…. Any civilian who is an accessory to a violation of the laws and customs of war is himself also liable as a war criminal.”
• “The fact that a person acts pursuant to order of his government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact available for him.”
• “The laws and customs of war are addressed to anybody who is in a position to assist in their violation.”

We understand our duty to obey the U.S. Constitution, Nuremberg Law, and German and U.S. statues which taken together require that we act to prevent unlawful government actions conducted in our names, even war crimes, before the fact.
As an act of conscientious objection to nuclear war preparations, and as an act of crime prevention and responsible citizenship, we are here peacefully resisting the unlawful conspiracy by the United States and German Air Forces to commit massacres using nuclear weapons. We are here on behalf of all those who are unaware of the threat that such planning poses to life and liberty, who are unaware of the binding legal prohibitions that outlaw planning for nuclear war, or who feel powerless to take effective action against the Büchel Air Base’s illegal nuclear war planning and preparations.
We call upon all men and women of good faith to join us in the endeavor to prevent and ban the use or threatened use of nuclear weapons, to participate in nonviolent public resistance to nuclear war planning, and pursue the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

US Peace Delegation to Büchel Air Base, July 2018
ANN SUELLENTROP, Kansas City, Kansas; SUSAN CRANE, Redwood City, Calif.; JOHN LaFORGE and BONNIE URFER, both of Luck, Wisc.; ANTHONY DONOVAN, New York, NY; VICTOR WHITE, Oceanside, Calif.; CEE’CEE’ ANDERSON, College Park, Georgia; DENNIS DuVALL, Prescott, Ariz.; MAX SMAY, Boise, Idaho

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German Campaigners See Progress in Confronting US Nuclear Weapons

Outside the main gate into Büchel Air Base, peace camp organizer Marion Küpker (center) gave “newcomers” an introduction to the nuclear weapons site and the 20-year history of protest there.
Summer Quarterly 2018

On March 26, nuclear abolitionists in Germany launched 20 weeks of nonviolent resistance at Büchel Air Base, continuing until August 9, 2018. The base controls 20 US nuclear bombs, a remnant of the US Cold War nuclear arsenal that used to number in the thousands.

The March start date is the anniversary of the bi-partisan approval in 2010 by the German Bundestag or Parliament to urge the government to permanently remove the remaining US bombs.

In spite of near unanimous German public opinion that the bombs should be permanently withdrawn (a 2016 poll showed that 89% of the German public is against the US nukes), German pilots are both trained and obligated to take off with these bombs in their Tornado jet fighter-bombers and—if the orders come from a US president through NATO—to use them on their targets.

Germany’s peace movement is the only one in Europe that has built a nation-wide campaign coalition of 50 groups and organizations—called “Büchel is everywhere—nuclear weapons-free now!”—focused on nuclear abolition. Its goals are the removal of the US bombs, cancellation of the B61-12 replacement bomb, and seeing the country ratify the new International Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In the last few years, because of increased military hostility toward Russia, and NATO discussion of “usable low-yield” nuclear weapons, the Campaign Council has endorsed nonviolent civil resistance at the Büchel Air Base to bring more attention to the issue. Besides lobby work to halt the B61 replacement, the council increases awareness and political pressure using nonviolent direct action.

Last February 3rd, German Social Democratic Party members of the European Parliament met in a regional conference and unanimously approved a motion to withdraw all remaining US nuclear weapons from Germany. At the SDP’s regional association convention in Rhineland, EP member Norbert Neuser issued a letter to members that said in part, “I know that this initiative does not necessarily meet the goodwill of the party in Berlin, but I agree absolutely with the compliant by [former SDP leader] Martin Schulz who made in the [2017] election campaign a clear call for the abolition of the last nuclear weapons from Germany.”

B61-12 Cancellation Bills to Support
Warheads discussing bombs. A congressional hearing room with a mock-up of a new B61-12 hydrogen bomb being developed as a $10-$13 billion make-work program to needlessly replace earlier models.

Parallel House and Senate bills that would prohibit spending on new and so-called “smaller” nuclear weapons including the B61-12 are under consideration in congress. The bills are H.R. 2668, the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act” introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and S. 1235 its tandem measure in the senate. While far from the global rejection of nuclear weapons embodied in the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the bills would halt spending for the new B61 gravity bomb; adding nuclear weapons carrying capability to the R-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet; any new air-launched Cruise missile (known as Long Range Stand-Off); and any replacement of today’s 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles like the proposed $100 billion “Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.” Call your Congressional Rep’s and Senators and urge their support and co-sponsorship of these bills.

