On Tuesday morning, a retired Catholic priest and two veterans put on clown suits, busted into a nuclear missile launch facility, and began beating the silo cover with hammers, in an attempt to take the Minuteman III missile off-line. Seriously.
The trio — members of the Luck, Wisconsin group Nukewatch — said the break-in was part of “a call for national repentance” for the Hiroshima and Nagaski A-bombings in 1945.
The activists used bolt-cutters to get into the E-9 Minuteman III facility, located just northwest of the White Shield, North Dakota. “Using a sledgehammer and household hammers, they disabled the lock on the personnel entry hatch that provides access to the warhead and they hammered on the silo lid that covers the 300 kiloton nuclear warhead,” the group said in a statement. “The activists painted ‘It’s a sin to build a nuclear weapon’ on the face of the 110-ton hardened silo cover and the peace activists poured their blood on the missile lid.“
This was all done while wearing face paint, dunce caps, misfitting overalls, and bright yellow wigs.
We dress as clowns to show that humor and laughter are key elements in the struggle to transform the structures of destruction and death. Saint Paul said that we are fools for God’s sake, and we say that we are fools for God and humanity. Clowns as court jesters were sometimes the only ones able to survive after speaking truth to authorities in power.
Guards responded within minutes. And when they arrived, the protesters “ate a lot of gravel,” I’m told.
“The individuals were taken from the area and brought to the McLean County Jail,” the AP notes. “The three are being charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief, both Class A misdemeanors, and bond was set at $500 each.… The FBI is involved in the case and federal charges are pending.”
The Air Force is getting soft. I’ve met Navy officers that personally had to eat pavement just for stepping over the white line painted on the tarmac of an Air Force Base. “On the ground NOW, sir.“
It takes a total idiot to believe we were wrong to ever use atomic bombs against Japan in WW2. There was an arms race, with the operative word being “race”.
German Jewish scientists were working on it for Hitler. They had to convince Einstein to convince U.S. leadership that this was a threat. (We have the letter.) It’s arrogant to think the U.S. did the whole science in 2 years. These scientists merely came to the U.S. and continued their work. They came here and Germany’s nuclear materials were sent to Japan by submarine as the Allied forces closed in on Berlin.
YES. Japan was investigating high-tech weapons, including focused microwave transmissions (primitive death ray) and nuclear fission.
We chose to win. If Germany or Japan developed the bomb first, history would read differently.
Study some historical facts before repeating what the idiot standing next to you says. It’s like listening to Al Gore or an ex-wife. If you don’t know what you are talking about, please STFU and go read a book.
Canadian Beer Sucks!
Thus saith the Lord who is not a pacifist liberal: “24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day
If somebody hurts you,you naturaly expect the police to do something about it(right)!Nuclear weapons are the United States of America’s international police force.Unless the clown’s/nuts don’t mind getting killed!
Quote: It only makes sense: there was no carpet bombing, urban warfare, biological or chemical warfare until the 20th century.
In addition to the comments made earlier. You might want to check out the Sack of Magdeburg during the 30 Years War (in the 17th Century). An estimated 20,000 people were killed and only 400 inhabitants survived.
Just because the Armies had to do it the old fashioned, muscle powered way doesn’t mean that they couldn’t wipe out entire cities.
Alos as these armies tended to “Live of the Land” they might not have killed the opposing countires farmers(unlikely but, you never know). They did make sure that they had no food…
Talk about phoning in your protest. Unmanned Minuteman missiles (once totaling 1000, now like 500–550) have protected the US (since ’60’s) during the Cold War, preventing an in your face Hot War with USSR or China. In a way, protecting the rights of these nitwits to comment/protest things in our society they don’t like. But, break the law, pay the piper. Hope they get a $1000 fine and a 30 day timeout. I repaired electro-mech systems on on similar missiles in South Dakota ’76–80.
Where are the clowns…send in the clowns
Where are the clowns…send in the clowns
Class A Misdemeanors For breaking into and damaging our NUCLEAR SITE
The title of the article is rather stupid. They did nothing to the missile nor the warheads. This groups has played these assinine games over the years performing the same moronic acts.
Back in the 80’s Danny Boy Rather was there with his 60 Minutes cameras rolling and made every effort to distort and to demean the security teams.
