How the US Turned Three Pacifists Into 'Multiple Felony Saboteurs'

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/how-us-turned-three-pacifists-multiple-felony-saboteurs

In just ten months, the United States managed to transform an 82 year-old Catholic nun and two pacifists from non-violent anti-nuclear peace protestors accused of misdemeanor trespassing into federal felons convicted of violent crimes of terrorism. Now in jail awaiting sentencing for their acts at an Oak Ridge, TN nuclear weapons production facility, their story should chill every person concerned about dissent in the US.

Here is how it happened.

In the early morning hours of Saturday June 28, 2012, long-time peace activists Sr. Megan Rice, 82, Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, and Michael Walli, 63, cut through the chain link fence surrounding the Oak Ridge Y-12 nuclear weapons production facility and trespassed onto the property. Y-12, called the Fort Knox of the nuclear weapons industry, stores hundreds of metric tons of highly enriched uranium and works on every single one of the thousands of nuclear weapons maintained by the U.S.

Describing themselves as the Transform Now Plowshares, the three came as non-violent protestors to symbolically disarm the weapons. They carried bibles, written statements, peace banners, spray paint, flower, candles, small baby bottles of blood, bread, hammers with biblical verses on them and wire cutters. Their intent was to follow the words of Isaiah 2:4: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

[HiPointDem]

1. kr

[Orrex]

2. Misdemeanor trespassing? Really?

Wow. I would have thought that cutting through the fence at such a facility would itself be a felony.

K/R

[shawn703]

7. That was for the first fence

Which was the penalty posted on the sign of that first fence.

Once they cut through the three additional fences to the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (HEUMF), that's when they got into real trouble.

[Orrex]

10. Ah. Thanks.

Well, they must have had some idea of the consequences for breaking into such a facility, so I can only infer that their goal was to achieve exactly what the accomplished.

[cantbeserious]

3. Obama's Justice Department In Action - And Some Say Obama Is A Liberal - How On Earth Is That True?

eom

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. One sentence ...

broken into 3 parts, none of which have anying to do with the OP/article (Well, if one takes the last part as a stand alone, ignoring the first two parts ...it could relate to the OP/article; but that would be taking it out of context); all of which reveal your ODS.

[cantbeserious]

22. We Will Have To Agree To Disasgree

eom

[1StrongBlackMan]

27. No, We can't agree to disagree ...

on this.

You're right ... you cantbeserious.

This article has nothing to do with whether President Obama is a Liberal or not. But tell me, what "Liberal" President would/has endorsed his Justice Department's ignoring the breaking in of a federal installation.

[cantbeserious]

28. I Guess The Irony Of A User Name Is Lost On Some - I Am Very Serious

eom

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. You can't be ...

Going off on an anti-President Obama "He's not liberal" jag because he didn't intervene to stop the prosecution of folks that broke into a federal facility.

If this is an example of your being serious ... Seriously, stop.

[cantbeserious]

33. Very Serious

eom

[Ghost in the Machine]

19. I wonder how different your reply would be if they were carrying semi-automatic weapons with

big black scary stocks, pistol grips and high capacity magazines? The same question could go for the OP, too. I live about a 45 minute drive from this facility, and six miles from the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.

Several weeks ago, a TVA guard came across a man on the Nuke Plant property while doing his rounds at around 2:30 - 3:00AM. When he tried to stop and make contact with the intuder, the intruder started shooting at the Officer. The Officer was able to take cover behind his vehicle and return fire, but in the darkness, the intruder was able to escape down the embankment and take off in his boat that he had used to gain entrance to the property with in the first place.

How should "Obama's Justice Department" deal with that? Those 3 old codgers, who cut through THREE FENCES to gain access to a facility full of weapons grade enriched uranium, *should* be thanking their lucky stars that they are still alive to be facing charges. The final outcome *COULD* have been much, MUCH worse!

