"WMD Here Plowshares" Go to Trial Sept 13th.

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Friday September 08, 2006 14:29

by Bill Quigley - is a human rights lawyer at Loyola University, New Orleans, also a legal advisor to the defendants.

TRIAL-Bismark, North Dakota, USA

No Clowning Around WMD-Federal Judge: Priest and Two Veterans Must Go to Trial

A federal judge cleared the way for a priest and two veterans to be tried before a federal jury on September 13, 2006 for damaging a Minuteman III intercontinental nuclear missile in North Dakota.

The three, dressed as clowns, hammered and poured their blood on the silo of the 40 ton weapon. The bomb has over 20 times the destructive power of the one dropped on Hiroshima. If convicted on the felony charges of criminal damage to property, each face up to 10 years in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000.

They dressed as clowns “to show that humor and
laughter are key elements in the struggle to transform
the structures of destruction and death. Clowns as
court jesters were sometimes the only ones able to
survive after speaking truth to power.”

Warheads launched from the Minuteman III missile silo
can reach any destination within 6000 miles in 35
minutes. The nuclear bomb launched from a Minuteman
silo produces uncontrollable radiation, massive heat
and a blast capable of vaporizing and leveling
everything within a 50-mile radius. Outside the 50
square miles -- extending into hundreds of miles --
the blast, wide-spread heat, firestorms and neutron
and gamma rays are intended to kill, severely wound
and poison every living thing and causing long-term
damage to the environment.

Because the Minuteman III is a weapon of mass
destruction, they argued, it is illegal under
international law.

In a statement, defendants challenged the hypocrisy of
U.S. policy on nuclear weapons. “US leaders speak
about the dangers of other nations acquiring nuclear
weapons while our nation has thousands of horrific
weapons of mass destruction. Our nation fails to act
in accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty which commits the U.S. to take steps to disarm
its weapons of mass destruction. We act in order to
bring attention to people's responsibility for
disarming weapons of state terrorism.”

The judge refused to dismiss the charges saying: “The
laws of the United States do not support the theory
that an individual has a right or responsibility to
correct a perceived violation of international law or
humanitarian law or tribal law or religious law by
willfully destroying government property.”

Known as the Weapons of Mass Destruction Here
Plowshares, the defendants are: Fr. Carl Kabat, 72, a
Catholic priest who has spent more than fifteen years
in prison for anti-nuclear protests; Greg
Boertje-Obed, 51, a husband, father and ex-military
officer; and Michael Walli, 57, a Vietnam vet.
Boertje-Obed and Walli are members of the Loaves and
Fishes Catholic Worker community in Duluth, Minnesota.

Francis Boyle, a professor of law at the University
of Illinois, submitted his legal opinion to the court
in support of dismissing the charges: “Where the
“property” allegedly damaged is part of an illegal and
criminal threat of use of a weapon of mass destruction
– these defendants acted lawfully and reasonably to
prevent the most egregious and fundamentally
prohibited of all crimes, war crimes.”

Testimony from the Mayor of Hiroshima about the
effects of nuclear weapons and the 1996 advisory
opinion of the International Court of Justice
outlawing nuclear weapons were submitted to the court.

"We are not criminals,” Fr. Kabat told the court. “We
are following the laws of morality. These weapons are
the crimes against humanity!”

The jury trial will be held in Bismarck, North
Dakota. Defendants, who remain in jail awaiting
trial, are now dressed in black and white striped jail
jumpsuits. No word yet on how they intend to dress
for their appearance in court.

****

For more information about the upcoming trial contact
the Loaves and Fishes Community in Duluth at
001 218.728.0629 or Nukewatch at 001 715.472.4185. Copies of
some pleadings in the case, pictures and updates from
the men are posted on the Jonah House website
http://www.jonahhouse.org

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Comments (3 of 3)

LINK-New Discovery Pictures from Prosecution

by Jonah

Sat Sep 09, 2006 02:07

http://www.jonahhouse.org/WMD%20Here%20Plowshares/Legal...s.htm

Prison Addresses for WMD Plowshares-Write asap

by Solidarity

Sat Sep 09, 2006 12:38

Write as soon as possible. If you put a postcard in the mail between Mon S11-Wed S13 it will reach them at this jail address.

