Post by Kivawolfspeaker on Apr 26, 2006 12:44:39 GMT -5
(Please see bottom of article on what we can do to help stop this)
Western Shoshone oppose planned 700-ton detonation
Posted: April 17, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today
ELKO, Nev. - Western Shoshone opposed the Pentagon's planned 700-ton detonation on aboriginal Western Shoshone land, as a delegation of Western Shoshone returned from Geneva, Switzerland, with support from the United Nations for protection of their human rights and territory.
James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, confirmed that the United States plans to detonate 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site on June 2.
While the Pentagon calls it ''Divine Strake,'' Western Shoshone said there is nothing divine about a massive explosion on their traditional lands.
''I believe when you are working testing weaponry for destruction of life, you should not associate it with 'divine.' We want this insanity to stop - no more bombs and no more testing,'' Western Shoshone grandmother Carrie Dann, executive director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, said.
As Nevada and Utah congressmen pressed the Pentagon for answers, critics of the Bush administration say the blast is related to an effort to build a nuclear bunker-buster.
''It is abundantly clear, at least to me, that the military has not given up the idea of a nuclear penetrator,'' Christopher Hellman, policy analyst with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.
Hellman said that Congress killed funding for the nuclear bunker-busting program last year. However, he said, ''they want it'' and would continue those efforts.
Western Shoshone said the test would be in direct violation of the recent decision of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. CERD, in the decision made public March 10, urged the United States to ''freeze,'' ''desist'' and ''stop'' actions and threats against the Western Shoshone.
The committee stressed the ''nature and urgency'' of the situation and informed the United States that it warrants immediate attention under the committee's Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure.
The CERD decision explicitly cited ongoing weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site as well as efforts to build an unprecedented high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Chief Raymond Yowell, of the Western Shoshone National Council, said Western Shoshone are opposed to any further military testing on Shoshone lands.
''This is a direct violation of the CERD finding and an affront to our religious belief [that] mother earth is sacred and should not be harmed. All people who are opposed to these actions by the U.S. should step forward and make their opposition known.''
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, also questioned the detonation in a letter to Tegnelia.
''Although I understand that this test is not a nuclear test, I am greatly concerned that you have not provided the public with adequate assurances that the test is not being conducted in order to further misguided attempts to build new low-yield nuclear devices,'' Matheson wrote.
The Defense Department's Defense Threat Reduction Agency does not deny that the test was described last year as a planning tool for development of a tactical nuclear weapon.
Earlier, Tegnelia told Agence France Presse that the result of the 700-ton detonation would be a ''mushroom cloud.'' However, he later retracted the statement.
''I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.'' Tegnelia also said it would be the ''largest single explosive that we could imagine.''
While the military denies that it is a nuclear test, it will still be many times more powerful than the smallest weapon in the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
The Divine Strake blast will be five times larger than the military's largest conventional weapon, the Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Pete Litster, executive director of Shundahai Network, said ongoing weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site violate international law.
''They violate the standing treaty between the U.S. government and the Western Shoshone people. They also violate the spirit of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The test site is located on Western Shoshone territory, and must not continue to be misused in bold violation of standing agreements between the U.S. government and the Western Shoshone Nation.''
Although approval for the test was sought and obtained from the state of Nevada in January, the test detonation could be cancelled. The Western Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Defense Project and Shundahai Network urged a united effort to halt the detonation.
--
© Indian Country Today April 17, 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although approval for the test was sought and obtained from the state of Nevada in January 2006, the test detonation can be cancelled. The Western Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Shundahai Network call for the United States Government to do so immediately. Concerned citizens can call or write to express their opinions:
President George W. Bush
comments@whitehouse.gov
202-456-1111
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
www.dod.gov/faq/comment.html
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000
James Tegnelia
dtra.publicaffairs@dtra.mil
(800) 701-5096
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Attn: James Tegnelia
8725 John J Kingman RD Stop 6201
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201
CONTACTS:
Julie Fishel, Western Shoshone Defense Project 775-468-0230 wsdp@igc.org
Pete Litster, Shundahai Network 801-637-1500 pete@shundahai.org
The Western Shoshone Defense Project's (www.wsdp.org) mission is to affirm Newe (Western Shoshone) jurisdiction over Newe Sogobia (Western Shoshone homelands) by protecting, preserving, and restoring Newe rights and lands for present and future generations based on cultural and spiritual traditions. The W.S.D.P. was established in 1991 by the Western Shoshone National Council to provide support to Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmothers who were facing the confiscation of the livestock that they graze on Western Shoshone lands.
Shundahai Network ( www.shundahai.org/) is dedicated to breaking the nuclear chain by building alliances with indigenous communities and environmental, peace and human rights movements. We seek to abolish all nuclear weapons and an end to nuclear testing. We advocate phasing out nuclear energy and ending the transportation and dumping of nuclear waste. We promote the principles of Environmental Justice and strive to insure that indigenous voices are heard in the movement to influence U.S. nuclear and environmental policies. All of our campaigns and events incorporate the values of community building, education, spiritual ceremonies and nonviolent direct action.
Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
775-468-0230
775-468-0237 (fax)
www.wsdp.org
wsdp@igc.org
Note from self; Even if you have never contacted any of the above, or have never felt comfortable contacting people you haven't met, I can tell you that any contact made with the WSDP or Shundahai Network would always be welcome and warm. You won't be sorry that you reached out and tried to make a difference in a way that I think any of us would hope others would do with and for ourselves...