I chased these jerks around the Oscar flight at MAFB back in 1985. They claimed they were verifing the location…like we would move them LOL
And I thought it was just your puppet admninistration that was nuts.
Listen to yourselves: hate, anger, insecurity, bombs, death war. What a sad, fearful world you must live in. It must be terrible thinking your neighbour is either a ‘commie’ a ‘facist’, a ‘terrorist’ or a ‘homo’.
Such a blinkered, ignorant view of the world.
Like a petulant child.
So predictable and frankly… boring.
Like I said — make an effort to actually read some history — not the garbage that is shovelled down your necks by your own government and the fundys on the box.
Revisionist? Umm.… I don’t think so. Read some Euro history… Oh.… and the US government knew that Japan were about to surrender fool.
Finally… Why is it if the US is sooo good — that you always get caught with your pants down? Easy: You are too predictable. Always have been always will be.
You wouldn’t know good strategy if it bit you on the butt.
I feel sorry for the good people in your country.
You don’t even treat your own vets with respect.
In response to a number of comments:
KUWAIT was invaded by Iraq AFTER Hussein was given the green light by US ambassador April Gillespie. Old Saddam didn’t do much of anything without US approval (if you need to know just how quickly the US can turn on its ‘allies’, just ask former CIA stooge Manuel Noreiga). Gulf War I was necessary to provide the congressional military industrial complex with justification for continued military build-ups, which were threatened by the collapse of the Soviet Union — the so-called ‘peace dividend’.
Hussein was only able to use CHEMICAL WEAPONS on the Kurds because the US supplied him with them. He used them against Iran, too, but you never hear a peep about it because Iran is our mortal enemy. Why? Because we installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Shah of Iran after democratically elected Prime Minister Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh and the Iranian parliment voted to nationalize oil.
Under the Shah, oil money was siphoned off by the elite and the people suffered horribly under a brutal dicatator and the SAVAK, the CIA backed Iranian secret police. The rein of terror was such that the Iranian people overthrew the government, with the Ayatollah rising to power as a backlash against western intervention. When the Shah, hiding in Egypt, was admitted to the US for medical treatment, Iran demanded his extradition for trial for crimes against humanity. When the US refused, Iranian students following direction from religious leaders seized the US embassy and took hostages. The Iran-Iraq War was our ‘revenge’ for this act, and we supplied Hussein with all kinds of nasties in order to perform these duties (see http://www.freace.de/pix/Rumsfeld-Hussein.jpg).
MEXICO has little oil infrastructre and is securely in our sphere of influence. The middle east is up for grabs and the real adversary is China. If we control the oil, we can throttle China, or so the thinking goes …
As for 9/11, that was simply a response to US actions. Bin Laden was funded, armed and trained by the US to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. We left that country a smoking ruin, completely without aid or assistance after 10 years of a war that we sponsored. When we repeated the action in Iraq with sanctions, weekly bombings and so on for ten years while millions of Iraqis including an estimated 500,000 children died of disease, maluntrition and contamination from depleted uranium munitions, we gave Bin Laden (and many others as well) justification for their actions.
As for TOTAL WAR, it is against the Geneva Conventin and the ideals that we as Americans are supposed to hold dear. The convention is clear, no targeting of civilians, civilian infrastructure, etc. Yet this hasn’t prevented the US from specifically targeting population centers, water treatment facilities, power plants, etc. at any time since 1941. Doolittle’s Tokyo Raid was a clear violation of international law. The only reason the US hasn’t been held accountable for such actions is that so far, we have been the winner in these conflicts.
As for NAZI GERMANY, I suggest you consider Dr. Lawrence Britt’s 14 Characteristics of Fascism at http://www.veteransforpeace.org/The_14_characteristics_030303.htm and decide for yourself how many of them apply to the US today.
“The wordl’s superpower is? USA
The country with the most nuclear weapons? USA
With the most chemical weapons? USA
etc., etc.
Who poses the greatest threat to humanity?
DO THE MATH.
Go clowns go!“
I read the above and just about fell over from the total lack of education from this person. (or commen sense…)
Yes the U.S.A. is the worlds last remaining superpower at this stage of time “God Bless America” We are also the first ones that get called upon for any disaster that happens in the world. And we do so (and give millions and millions in relief efforts) Without a second thought.
Yes currently the U.S.A. has a good sized closet full of WMD’s. GET OVER IT!! The last time we used one? Was back in WW2 for crying in the sink! Granted we could have turned large sections of the middle east into a walmart parking lot…but we choose to have more restrint, and currently do our best to avoid innocent’s getting in the crossfire. Yes it does and will happen! But we’ve got 2,500 dead soldiers..and we could have had ZERO if we just nucked the area.
As for Chem Warfare? Give me a break.. While we search for the garbage that our enemys could use against us? We prepare shots…medical planning..vacinate soldiers.. All using research we’ve garnered from chem weapons. It’s research! Not Weapons! There is not an ounce of chem weapon’s in the US’s bag of tricks…and there will never be. Research Research Research..and not using AirHead America or some commie that mananged to get in print.
I did the math..The current world threat? It’s not from the US by a long shot..Unless you are a terrorist…then just stay put..we’ll get to you in good time.
Currently the biggest threat is the Islamic Terror groups that have a pure lust for death and destruction. Canada just broke up a cell that had tons more material for a ‘home made’ bomb that would have made the Federal building in OK look like a fire cracker.
These looneys can be anywhere…living in YOUR community! And they can be ordered to set off bombs in a heartbeat.
So give it a rest with the “Gee look how bad the USA is…” When it’s crunch time? Look at who comes to the rescue!
Good lord’n butter.…what I would’ent give to have a mass meeting with teachers and tell ‘em not to re-write history in their own demented fashion.
As Foamy the great would say?
I’m DONE
“As for 9/11, that was simply a response to US actions. Bin Laden was funded, armed and trained by the US to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. We left that country a smoking ruin, completely without aid or assistance after 10 years of a war that we sponsored. When we repeated the action in Iraq with sanctions, weekly bombings and so on for ten years while millions of Iraqis including an estimated 500,000 children died of disease, maluntrition and contamination from depleted uranium munitions, we gave Bin Laden (and many others as well) justification for their actions.“
Just to correct the MASSIVE pant load..(I’d debunk more of it…but it’s been a long day).
Let’s see.. The sanctions where done by the U.N. Who figured out that Iraq needed food and medical supplies for it’s people. So they allowed Saddam to sell some of his oil for food. Remember that scandle? He was bribing the snot out of quite a few people in order to ‘get in good’ with the UN..so they would lift the sanctions fully. Here’s the neat part that was ommited– Saddam was skimming off the top MILLIONS of dollars intended for food/medical/etc… He built up several “residences” with such wonderful things as gold plated “Flush” handles on his toilets…He lived his life like King Dookey…while his people starved.
Why someone would blame the US for that? I honestly do not know? Saddam had the funding…he had the food and medical supplies… Prehaps someone should ask that walking pantload why he let his own people down? Because as he was stealing millions intended for the care of his people? He seemed to have more interest in having a golden flush knob on his crapper…
As for the rest? Such really interesting ideas and concepts? However not much truth to it…In fact I loved the part where you said the US government gave him the green light for the first war. It must be interesting living in such a fantasy land.…
Hate to bust your bubble Jaye, but it’s going to take a lot more than three people with sledgehammers to prevent that blast door from opening properly. They could have detonated a truck bomb on the thing and it wouldn’t have prevented the door from clearing the silo for a launch.
Jaye Debunked; “They could have detonated a truck bomb on the thing and it wouldn’t have prevented the door from clearing the silo for a launch.” And you would know this, because you are; A) a Fat guy sitting at a computer. B) a Fat Government Agent or C) a Fat Bad guy? Please pick one of the above. Thank you and please teach us more, I could spend hours listening to you debunk. Do you debunk UFOs too? Thanks and keep on rocking in the free world!
Capt Scuttle: Facts are often inconvenient, and may very well serve to sink your ship (which, judging by your screen name, has already foundered).
As reported in the San Francisco Examiner, 11/18/02:
US ambassador April Gillespie to Saddam Hussein, in a meeting called by Hussein: “We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.” She went on to say: “James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction.“
That such a discussion would even come before the US ambassador clearly shows how much Hussein was under our control — he wouldn’t act without tacit US approval.
Whether the border disagreement was initiated by the US, encouraging Kuwait to slant drill Iraqi oil, remains open to interpretation.
Those who endorse the concept of ‘total war’ (such as Jeff) have no reason to be outraged at the events of 9/11.
Next time try using logic to responed to an argument, eh Jaye?
And Clowns they are… Some folks have nothing better to do with their time. Obviously just a symbolic action, anything critical for the functioning of that nuclear weapon is safely inside the silo under the blast door. The previous comment about the ability of a hardened silo to withstand a “truck bomb” is actually understated. These silos were designed to still function even if the area was subjected to a first-strike nuclear attack. How do I know? Been there, done that, got the T-shirt…
Quickie, Gay who is not fat; They used Bio warfare (Blood), Psychological warfare (Clown suits), Unconventional warfare (Vandalism) to accomplish their mission. Their mission was to damage Government property, discredit the security forces guarding Nukes and make a big antiwar statement. Unfortunately for us good Americans.
“Mission accomplished”!
Stop the double posts.…. it’s annoying.
I went back and reread the entire comment log…and there appears to be a mis-conception as to just what these clowns “entered” and vandalized. Minuteman Missle silos are not located on any military base. They are widely seperated (miles and miles apart) & located out in the middle of some North Dakota farmer’s wheat field. All alarms and security are remotely situated and monitored 24/7/365. You could drive past any number of silos and never see them. 99.999% of everything on the site is located far underground under and enclosed in enough concrete and steel to build a huge bridge on any multi-lane interstate. The “personnel hatch” that they “disabled” the lock on is a seperate underground building that contains no access to the missle silo…just basically the monitor lights (and absolutely no operational controls or wiring) for stuff like the A/C…makes it easier for the maintenance crews to checkthe staus of the basic housekeeping stuff without having to open up the actual silo. Opening the silo; even when you have all the Top Secret Codes, the cooperation of the operational personnel, and the actual correct multi-million dollar equipment; takes almost a full day. If you step inside the fence an alarm goes out in milliseconds and the armed military response is on-site in minutes. If they run into problems, a full scale military response is there in another handful of minutes. NO ONE is getting unauthorized access to a US Nuclear missle. The security system worked just fine. Clowns walked on site, played stupid protest games for a couple minutes and wound up face down in the dirt… Total cost to the overnment for repair of their protest actions.…a little clorox for the blood they poured on the door, a little graffiti remover for the paint, a little concrete patch to smooth out the dings, two new padlocks for the non-access outer areas, and a litle lysol for the 3 puddles of urine in the gravel.…
So for all y’all worried about “how close they got”, or “where was the security” etc… Everything was and is under control.…feel free to relax.
AQuickie, Geek who is not fat; They used Bio warfare (Blood), Psychological warfare (Clown suits), Unconventional warfare (Vandalism) to accomplish their mission. Their mission was to damage Government property, discredit the security forces guarding Nukes and make a big antiwar statement. Unfortunately for us good Americans.
“Mission accomplished”!
“All alarms and security are remotely situated and monitored 24/7/365.“
God help us all on February 29th.
That’s right Bill…you have exposed the fatal flaw in our national security.…every four years, on Feb 29th, no one shows up for work, no one is there walking their post, protecting all the sleeping citizens from the truly bad things out there in the dark.…
“Truth? you can’t handle the truth!”
What if they’d had just one shaped charge?