Write individually to.....

Carl Kabat, Michael Walli, Greg Boertje-Obed
Burleigh County Jail (moved back to Bismarck in first part of August)
P.O. Box 1416
Bismarck , ND 58502
USA

If you wish to write later, I'll post an address where mail will be redirected.

Peace Activists Hope Jury Understand Motives

by BT

Sat Sep 09, 2006 20:21

International treaties will not save three men from
standing trial for damaging a Minuteman III missile
silo near Garrison earlier this year that could land
them up to 10 years in prison.

For Carl Kabat, a 72-year-old from St. Louis, a
lengthy prison sentence could mean he will spend the
rest of his life in jail.

In a telephone interview from the Burleigh County
Detention Center, Kabat said he is prepared for that
possibility.

"It might be all right if somebody died in jail to get
rid of them (nuclear weapons)," Kabat said.

Throughout his life, Kabat has spent about 16 years
locked up for various protests against nuclear
weapons.

He and Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57,
both of Duluth, Minn., are being held without bond in
Burleigh County for entering a missile site in McLean
County on June 21 and damaging it. The men gained
access by breaking the lock on the gate. They then
spray-painted messages on the silo lid, hammered on it
and poured blood on it - all while dressed as clowns.

They face charges of destruction of government
property, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10
years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. A charge of
destruction of national defense property, which
carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000
fine, was dropped for each man.

Their trial begins at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in federal
court in Bismarck and is expected to last three days.

Walli is being represented by New Orleans attorney and
Loyola University professor Bill Quigley, but the
other men are representing themselves.

Quigley, who is taking the case pro bono, said the men
aren't denying what they did, but they hope the jury
will understand the men's reasons and acquit them.

"The defense is based on a hope that the jury will
understand their actions of conscience and that the
jurors will follow their own consciences,"Quigley
said.

Quigley has tried on three occasions to have the case
dismissed - arguing that international treaties make
it illegal for the United States to have nuclear
weapons, which justified what the men did. However,
that argument failed to convince Federal District
Court Judge Daniel Hovland.

"Although Walli's current motion is a lengthier
version of his previous motions, it contains the same
basic fatal flaw - the laws of the United States do
not support the theory that an individual has a right
or a responsibility to correct a perceived violation
of international law/humanitarian law/tribal
law/religious law by willfully destroying government
property,"Hovland wrote in his Sept. 5 order denying
Quigley's motion to dismiss the case.

U.S. District Attorney Clare Hochholter, the
prosecutor in the case, said Friday that he didn't
want to comment on a case before it goes to trial.

The case will give the men a chance to explain their
cause. All three of the men want to take the witness
stand.

Boertje-Obed said they broke into the missile site and
damaged it as a symbolic statement of disarmament. He
said they knew they couldn't damage the silo enough to
prevent a missile from launching from it.

"We admit we are the people involved and we hope to
explain the reasons for doing it," Boetrje-Obed said.

Walli said North Dakotans are contradicting themselves
by having the International Peace Gardens along the
border with Canada while having 150 nuclear missiles
in the ground. The missile silos, which are found in
several remote locations in northcentral North Dakota,
are part of the Minot Air Force Base's arsenal.

Walli describes the missiles as "the Antichrist's
weapons of mass destruction"and said having them is
against God's wishes.

"If they really want peace, they should do what Jesus
tells us to do,"Walli said.

The men are getting some support from peace activists
in Bismarck. The North Dakota Peace Coalition is
conducting a "Festival of Hope" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 818 E.
Divide Ave. The event will feature someone reading
statements made by the three men, music and
information about the case from Quigley.

Quigley, who said he also is a peace activist, said
someday the missile site the men damaged will be gone
and a monument will be erected in its place to honor
them for what they did.

"History is going to judge these guys as
heroes,"Quigley said. "It really is an honor to
represent these guys."

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"WMD Here Plowshares" Go to Trial Sept 13th.

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