Tucson Peace Vigils: Drones, Depleted Uranium and Raytheon

Tucson Peace Vigils opposing use of drones and depleted uranium ammunition at Davis-Monthan Airforce Base and war profiteering by Raytheon

By Felice and Jack Cohen
Nuke Resister
nukeresister@igc.org

Please join us from 7:00-8:00 a.m. on the first Thursdays of April-November at Davis-Monthan AFB, and from 6:30-7:30 a.m. on the third Thursdays, April-November at Raytheon Missile Systems plant.
Please note that now the vigils are in the morning and not the afternoon for the hot part of the year.
1) First Thursday, July 1, from 7:00 - 8:00 a.m. at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Craycroft Road entrance (at Golf Links Road).
Why protest at Davis-Monthan AFB?
Air National Guard troops at Davis-Monthan AFB are deeply involved in the rapidly developing phenomena of robotic warfare, remotely piloting UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that are firing Hellfire missiles and killing more civilians than targeted "terrorists" in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Ground the Drones!
DEPLETED URANIUM:
A-10 warplanes that train out of Davis-Monthan AFB are responsible for the vast majority of radioactive ammunition - estimated at well over 400 tons - used in Iraq since 1991.
The Guardian newspaper in Britain recently reported on an Iraqi study that confirms Iraq is littered with high levels of nuclear and dioxin contamination, including depleted uranium, resulting in greater rates of cancer and birth defects near sites. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/22/iraq-nuclear-contaminated-sites
And while the Pentagon continues to deny any risk from depleted uranium weapons and thus refuses to help Iraq locate and decontaminate affected areas, the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons reported this winter that
"It has emerged that the United States is seeking alternatives to depleted uranium for the future development and production of medium calibre bullets for its armed forces..."
and that while the military procurement agency is
"not willing to single out a single reason for the policy change, [it] indicated that environmental considerations were a factor..."
See http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/307.html
Park at recreation field parking lot at N-W corner of Craycroft & Golf Links with access from Craycroft. Signs provided, or bring your own! More info: 323-8697.
2) Third Thursday, July 15, from 6:30 - 7:30 a.m. at Raytheon Missile Systems, Hermans Road entrance to the plant (3rd traffic light south of Valencia on Nogales Highway, the extension of South 6th Avenue).
Join the Raytheon Peacemakers as we demonstrate against war and those who profit from it. Survival demands better ideas, not better weapons.
Join us at Raytheon this Tax Day to say Tax dollars for schools, not missiles.
Raytheon Missile Systems is the most profitable division of the war profiteer. With its headquarters and largest factory in Tucson, Raytheon Missile Systems employs about 12,000 of our Southern Arizona friends and neighbors.
For more than a decade, Raytheon has hailed Tucson as the Missile Technology Capital of the World - a center for lethal innovation and cutting-edge killing for profit. From Standard Missiles to Star Wars "kill vehicles", Mavericks and AMRAAMs, microwave crowd control beams and pilotless drones, cluster bombs and cruise missiles - it's all made here, some even sold to friends and foes of friends alike.
We oppose the militarism that exploits this need, "developing" our own community at the expense of others around the world.
Park off Nogales Highway, between railroad tracks and highway at the Hermans Road entrance. Signs provided, or bring your own! More info: 323-8697.
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Popcorn, beans and Raytheon Missiles
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
The Navajo Nation continues to have a Raytheon Missiles manufacturing plant on its commercial farm, Navajo Agricultural Products Industries, NAPI, south of Farmington. On NAPI land, where commercial food products are grown for major companies, NAPI has a Raytheon Missile plant.
This was one of the issues censored by Indian Country Today before I was terminated as a longtime staff reporter in 2006. Indian Country Today forbid me from writing about the Raytheon Missile factory on NAPI, even researching this, while NAPI was negotiating a food trade deal with Cuba. This was one of many issues censored.
Censored News was created as a result of this censorship. Today, Censored News maintains a boycott of Indian Country Today because of its longstanding violations of ethics.
ICT now engages in fraudulent journalism, practicing deception. Instead of sending news reporters out on news stories, armchair journalists plagiarize others work. They make a few phone calls, add a free photo and pretend they were there. Otherwise, they rewrite press releases and wire reports. As for the ICT reporters currently "covering" the Southwest, I haven't seen any of these reporters out on a news story in the past 28 years.
Raytheon continues as a war profiteer, producing weapons for profit to kill humanity, including Indigenous Peoples.
When Navajo Nation council delegates vote on continuing the Raytheon Missiles factory, where is the practice of the Navajo Beauty Way, the way of life of living in harmony with all Created things?