Five arrested at Bangor after Plowshares anti-nuclear action

United for Peace of Pierce County, WA
Wednesday, 04 November 2009 07:20 Hank Berger

Father Bill "Bix" Bichsel and four others risked their lives Monday morning (Nov. 2, 2009, the Day of the Dead, or All Souls Day) by breaking into the Bangor Trident base in an effort to call attention to the illegal, immoral weapons system based there, but not a single mainstream media source described the horrific destructive power of the weapons based there.
--  The group issued a press release distributed by Pax Christi describing their actions and motivations.[1]
--  Bichsel and the others were hooded and forced to lay on the cold ground for four hours before being interrogated (they refused to say anything but their names), cited, and released.
--  Not much of their information appeared in a KOMO news squib on the action.[2]
--  The AP also posted a squib.[3]
--  Only the Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA) published (and the Longview (WA) Daily News reprinted) a longer article (and posted a video of them speaking), reporting that the five entered the base around 2:00 a.m. but were not apprehended until 6:30 a.m.[4]
--  A Navy Region Northwest spokesman denied that this indicated lax security at the base, where the use of "[d]eadly force is authorized."
--  (The Kitsap Sun is also running a poll:  "What do you think of the actions of the protesters who broke onto Bangor base?"  At 10:45 p.m. on Nov. 3 (Election Day, as chance would have it), 201 persons had voted; 65% chose "It's illegal, and they should be put in jail" received 65%; "Jail is too lenient" received 21%; "They should be fined, then ignored" received 3%; "They should be thanked" received 8%.)
--  The website Ekklesia rewrote the press release, emphasizing the ill-treatment accorded the protesters.[5]
--  BACKGROUND: An essay published by Albert Camus on August 8, 1945, a day after news was received of the destruction of Hiroshima by an atomic bomb, warned:  “Faced with the terrifying prospects that are opening up before humanity, we see even more clearly than before that peace is the only fight worth engaging in.  This isn’t a plea any more, but an order that has to rise up from peoples to governments, the order to choose once and for all between hell and reason.”
--  Bill Bichsel visited Hiroshima last August, a fact that went unmentioned in all accounts....

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1)  Press release: THE "DISARM NOWTRIDENT PLOWSHARES ACTION"
November 3, 2009
http://www.jonahhouse.org/Disarm_Now_Plowshares/pressrelease.htm

2)  5 BUSTED FOR BREAKING INTO BANGOR NAVAL BASE
KOMO
November 3, 2009
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/68893802.html

3)  OAKLAND MAN, FOUR OTHER DEMONSTRATORS ARRESTED AT WASHINGTON NUKE SUB BASE
Associated Press
November 3, 2009
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13703783
 
4)  FIVE ARRESTED FOR BREAKING INTO NAVY BASE
By Ed Friedrich
Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA)
November 3, 2009
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/nov/03/five-arrested-breaking-navy-base/
 
5)  EIGHTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD CATHOLIC PRIEST AND NUN ABUSED AFTER WEAPONS PROTEST
Ekklesia
November 3, 2009
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10515