Posted: Tuesday April 18, 2006, 12:05 pm
Visibility: Everyone
Tags: western mining genocide drilling toxic nuclear shoshone uranium bombings radiation environmentalracism resoursetheft add/edit tags
www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/78984
Western Shoshone oppose planned 700-ton detonation
Posted: April 17, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today
ELKO, Nev. - Western Shoshone opposed the Pentagon's planned 700-ton detonation on aboriginal Western Shoshone land, as a delegation of Western Shoshone returned from Geneva, Switzerland, with support from the United Nations for protection of their human rights and territory.
James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, confirmed that the United States plans to detonate 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site on June 2.
While the Pentagon calls it ''Divine Strake,'' Western Shoshone said there is nothing divine about a massive explosion on their traditional lands.
''I believe when you are working testing weaponry for destruction of life, you should not associate it with 'divine.' We want this insanity to stop - no more bombs and no more testing,'' Western Shoshone grandmother Carrie Dann, executive director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, said.
As Nevada and Utah congressmen pressed the Pentagon for answers, critics of the Bush administration say the blast is related to an effort to build a nuclear bunker-buster.
''It is abundantly clear, at least to me, that the military has not given up the idea of a nuclear penetrator,'' Christopher Hellman, policy analyst with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.
Hellman said that Congress killed funding for the nuclear bunker-busting program last year. However, he said, ''they want it'' and would continue those efforts.
Western Shoshone said the test would be in direct violation of the recent decision of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. CERD, in the decision made public March 10, urged the United States to ''freeze,'' ''desist'' and ''stop'' actions and threats against the Western Shoshone.
The committee stressed the ''nature and urgency'' of the situation and informed the United States that it warrants immediate attention under the committee's Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure.
The CERD decision explicitly cited ongoing weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site as well as efforts to build an unprecedented high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Chief Raymond Yowell, of the Western Shoshone National Council, said Western Shoshone are opposed to any further military testing on Shoshone lands.
''This is a direct violation of the CERD finding and an affront to our religious belief [that] mother earth is sacred and should not be harmed. All people who are opposed to these actions by the U.S. should step forward and make their opposition known.''
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, also questioned the detonation in a letter to Tegnelia.
''Although I understand that this test is not a nuclear test, I am greatly concerned that you have not provided the public with adequate assurances that the test is not being conducted in order to further misguided attempts to build new low-yield nuclear devices,'' Matheson wrote.
The Defense Department's Defense Threat Reduction Agency does not deny that the test was described last year as a planning tool for development of a tactical nuclear weapon.
Earlier, Tegnelia told Agence France Presse that the result of the 700-ton detonation would be a ''mushroom cloud.'' However, he later retracted the statement.
''I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.'' Tegnelia also said it would be the ''largest single explosive that we could imagine.''
While the military denies that it is a nuclear test, it will still be many times more powerful than the smallest weapon in the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
The Divine Strake blast will be five times larger than the military's largest conventional weapon, the Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Pete Litster, executive director of Shundahai Network, said ongoing weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site violate international law.
''They violate the standing treaty between the U.S. government and the Western Shoshone people. They also violate the spirit of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The test site is located on Western Shoshone territory, and must not continue to be misused in bold violation of standing agreements between the U.S. government and the Western Shoshone Nation.''
Although approval for the test was sought and obtained from the state of Nevada in January, the test detonation could be cancelled. The Western Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Defense Project and Shundahai Network urged a united effort to halt the detonation.
--
© Indian Country Today April 17, 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although approval for the test was sought and obtained from the state of Nevada in January 2006, the test detonation can be cancelled. The Western Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Shundahai Network call for the United States Government to do so immediately. Concerned citizens can call or write to express their opinions:
President George W. Bush
comments@whitehouse.gov
202-456-1111
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
www.dod.gov/faq/comment.html
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000
James Tegnelia
dtra.publicaffairs@dtra.mil
(800) 701-5096
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Attn: James Tegnelia
8725 John J Kingman RD Stop 6201
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201
CONTACTS:
Julie Fishel, Western Shoshone Defense Project 775-468-0230 wsdp@igc.org
Pete Litster, Shundahai Network 801-637-1500 pete@shundahai.org
The Western Shoshone Defense Project's (www.wsdp.org) mission is to affirm Newe (Western Shoshone) jurisdiction over Newe Sogobia (Western Shoshone homelands) by protecting, preserving, and restoring Newe rights and lands for present and future generations based on cultural and spiritual traditions. The W.S.D.P. was established in 1991 by the Western Shoshone National Council to provide support to Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmothers who were facing the confiscation of the livestock that they graze on Western Shoshone lands.
Shundahai Network ( www.shundahai.org/) is dedicated to breaking the nuclear chain by building alliances with indigenous communities and environmental, peace and human rights movements. We seek to abolish all nuclear weapons and an end to nuclear testing. We advocate phasing out nuclear energy and ending the transportation and dumping of nuclear waste. We promote the principles of Environmental Justice and strive to insure that indigenous voices are heard in the movement to influence U.S. nuclear and environmental policies. All of our campaigns and events incorporate the values of community building, education, spiritual ceremonies and nonviolent direct action.
Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
775-468-0230
775-468-0237 (fax)
www.wsdp.org
wsdp@igc.org
Note from self; Even if you have never contacted any of the above, or have never felt comfortable contacting people you haven't met, I can tell you that any contact made with the WSDP or Shundahai Network would always be welcome and warm. You won't be sorry that you reached out and tried to make a difference in a way that I think any of us would hope others would do with and for ourselves...
Posted: Tuesday April 18, 2006, 12:05 pm
Visibility: Everyone
Tags: western mining genocide drilling toxic nuclear shoshone uranium bombings radiation environmentalracism resoursetheft add/edit tags
www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/78984