US to Detonate 700-Ton Bomb on Western Shoshone Land

proud2BlibKansan

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Wed Apr-19-06 06:48 PM
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US to Detonate 700-Ton Bomb on Western Shoshone Land

Western Shoshone Defense Project, Shundahai Network
shundahai@shundahai.org
Joint Press Release - April 4, 2006

Yesterday, we sent out a joint press release with
the Western Shoshone Defense Project. There are
also plans underway for a protest action on June
2, should the US military persist in its plans. We'll
keep you informed.

U.S. DEFIES U.N. DECISION AND CONTRADICTS EARLIER PUBLIC STATEMENT� PLANS MASSIVE MILITARY DETONATION ON WESTERN SHOSHONE LAND � WESTERN SHOSHONE
CALL FOR HALT TO PLANNED JUNE 2 �BUNKER BUSTER� DETONATION AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE

Speaking with media last week, US military
spokesman James Tegnelia confirmed U.S. plans to
detonate a 700 ton explosion at the Nevada Test
Site on June 2, 2006 in a test called �Divine
Strake.� The location of this test would be on
Western Shoshone land, and would be in direct
violation of a recent decision by the United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD). In its decision, made
public March 10, 2006, the CERD Committee urged
the United States to �freeze�, �desist� and
�stop� actions being taken, or threatened to be
taken, against the Western Shoshone Peoples of
the Western Shoshone Nation. In its decision,
CERD stressed the �nature and urgency� of the
Shoshone situation informing the U.S. that it
goes �well beyond� the normal reporting process
and 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, NV.

James Tegnelia of the Defense Threat Reduction
Agency was quoted by Agence France Presse as
saying, "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," and notes further that
this is the �largest single explosive that we
could imagine.� The Department of Defense
announced in late October 2005 that the Robust
Nuclear Earth Penetrating (RNEP) weapon project
was being dropped in favor of a more conventional
methodology.

The detonation plan also runs contrary to earlier
public statements made in late March to the Las
Vegas Review-Journal by Linton F. Brooks,
administrator of the National Nuclear Security
Administration. In his statement, Mr. Brooks
announced that the Bush administration had no
plans to start detonating warheads at the Nevada
Test Site. "We have absolutely no evidence that
we're going to need to test. ... We don't see any
specific reason now that leads us to believe
we'll need a test," Mr. Brooks said. "On the
other hand," he said, "we don't know everything
about the future."
more . . .
http://peacenowar.net/newpeace/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Itemid=9