WHEN BETTER TO RISK ARREST AT THE PENTAGON, THAN DURING HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI COMMEORATIONS?

WHEN BETTER TO RISK ARREST AT THE PENTAGON, THAN DURING HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI COMMEORATIONS?

 

  Baltimore’s Jonah House and the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, D.C held a Faith and Resistance Retreat to commemorate first the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and second the destruction of Nagasaki. The retreat in the District of Columbia was held at St. Stephen’s of the Incarnation Church.

 

  On the morning of Aug.  6, on the 65th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, thirty peacemakers witnessed at the Pentagon in repentance for the murderous crime of incinerating an entire city. Art Laffin, Bill Frankel-Streit, Nancy Gowan and Chrissy Nesbitt, wearing sackcloth covered with ashes, were arrested near the Pentagon Metro entrance where they poured ashes and knelt in silence for thirty minutes holding photos of Hiroshima victims. They were charged with “failure to obey a lawful order” and will face trial on Oct. 22, 2010, in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

 

   That evening in Baltimore, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility organized a remembrance.  We commemorated the bombing of Hiroshima with a protest outside the campus of Johns Hopkins University, the major weapons contractor in the metropolitan area.  We then held a remembrance with music, poetry and readings from John Hersey’s HIROSHIMA.

 

  On Aug. 8, I went to St. Stephen's to hear Frida Berrigan describe the disastrous environmental record of the Pentagon due to its military operations and nuclear weapons arsenal.  Afterwards, the Nagasaki Day demonstration at the Pentagon was planned.  I joined an affinity group with Malachy Kilbride from Virginia, Jay Fanning who traveled from Vermont and Joy First from Madison, Wisconsin.  On Aug.  9, we would not participate in the Pentagon demo, but instead go there to seek a meeting with Secretary of War Robert Gates. 

 

 The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) wrote a letter, which included more then 30 signatures, to Gates seeking a meeting.  Since there was no response, our affinity group went to the Metro entrance to the War Department around 9 AM.  We encountered many Pentagon Police officers, including some who were carrying automatic weapons.  We saw our colleagues, about thirty feet away, protesting in the "Free Speech Zone" with appropriate banners and a loudspeaker. 

 

  During World War II, at a time of truth-in-advertising, there was a Department of War.  For public relations reasons, after the war it was re-named the Department of Defense.  But on Sept. 11, 2001, the DOD failed to protect us from fundamentalist terrorists. No, the Pentagon’s role is not defensive; its purpose is to use force to expand the empire.

 

 We explained to the police we were there to get a meeting, as we received no response to our letter.  The letter is explicit in detailing how the U.S. military is destroying Mother Earth, and that Gates should meet with citizen activists to discuss an end to this ecocide.  Of course, we wanted to discuss these wars of aggression and the need to bring home the troops and the mercenaries.  An officer in charge said someone would be out to see us. 

 

  While we were in dialogue with the police, one of the protesters read the letter over the loudspeaker.    Hundreds of people, maybe thousands, passed by the demonstration in blissful ignorance.  Our friends arrived at 7:15 AM, so as planned they marched off the Pentagon reservation close to 9:15 AM. 

 

While waiting for the meeting, we were approached by three men with red shirts who were carrying equipment.  I naively thought they were scanning our letter into a computer.  Actually, they were inspecting the letter for anthrax and other chemicals.  This had never happened before in any of my risk-arrest actions at the Pentagon.

 

 Two men in suits and sunglasses then met with us. They were special investigative agents, and we were asked if we intended to harm ourselves or anyone else.  To pacifists, the question was preposterous.  But to an employee at the Pentagon, we were probably considered crazy to think we could successfully challenge the war machine.

 

  We explained our concerns about the destruction of the planet by pointing out the massive flooding in Pakistan, the heat and fires in Moscow and the ice floe which broke off in Greenland.  The letter indicates the US military is “the single entity most responsible for destabilizing the Earth’s climate.”  They were not swayed, and suggested we hire attorneys to file a civil lawsuit, as we would not get a meeting.  Joy implored them that we are obligated under the Nuremberg Principles to hold our government accountable when it is breaking the law. 

   

  We tried to convince them to work with us and begin investigations of possible war crimes being committed by people inside the Pentagon. For example, drones are being used on civilian populations.    The special agents, unenthusiastic about working with us, departed. 

 

We indicated to the police officers that we would wait for a meeting with someone from the secretary's office.  Their response was to issue three warnings, before handcuffing us.

 

 We were placed in tight quarters in the back of police vehicles and spirited away.  Fortunately, it is a short drive to the Pentagon precinct, as it is quite uncomfortable riding while your hands are handcuffed behind you.

 

 At the precinct, a place I have visited on numerous occasions, we went through the usual procedures and were released within 90 minutes.  Most unusual, though, was that one of the special agents was there to interrogate me about being the leader, the spokesperson.  He asked about my mental history.  I was the only defendant he questioned.  Was it because I was labeled a terrorist by the Maryland State Police and placed into a federal database for my progressive activities?

 

We were charged with “failure to obey” and are also scheduled for trial on Oct. 22.  We did nothing more than seek a meeting with a government representative, responsible for despoiling the environment.  We did not enter any buildings, and were not in a restricted area.  In fact, people were getting off the subway and walking by us to go to the bus stop. 

 

 In preparation for trial as pro se defendants, we will file a motion for extended discovery.  The prosecutor will merely provide us with a police report.  It will state we refused a lawful order.  So we will seek any intelligence reports, audio and videotapes, photographs, emails, etc.  We will try to determine if they were aware we were coming? 

 

We will also file a motion requesting that an expert witness be permitted to testify at the trial about the Pentagon’s role in the destruction of Mother Earth.  It is unlikely a magistrate judge will grant that motion, but we would be able to raise the issue on appeal.  If the case goes to trial, we are likely to be convicted on the word of the police.  But this was a questionable arrest, so the government might decline to prosecute.

 

    After our release, I went back to Baltimore for the evening Nagasaki commemoration.  Dr. Art Milholland did a power point presentation on “Hiroshima, Yesterday and Today.”  Even a minor nuclear weapons exchange between India and Pakistan would be catastrophic.  He pointed out a volcano in Iceland shut down air travel for a week or two.  A nuclear exchange and the resultant radioactive dust cloud would bring on nuclear winter. 

 

  If I go on trial on Oct. 22, I will implore the judge and prosecutor to get involved.   In no way can members of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Jonah House and the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance prevent the end of civilization.  We need an unprecedented movement in these dangerous times and must bring together the antiwar and climate chaos movements.  Anyone who wants to get involved, please contact me.

 

Max Obuszewski, a long time peace activist and member of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs