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the Nuclear Resister
the Nuclear Resister
A Chronicle of Hope
No. 149
July 3, 2008
ANZAC Ploughshares
Puncture Waihopai Spy
Balloon
Military
Refusers
behind bars
SAAB Microwave Becoming
2
Ploughshares
photo by Justin Duckworth
The deflated dome at New Zealands Waihopai spy base drapes
over the dish antenna used for intercepting communications.
Early on the morning of April 30, three men
entered the Government Communications Secu-
rity Bureaus spy base at Waihopai, New Zealand.
Unseen due to a thick fog, they padlocked the gate
to close the facility, then cut through three security
fences to get past razor wire, infrared motion sen-
sors and a high voltage electrified fence.
Arcing into the mist above them were two
30-meter domes that cover the satellite dishes for
intercepting e-mail and telephone conversations,
telexes, faxes, and computer data communications.
With a sickle, they cut through the fabric to deflate
one of the domes.
The three Catholic activists - organic gardener,
teacher, and father of six, Adrian Leason; Austra-
lian-born Dominican Fr. Peter Murnane; and subsis-
tence farmer and laborer Sam Land - then built a
shrine and prayed for the people killed by United
States military activity.
In a statement, they wrote, We are responding
to the Bush administrations admission that intel-
ligence gathering is the most important tool in the
so-called War on Terror. This war will have no end
until citizens of the world refuse to let it continue.
The ECHELON spy network, including Waihopai,
is an important part of the U.S. governments global
spy network and we have come in the name of the Prince
of Peace to close it down.
The men were arrested, threatened with sabotage
charges, and initially denied bail. Five days later, a sabo-
tage charge had been ruled out and they were all granted
bail on the condition they stay away from each other and
military bases. An appeal to modify the order was suc-
cessful and the three can now meet together to prepare
for trial on charges of intentional damage and entering a
building to commit a crime. They also face a charge of
intentional damage to a fence in a vineyard neighboring
Waihopai spy base.
Waihopai and ECHELON
The Waihopai receivers intercept electronic commu-
nications throughout the Pacific region, including New
Zealand, and the base is often staffed by personnel from
U.S. agencies.
In 1996, researcher Nicky Hager published an expose
on Waihopai and New Zealands strong links to the U.S.-
led ECHELON network of six similar spy stations around
the world. The United Nations launched an investigation
in 2003 of claims that ECHELON had been used by the
U.S. government to eavesdrop on U.N. diplomats and
Security Council members. A report published in 2000
showed that ECHELON had also been used by the U.S. to
gain commercial advantage for U.S. corporations.
Information gathered at Waihopai is transferred to the
Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in
Wellington and fed unseen directly to Washington, D.C.
The group took the name Waihopai ANZAC Plough-
shares in the spirit of the 28-year-old Ploughshares move-
ment of direct disarmament actions. ANZAC refers to
the World War One era Australia and New Zealand Army
Corps, celebrated in both countries on April 25, ANZAC
Day, but in recent decades marked by protest against war
and militarism.
For more information, e-mail ploughshares08@gmail.
com, or visit ploughshares.org.nz. A history of the Plow-
shares disarmament movement through 2004 can be found
at plowsharesactions.org
Among thousands of soldiers who have walked away
from the business of killing for one reason or another in
the last five years, a small but steady stream continue to
go public with their refusal. Many of their stories can be
found at couragetoresist.org
The Military Counseling Network in Germany (www.
mc-network.de) reports that U.S. Army conscientious ob-
jector Robert Weiss was sentenced to seven months con-
finement during a court martial May 13 at Rose Barracks
in Vilseck, Germany. Weiss pled guilty to charges of
desertion and missing movement, which reduced the court
martials proceedings mostly to the sentencing phase. The
sentence also includes loss of pay while in prison, reduc-
tion in rank, and dishonorable discharge when hes out of
the brig.