Ghost

[cantbeserious]

23. No Guns Were Involved - So Speculating Is Of Little Value

eom

[Ghost in the Machine]

29. You shouldn't have to speculate on what your own thoughts would be. n/t

[cantbeserious]

34. It Is Your Thoughts That Cause Pause

eom

[Ghost in the Machine]

45. Why should MY thoughts "Cause Pause"? Are you unwilling, or simply unable, to answer a very simple

'wondering out loud to myself' question? In the midst of all of your obfuscation and obtuseness, maybe you've forgotten the original pondering, which was:

I wonder how different your reply would be if they were carrying semi-automatic weapons with big black scary stocks, pistol grips and high capacity magazines?

You seem to dismiss this as a prank by a group of 9th graders, freeing the frogs so they don't have dissect them in Biology class, when it is actually a VERY real criminal action in which security was breeched at a Nuclear Weapons Manufacturing Plant. Hard questions need to be asked: *WHERE* was Security, that they made it through *THREE* layers of fencing?? Where were the alarms? The cameras? What if these were ARMED terrorists, hellbent on causing some *REAL* damage and chaos??

If you are unable to form an opinion of how you would feel about that, maybe you really 'cantbeserious', and shouldn't be taken so on anything

Ghost

[snooper2]

51. If it was a teabagger breaking in to do something nefarious the whole story

would have a whole different set of replies...


But since it is an old fundy "peace" lady she gets a pass

[shawn703]

4. Well

Breaking into a nuclear weapons production facility should carry with it stiff penalties. I'm sure that thought crossed their minds when they did it, and even brought more attention to their case which was probably one of their goals.

Likewise, if these gun nuts bring loaded weapons into DC for their "peaceful protest" on the Fourth, I expect the US Attorney prosecuting their cases to make sure they're charged with every law they break too.

[Pelican]

5. As a rule. breaking into nuclear facilities tends to result in bad things...

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. Please consider changing ...

the OP'd title ... the US didn't "turn" them from pacifists to Into "Multiple Felony Saboteurs"; presumably, the protesters continue to be pacificsts.

[G_j]

9. they were completely prepared for the consequences

from MLK's Six Principals of Nonviolence,

"Accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve the goal. Self-chosen suffering is redemptive and helps the movement grow in a spiritual as well as a humanitarian dimension. The moral authority of voluntary suffering for a goal communicates the concern to one’s own friends and community as well as to the opponent."

[malthaussen]

11. Sure they were prepared for it...

... but that is not exactly the point. My government, my justice department, is my agent. What I do through another's hands, I do myself. Certain of my agent's actions in connection with the Communist menace -- uh, I mean, terrorist menace -- make me a bit more distraught than others. This would certainly be one example.

-- Mal

[Mnemosyne]

12. I'm sure that Sr. Rice was very recently sentenced to twenty years for this action. nt

[msanthrope]

43. Since her sentencing isn't until September, I doubt that. nt

[Mnemosyne]

48. My bad, she was convicted, not sentenced. nt

[alphafemale]

13. They turned themselves into felons.

They did it all by themselves.

[rhett o rick]

35. Does that make you feel better? nm

[alphafemale]

39. no. why would it?

but who else do you want to grant selective immunity to?

[rhett o rick]

40. So you have empathy for them or you think they deserve what they get? nm

[alphafemale]

42. I have empathy for them AND they deserve the sentence.

This wasn't symbolic trespassing.

This was pretty planned.

Just like people going over the fence at the Fort Benning School of the America's protest. They do that KNOWING they are going to jail for six months.

These people did what they did accepting their fate.

They probably welcome it.

They are clergy. They are nuns. They will be fine wherever they are. They will minister to needs wherever they are.

[rhett o rick]

47. Your response doesnt show empathy at all. Are you against all civil disobedience? nm

[Progressive dog]

14. They accomplished what they set out to do.

They got publicity.
They understood the probable consequences of their actions.

[rhett o rick]

36. And so you dont have empathy for them? I would hope "politically liberal" posters here in DU would

show empathy.

[Progressive dog]

44. Empathy assumes that I could put myself in their shoes

Since I don't understand their actions, I can't.
What they did was wantonly destructive and dangerous to themselves and others. It did not belong in a liberal democratic society.

