BIW launches another Aegis Destroyer
by Rosalie Tyler Paul, with help from Sean Donahue
July 2nd is the next date for the launch of an Aegis Destroyer at Bath Iron Works. While it is good that our neighbors have employment and that their highly skilled work is valued, it is anything but good that the ships they are building are designed to destroy. Each of these Destroyers carries 54 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, the Navy's "weapon of choice" because it can be fired from a thousand miles away leaving the attackers uninvolved in the mayhem that results. Sometimes the missile carries cluster bombs with 166 bomblets (how can there be such a word as bomblets!) some of which don't explode on impact but wait for an unwary plow or footstep. Sometimes Tomahawks contain carbon filaments intended to short out electric wires. Tomahawk missiles were used in Yugoslavia to destroy factories, power supply, bridges, schools, churches, hospitals. This is what is launched at Bath Iron Works.
Many, perhaps most, people still accept that the U.S. needs more and more weapons to protect the freedom and safety of its citizens. It's difficult to get the truth from the corporate-owned media that there are already more than enough weapons of all types to destroy the planet and all her people over and over again. More weapons are being built, not for our freedom and safety, but for our continued dominance over global capitalism. We are the lone super power, we are the bully on the playground, intimidating all who dare to question our dominance.
This is the way of dominance. When the goal is justice, there will be justice. As long as "peace" is earned through violence, there will never be justice.
The Navy fired 220 Tomahawk missiles at Yugoslavia, at an area smaller than Florida, in a period of three months. In a nine month period the Navy fired 60 Tomahawks at Afghanistan and 20 at the Sudan and, in December of '98, the Navy fired at least 330 Tomahawks at Iraq.
This destruction comes from the aptly named Destroyers, many of which are built here in Bath. The missiles are made by Raytheon in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Grassroots protest and civil disobedience are effective tools close at hand. Whether we gather in Bath to raise awareness about the Aegis Destroyer, or in Seattle or DC to raise awareness about handgun violence or so-called "Free Trade," or work with Clean Clothes groups to raise awareness about sweat shops and human rights abuses, we are part of a growing movement saying NO to power defined as muscle, NO to security defined as violence, NO to dominance. When we speak out together, we will be heard as the majority voice we can be, saying YES to cooperation, YES to community, YES to nurturance of our planet and all her people.
Call 772-0680 for details of the July 2nd protest in Bath. The Raging Grannies will be there by popular demand!
Back to Peace Talk Index, June 2000