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Sharon Grimes, W A M M
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Uranium Weapons Protesters Found “Not Guilty” of Trespass at Alliant Tech
A jury in Hennepin County District Court, 12/14/04, found weapons protesters ‘not guilty’ of trespass at Alliant Tech Systems (ATK) in Edina, Minnesota. ATK is the largest defense contractor in the state, and a supplier to the U.S. military of what many consider to be weapons of indiscriminate destruction. John Heid, 49, Jane Hosking, 36, John LaForge, 48, and Mike Miles, 51, all of rural Luck, Wisconsin were found not guilty of trespass after the four admitted that they had, in fact, gone onto ATK’s property last July to deliver the AlliantACTION document "Employee Liabilities of Weapons Manufacturers Under International Law" to ATK executives.
Increased Funding for Bomb Removal in Laos
Legislation to increase the amount spent for bomb removal in Laos was sponsored by Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum and approved by Congress in November. $2.5 million will be spent in 2005, up from $1.4 million last year. “The Vietnam War ended nearly 30 years ago,” said McCollum, “but for the people of Laos who have to live with the deadly explosive remnants of the U.S. bombing campaign, the war goes on.” Thousands of unexploded bombs remain and have killed about 6,000 Laotians, with the toll increasing monthly.
Pentagon Budget May Decrease by Billions
If Congress approves, the Pentagon will cut $60 billion from its budget in the next six years. The White House ordered all government agencies to cut their budgets for fiscal year 2006, and has also been under pressure to offset the growing deficits and unexpected high costs of the Iraq war and military operations in Afghanistan. Details of the cuts are still being worked out, but may include retiring the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, cutting the number of new amphibious landing docks to transport Marines, and delaying the Army’s Future Combat System that links soldiers by computer to remotely piloted aircraft and combat vehicles.
Dissension in the Ranks
Eight soldiers filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Pentagon requirements that they continue serving in Iraq under emergency orders that involuntarily extend their tours of duty. It is the first lawsuit filed by active-duty soldiers already serving in Iraq and the first class-action lawsuit.
Colleges Win Ruling Against Military Recruiting
Colleges who choose to keep military recruiters off campus because of the military ban on gays will not lose federal funds according to a November federal appeals court ruling. The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the law that allowed funds to be withheld infringes on schools’ freedom of speech rights. The suit was brought by about a dozen law schools, but affects all higher education institutions. The Department of Justice was reviewing its appeal options. The court said the law required “law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives.”
Victims of Pinochet Regime to Receive Reparations
Reparations will be paid to 27,000 Chileans who were imprisoned and tortured under military dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet nearly three decades ago. A commission interviewed more than 35,000 people and its report, released in November, described the torture used to repress dissidents during the 1973-90 regime. The reparations will cost the government $70 million a year and still needed approval by Congress.
Margaret Hassan Awarded Ireland’s Highest Peace Award
Aid worker Margaret Hassan has been posthumously awarded Ireland’s highest peace award, the Tipperary Peace Prize. The CARE international worker who was married to an Iraqi and lived in the country for nearly thirty years, was being honored for her dedication to help others and had “paid the ultimate prize for her dedication to the poor and vulnerable in Iraq”, the prize’s convention stated. Hassan began to work for CARE International in 1991, soon after the international organization started operations in Iraq to provide humanitarian relief for the most needy of Iraqis. She was kidnapped while on her way to work nearly 4 months ago where she had been head of the charity’s Iraqi operations for twelve years. Her death was confirmed in November. The Tipperary Peace Convention was established in 1983 with the aim to promote peace and reward those who make a worthy contribution to peace related issues.
Whistleblower Vanunu Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
In a press conference held in East Jerusalem on December 19, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Ireland), announced that she is nominating Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu for the prize in 2005. Vanunu has been nominated for the prize every year since 1989. Maguire received the Nobel Prize in 1976, in recognition of her work for peace in Ireland. “Mordechai Vanunu has paid a heavy price in order to protect us all from nuclear weapons. We are all indebted to him for telling the truth to power and I have come to thank him on behalf of his human family,” Maguire said.
Correction
According to WAMM’s Yugoslavia Committee, the Serb apology for the 1995 Massacre in Srebrenica did not contain an amount. (A figure of 7800 deaths was taken from an Associated Press report, and quoted in last months Good News.) Furthermore, the investigating commission recommended that all parties in the war in Bosnia and Herzogovenia apologize to the families of the victims. The Yugoslavia Committee says the AP report, stating that Bosnian Serb Government officials apologized for the massacre of 7800 Muslim men and boys, is another example of the media’s complicity in building and maintaining the propaganda for the US/NATO role in the war. |
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© 2005 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete February 2005 Index - click here
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