He told the court that soon after he joined the army,
his sisters fiancé was killed in a fight. I decided to
make myself a better person so I didnt wind up in hell. I
started reading the Bible. Everything I read told me not to
kill people. There are better ways to solve problems than
fighting.
In early December of 2007, Weiss learned his applica-
tion to be classified a conscientious objector (C.O.) and
receive an honorable discharge was denied.
He was assigned noncombatant duties while deployed
to Forward Operating Base Prosperity in Iraq at the time,
and learned of the development immediately before trav-
eling to the United States on leave.
As his leave expired and his December 22, 2007 return
flight to Iraq drew near, his beliefs compelled him to miss
the flight and avoid the combat patrol duties he would be
assigned upon landing.
He eventually turned himself in to military authori-
ties February 11, 2008, in Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was
returned to Germany for the special court martial and is
serving his sentence at the U.S. military prison in Man-
nheim, Germany. His expected release date is in mid-
December, 2008.
Letters of support can be sent to Robert Weiss, Unit
29723, Box LL, APO, AE 09028-9723.
PFC James Burmeister is currently confined to base
at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In late June, military prosecu-
tors decided to charge Burmeister with desertion, and he
awaits court martial July 16.
A high school grad tired of dead-end jobs, the Eugene,
Oregon native enlisted in 2005, led by a soldier friend
to believe hed do humanitarian work in Iraq. He was
deployed to Baghdad in September, 2006 as a machine
gunner, assigned to notorious bait and kill teams that
have led to civilian deaths. In February, 2007, a roadside
bomb blasted his Humvee, sending shrapnel into his face
and damaging his hearing.
On leave while recovering in Germany, Burmeister
decided to head for Canada. There he was diagnosed with
post traumatic stress disorder and had a seizure, possibly a
result of brain injury.
Burmeister returned to the United States and turned
himself in in March. Because of his PTSD, Burmeister
and his family are requesting that the Army gives him an
other than honorable discharge in leiu of a special court
martial which could send Burmeister to a military prison
for up to a year.
Per Herngren and Ulla Røder climbed over the fence at
SAAB Microwaves test range at Mölndal, Sweden on the
evening of June 26 and planted fig trees in the area around
the factory. Using blacksmith hammers, they started to
disarm military radar and parts of the test range. They
spoke to workers and guards about their intent until police
arrived and arrested them half an hour later.
Charges may be filed in the coming weeks. Herngren
is already scheduled for trial with four others August 13
for participation in the August, 2007 Vine and Fig Trees
action, also at SAAB Microwave. The pair have each
spent over one year in prison for past Ploughshares and
other anti-war actions.
The word of the prophet Micah makes us move,
explains Røder. We beat swords into ploughshares. We
do not protest against the missile firing system of SAAB
Microwave or the military radar system. We choose to
drop the protest as it becomes reactive and negative. The
time has come to intervene and become creative.
We do have the ability of direct intervention, Røder
believes. It becomes a duty when there are violence and
suffering in the world. We use nonviolence. Contrary to
my friend Per, I do not believe that we are practicing civil
disobedience, but rather upholding international law. It is
SAAB Microwave which breaks the law delivering the
missile firing system used during the war in Iraq.
While preparing for the action, the disarmament activ-
ists collaborated with academic thinkers in the tradition of
the 20th century French philosopher Gilles Deleuze.
Becoming2 (like a mathematical becoming-
squared) in the middle of our name might look strange,
says Herngren. During the ploughshares action, we
worked together with Deleuze philosophers from Goth-
enburg University in Sweden. We were during one day
plugged into each other. Together we examined how
resistance and Deleuzes philosophy will intensify each
other. Deleuze highlights the double becoming rather than
being: To become becoming, rather than to become some-
thing. To produce production rather than isolated actions!
continued on page 2
continued on page 3 Page 2
July 3, 2008
THE NUCLEAR RESISTER
the Nuclear Resister
POB 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733
520-323-8697 nukeresister@igc.org ISSN #0883-9875
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