Highly skilled operative ?

Wow! What an embarrassment for the super important Nuke facility to have had the security breeched by some super slick octogenarians & elders. They came to be known as the "Plowshare 5".

These folks did this action in 2009.
They went to court in 2010.
They will be sentenced, March 28th, 2011, in Tacoma, Washington, on the anniversary of the Three Mile Island disaster.

They have already been found guilty of charges that could put them behind bars for life. 

My friend Gordon, a Veterans for Peace guy, said their action inspired him.... he wrote:

"The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, housing as many as 2000 nuclear warheads.
In November 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China, France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined. 
For over thirty-three years Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons. 


Excerpts from the press release:

For Immediate Release

Poulsbo, Washington, Saturday, January 15, 2011 - The Seattle Raging
Grannies set the mood for honoring Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday,
Saturday at the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo,
Washington.

Eighty three people from the Center participated in a vigil at the Kitsap
Mall in Silverdale with the help of a full scale, 44 foot long, inflatable
Trident D-5 missile. Each D-5 missile, deployed on Trident nuclear
submarines, carries up to 8 warheads, each with an explosive yield of up to
475 kilotons. Each D-5 missile costs approximately $60 million.

Participants carried signs and banners calling for an end to war and nuclear weapons. Notable was a quote by Dr. King:

 "When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men."

Back at the Center for, Dr. David Hall, former president of Washington
Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, presented the threats
posed by these nuclear weapons stored at Strategic Weapons Facility-Pacific
and deployed on the Trident nuclear submarines based at Bangor Navy Base in
Kitsap County.

After nonviolence training 12 activists risked arrest by symbolically
closing the Trigger Avenue gate during the afternoon shift change as an act
of resistance to Trident, a first strike weapons system. Blocking traffic
symbolizes stopping the horrific threat of Trident missiles, for a short
time. 

Kitsap County Sheriffs arrested the six protesters. After initial
processing they were transported by Sheriff's van to the Kitsap County Jail
for further processing. They were issued citations for blocking traffic
and released.

Then another six Ground Zero Center activists crossed the "blue line"
designating federal control. The six were arrested by naval
security personnel, processed and released after being issued citations
for trespassing.

Relating to the day's theme of Billions for Life, Not Billions for Death,
according to Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation, 

Washington State is planning to cut schools, health care, public safety and other programs by more that $4 billion. While Washington State taxpayers have
paid $28.6 billion so far for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

That figure does not include the annual defense budget or nuclear weapons spending."

What a way to honor Dr. King's memory & works.