[rhett o rick]

46. I guess I have a different prospective, a different definition of "wantonly destructive".

In a true liberal democratic society, these people would have a voice. In America we have no liberal democratic society. I would err on the side of the individual. Apparently you dont agree.

[Progressive dog]

50. No I don't, they do have a voice, but that's not good enough

for some. They think that their beliefs entitle them to run things. These are the people who will only be happy with the system of government if every one follows their lead. When they fail at the ballot box and at persuasion (assuming they ever tried), they destroy and disrupt to call attention to themselves. That has nothing to do with liberal, it has nothing to do with democracy, it has everything to do with self righteous elitists.

[FairWinds]

15. Nuclear Weapons,

as I used to argue to my students, are crimes against humanity merely waiting for a chance to happen.
Even Reagan, for God's sake, pretty much knew that.
As the U.S. government has proven over and over, by repeatedly threatening to use nukes and also by actually doing so on Japanese civilians, humans as a species lack the maturity to possess weapons such as these.
Those who resist the Nuclear War Machine are heroes, including the brave folks from Transform . .
I'm a member of Veterans for Peace, and a volunteer on the VFP Golden Rule Project, a boat that is a living legacy of courageous resistance to nuclear weapons. Check it out !!

[G_j]

16. +1000

"humans as a species lack the maturity to possess weapons such as these."

[cantbeserious]

24. Right You Are - Nuclear Weapons Are Deplorable

eom

[marmar]

17. K/r ......

Some of the responses to the OP make my stomach queasy.

[bvar22]

21. Me too.

I am repulsed by them so much so that that I don't want to be associated with them in ANY way.

These 3 are heroes.

[proReality]

18. The government should be thanking them

for showing where the weak points in security are. I mean really, they got through 3 fences before they were caught! They're either the fastest people on earth or security there was/is very slow and incompetent.

[JEB]

20. I'd say that whoever is in charge of security

is the criminal. We need to get our gawd damned nukes under control or get rid of them. The government should be sending the 3 "old dodgers" a big reward for finding and revealing the dismal lack of security.

edit to add...Imagine the results if this was done by some group with mal-intent instead of 3 elder pacifists trying to make a point.

[Overseas]

25. K&R. I just hope their sentencing is not outrageously disproportionate. That's the most disturbing.

When nonviolent protesters and whistleblowers and activists face get tough sentences while war criminals walk free.

[Ohio Joe]

26. "small baby bottles of blood"... WTF?

Amazing stupidity and... Pretty fucking creepy to boot. Sorry, the religious nutters breaking into a place like this do not get a pass.

[NightWatcher]

30. They're lucky they didn't look like a threat

They passed barriers where security is authorized to use deadly force.

I worked at Oak Ridge a million lifetimes ago and can tell you it's not a place to play or try to make a statement.

[rhett o rick]

37. Yes, shame on them. Shame on anyone that speaks out against the government our lord. nm

[indepat]

32. If only cruel and unusual punishment were verboten even if not enshrined our Constitution or law

considering big brother tends to not blanche any expression of anti-war sentiment in this home of a recent anti-war president.

[Logical]

38. They were offered to plead guilty to a simple trespassing charge....

And refused. So they got what they deserved IMO.

[pscot]

41. The price of Civil disobedience

has gone way up. Not relly what I expected from
Democrats. Holder is Obama's legal assasin.

[rppper]

49. They have my sympathy, but....

....as several other posters have already wrote, they knew the consequences going in, and I doubt any judge is going to give them the maximum sentence....

That being said, I worked around nuclear reactors and SLBM's for nearly a decade....deadly force is authorized to stop any intruder, and while I'm sure the clergy members stopped and gave up before this could have taken place, the potential of death from security forces was a very real possibility....all we had to do was yell "halt" 3 times and if they didn't stop, we had legal grounds to shoot to kill....all it would have taken was one "inspired" guard to lock and load.....their message could have been delivered in a safer manner, like poring blood on themselves with media nearby at the base's front gate...they had an angel on their shoulder that kept them from getting shot that day IMHO....

I hope the best for them and respect their message....I'm sure the judge will sentence them appropriately...