Germany’s Bank to Divest from Nuclear Weapons

Expanding its investment restrictions, Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest, has agreed to exclude nuclear weapons producers. A statement on its website announced: “The policy published today makes clear that Deutsche Bank avoids entering into, or continuing, any kind of business relationship with entities with clear, direct links to the following types of controversial weapons business: Cluster Munitions; Anti-Personnel Mines; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Weapons; Controversial Conventional Weapons.” Maaike Beenens, with the group Don’t Bank on the Bomb, welcomes the new policy by Deutsche Bank, saying “With the new policy, Deutsche Bank clearly recognizes that investments in any type of nuclear weapons companies are unacceptable. With growing threats to use nuclear weapons, this announcement is a timely reminder of the choice we all face—nuclear weapons or our collective future. We welcome this decision, and hope to see divestment by Deutsche Bank from all nuclear weapon producers.” The move follows intense pressure and negotiations by campaigners from Don’t Bank on the Bomb and ICAN Germany, who will be watching closely to see that the bank follows through with divestment.

Second US Delegation to Join International Peace Actions at Germany’s Deployment Site for US H-Bombs

The German-wide campaign “Büchel  is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-free Now!” demands: 1) that the remaining 20 US H-bombs at Büchel be sent home permanently; 2) that they not be replaced with new bombs as the US intends, and 3) that Germany ratify the new nuclear weapons ban treaty. A delegation from the United States coordinated by Nukewatch will join “International Week” at the Büchel peace camp, July 10-18. For  info. visit the websites buechel-atombombenfrei.de, where you can endorse the campaign by signing a “Declaration of Solidarity.”

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US Peace Delegation to Join International Call for Ouster of US Nuclear Weapons from Germany

For the second time in two years, a delegation of US peace activists* will participate in protests at the Büchel Air Base in the center-west part of Germany, July 10 to 18, 2018 demanding the withdrawal of the 20 remaining US H-bombs still deployed there.

The eight US activists — from Wisconsin, California, New York, Missouri, Georgia and Arizona — will join the coalition of 50 German peace groups and organizations converging on the air base. The delegation has been organized by Nukewatch, the peace and environmental group based in Luck, Wisc., in conjunction with a 50-group coalition of German peace organizations called “Büchel is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!”

The target of the protests is the controversial policy of placing nuclear weapons in other countries, and expensive US plans to replace the bombs instead of withdrawing them. The US is the only country in the world that arms other countries with its nuclear weapons. Under a program called “nuclear sharing,” Germany, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, and The Netherlands still deploy a total of 150 Cold War-era US nuclear weapons.** Critics point out that all five countries are parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which explicitly prohibits nuclear weapons from being transferred to or accepted from other countries.

This past March 26, activists in Germany launched a 20-week-long series of nonviolent protests — “Twenty Weeks for Twenty Bombs” — to rid Germany of the remaining 20 US Air Force nuclear gravity bombs known as B61s. The protests continue through August 9, the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. The US peace delegation will join International Week, July 10 to 18, along with activists from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany and elsewhere. (Last year’s US delegation joined other nuclear weapons opponents from as far away as China, Mexico, and Russia.)

“The world wants nuclear weapons abolished,” said US delegate Bonnie Urfer, a long-time peace activist and former staffer with the nuclear watchdog group Nukewatch, in Luck, Wisconsin. “To waste billions of dollars replacing them with new ones is outrageous considering how many millions are in poverty or in need disaster relief, emergency shelter, and safe drinking water,” Urfer said. Urfer has spent 6-and-1/2 years incarcerated over the last 30 years for misdemeanor-level protests she calls “civil resistance” against war, nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

The US delegation and the German public object to US plans to produce 480 new hydrogen bombs — dubbed the “B61-12” — to replace the 150 now deployed across Europe (including the 20 at Büchel Air Base).

“Our united resistance will stop the new, illegal nuclear bombs nobody needs,” said Marion Küpker, a disarmament campaigner with Büchel Is Everywhere. “We want Germany to be nuclear weapons-free,” she said.

A huge majority of the German public supports the UN treaty ban and the removal of the US nuclear weapons from its territory. According to a March 2016 poll, a whopping 93% want nuclear weapons banned; 85% agreed that the US weapons should be permanently ousted from Germany; and 88% said they oppose US plans to replace the current H-bombs with the new “B61-12.”

*The delegation includes: CEECEE ANDERSON from Atlanta Georgia; SUSAN CRANE, of Redwood City, California; ANTHONY DONOVAN of New York, NY; DENNIS DUVAL from Prescott, Arizona; ANN SUELLENTROP of Kansas City, Missouri; VICTOR WHITE, of Oceanside, California; and BONNIE URFER and JOHN LaFORGE, both with Nukewatch, in Luck, Wisconsin.

**United States nuclear forces, 2018, tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00963402.2018.1438219

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