Western Shoshone oppose planned «mushroom cloud» 700-ton detonation
Posted: April 17, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell <
http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=448>
Indian Country Today
ELKO, Nev. - Western Shoshone opposed the Pentagon's planned 700-ton
detonation on aboriginal Western Shoshone land, as a delegation of
Western Shoshone returned from Geneva, Switzerland, with support from
the United Nations for protection of their human rights and territory.
James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction
Agency, confirmed that the United States plans to detonate 700 tons
of explosives at the Nevada Test Site on June 2.
While the Pentagon calls it ''Divine Strake,'' Western Shoshone said
there is nothing divine about a massive explosion on their traditional
lands.
''I believe when you are working testing weaponry for destruction of
life, you should not associate it with 'divine.' We want this insanity
to stop - no more bombs and no more testing,'' Western Shoshone grandmother
Carrie Dann, executive director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project,
said.
As Nevada and Utah congressmen pressed the Pentagon for answers, critics
of the Bush administration say the blast is related to an effort to build
a nuclear bunker-buster.
''It is abundantly clear, at least to me, that the military has not given
up the idea of a nuclear penetrator,'' Christopher Hellman, policy analyst
with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, told
the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.
Hellman said that Congress killed funding for the nuclear bunker-busting
program last year. However, he said, ''they want it'' and would continue
those efforts.
Western Shoshone said the test would be in direct violation of the
recent decision of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination. CERD, in the decision made public March 10, urged
the United States to ''freeze,'' ''desist'' and ''stop'' actions and
threats against the Western Shoshone.
The committee stressed the ''nature and urgency'' of the situation and
informed the United States that it 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.
Chief Raymond Yowell, of the Western Shoshone National Council, said
Western Shoshone are opposed to any further military testing on Shoshone
lands.
''This is a direct violation of the CERD finding and an affront to our
religious belief [that] mother earth is sacred and should not be harmed.
All people who are opposed to these actions by the U.S. should step
forward and make their opposition known.''
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, also questioned the detonation in a letter
to Tegnelia.
''Although I understand that this test is not a nuclear test, I am
greatly concerned that you have not provided the public with adequate
assurances that the test is not being conducted in order to further
misguided attempts to build new low-yield nuclear devices,'' Matheson
wrote.
The Defense Department's Defense Threat Reduction Agency does not deny
that the test was described last year as a planning tool for development
of a tactical nuclear weapon.
Earlier, Tegnelia told Agence France Presse that the result of the
700-ton detonation would be a ''mushroom cloud.'' However, he later
retracted the statement.
''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.'' Tegnelia also said it would be the ''largest single
explosive that we could imagine.''
While the military denies that it is a nuclear test, it will still be
many times more powerful than the smallest weapon in the U.S. nuclear
stockpile.
The Divine Strake blast will be five times larger than the military's
largest conventional weapon, the Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb, or
MOAB, nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs, according to the Salt Lake
Tribune.
Pete Litster, executive director of Shundahai Network, said ongoing
weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site violate international law.
''They violate the standing treaty between the U.S. government and the
Western Shoshone people. They also violate the spirit of non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction. The test site is located on Western Shoshone
territory, and must not continue to be misused in bold violation of standing
agreements between the U.S. government and the Western Shoshone Nation.''
Although approval for the test was sought and obtained from the state of
Nevada in January, the test detonation could be cancelled. The Western
Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Defense Project and
Shundahai Network urged a united effort to halt the detonation.
© Indian Country Today April 17, 2006. All Rights Reserved
Submitted by Luc Majno