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In the end, all it took was 10,000 voices in protest. That's 10,000 voices
from mostly red-state Utah where residents were opposed to detonation of
700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in an attempt to gather data for
the design, manufacture and deployment of nuclear bunker buster weapons.They called this travesty Divine Strake, one of those military code names that really makes no sense to anybody outside of The Pentagon.
But, there was nothing divine about this test, planned to go off in some of the most highly radiated turf in the nation in the middle of the Nevada Test Site where, during the Cold War, the federal government exploded more than 1,000 nukes in pursuit of truth, justice and the American Way.
At one point, the U.S. had 32,193 of these babies locked and loaded, ready to go at the push of a button if the Great Red Menace got out of hand. Now, there are nearly 10,000, more than half of them tipped and ready to go.
But, this administration decided that wasn't enough and wanted to push for the bunker busters, soft-pedaling them as mini-nukes, as if that makes a difference.
It caused the people of Utah, Nevada and Idaho to wage a nuclear jihad the moment the test was made public.
The original paperwork described it as the first course of a menu that would eventually lead to the new nukes. And, as anybody with half a mind can tell you, if you build a bomb, you must test it before you deploy it.
But now, at least for the time being, it is over, thanks to a cadre of residents who had the courage to stand up and say, "Not this time!"
This was one of those truly rare bipartisan issues.
Staunch, old-line Republicans stood shoulder-to-shoulder with progressives and members of the Democratic Party's left-leaning activists and demanded an end to this test, which they feared would toss tiny little microns of atomically charged dust 10,000 feet into the sky, only to land God knows where.
They had been through this before when, during the Cold War, the government blew nasty nukes up in the desert and these people were hit with the fallout, causing many cancerous deaths and ailments. The feds told them they had nothing to fear, that the fallout was harmless.
Many are gone. Some of those children, severely maimed by the cancer that fell from the sky, are still around, however, and they led the charge. And after the announcement they shed tears of joy for those who will be spared and tears of sorrow for the innocent victims of the worst attack ever on the citizens of this country.
It's over.
At least for now.
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Divine Strake bites the dust
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
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