Norm, as stated before in this thread (please page back and read…), these missle silos can withstand everything but a DIRECT hit from a nuclear bomb.… A “shaped charge”, of the largest size you could drag in, would not even begin to crack that door or silo. Trust me…you can’t damage the missle, the warhead, or the silo it’s in. Not to blame you for your lack of knowledge, this is not exactly dinner conversation. I do find amusing the folks that have asked about these clowns accidentally setting off the warhead if they did actually get access to the missle. Nuclear bombs are precision electronic mechanisms…practically delicate, and require a precise series of electronic and mechanical actions to take place, exactly as designed, and in exactly the proper sequence and timing in order for the nuclear portion of the bomb to work. At best, someone that managed to trigger the small conventional explosive charge contained in a nuclear device would only effect a small non-nuclear explosion (killing them, but probably not anyone else…). One of my favorite Hollywood nail-biter moments is found in several movies…the intrepid hero is faced with an armed and “counting down” nuclear weapon…oh my gosh…what to do…maybe he and his swiss army knife can successfully disarm the bomb…tick, tick, tick…what to do.… When the actual solution is as simple as shooting as many rifle or pistol rounds as you’ve got , or sledge hammer blows if thats all you’ve got, to the access panels, or the center of mass of the weapon.….Disrupt the electronics, or the nuclear material mass, and you have no nuclear explosion.… As above, you probably would have a small non-nuclear blast, but hey…you don’t get to be a hero without some risk.…
Repent for the atomic bombings, ha! While technologically amazing the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn
Perhaps we need a primer on the concept of War. When at War with a declared or undeclared enemy, your objective is to eliminate that enemy as a threat. We go to War against nations or identifiable cultural / ethnic / racial / religious / economic groups (CERRE) that bear us ill will, or in some capacity have evidenced that they may be a danger to our obviously superior CEERE. We, of course, out of a sense of compassion, decency, and a suspicion that the enemies government may have duped their citizens…they really aren’t as bad as the guys in uniform shooting at us… we try to limit the violence done to only those soldiers and men at arms that walk upon the battlefield. If that is not sufficient to eliminate the threat, then the “civilian” population is also at risk. Eliminate the threat > escalation of violence until it is eliminatd > superior CERRE wins = War. Not a game for crybabys.
Don’t want to have your CERRE possibly destroyed? Then don’t go to War against a superior culture. Don’t pee in my sandbox and I’ll leave you alone.
i know i’m a little behind the times, but i just stumbled upon this clown story. come on now, it’s hilarious. the story behind it isn’t hilarious, but the fact that these clowns dressed up as…well, you know, is so completely fitting and wonderful. i think that the treason comment is a little over the top, but, hey, whatever. no, people shouldn’t be able to use a bolt cutter to get to where the (yes i know it’s necessary, but still…) evil nuclear (please stop putting a second “u” in the word “nuclear” it makes you sound dumb, Mr. President) weapons are. now that these guys have done it, are we going to step up security now?
Guin,
Please page back and read all he previous comments for a better understanding of the security procedures at nuclear missile sites. What these “clowns” got access to was basically a large flat concrete area, very simiar in appearance to a parking lot. The missile is located under more than 6 feet of reinforced concrete and steel that is fully secure and capable of withstanding anything short of a direct-hit nuclear explosion. The secrity system as designed worked perfectly. The clowns presence on the site triggered an alarm that brought out a security response team armed with the latest in military automatic weapons and with the authority to shoot (to kill — no warning shots authorized) anyone found on the site. (although, the usual outcome is the foolish intruder is arrested and winds up facing Fedral charges and a jail sentence). An authorized missile maintenance team with the knowledge, required equipment, and the complicity of the controlling missile crew would take almost a full working day to gain access to the actual missile. A security team makes it to the site in a matter of minutes, much less than a half hour. Missile secure. System works well — no need to change anything. Thanks for being concerned though.
Having been in the Air Force myself, I fully understand the last line on the warning signs that are plastered on all Air Force bases — “Use of deadly force authorized”
I DON’T CARE IF THEY LIKE US
I DON’T CARE IF THEY REPECT US
I WANT THEM TO FEAR US
Meatheads– I dont live far from Luck WI Typical small WI town of like 500 ppl. 6 bars. Meth use is apparently abundant.…
was a cool bar there “Denuchis” (sp) got druk there after 9 happy hour. they tore it down..very sad.
Meatheads– I dont live far from Luck WI Typical small WI town of like 500 ppl. 6 bars. Meth use is apparently abundant.…
was a cool bar there “Denuchis” (sp) got druk there after 9 happy hour. they tore it down..very sad.
Ahhh..I missed this one the first time around. Good ‘ol Echo-9 LF. This brings back memories from when I was a maintenance officer at Minot. Anthony Quickle, a few posts back, is entirely correct about the entry procedures for Minutemen LFs. Even when my team had the correct authentication codes to gain entry to the site, it takes us minimum of about an hour to make it down to the inside of the silo. All these “clowns” did was to trigger both the outer zone and inner zone security alarms but first getting to the topside of the facility and then banging on the launcher closure door. I hope they have fun in the federal pen, as they’ll probably spend the next decade there contemplating their actions. There are much better ways to get your point across.
why can I not send you an email without an account — this defeats annonimity.
Oh stop it… for a fractional example — the japs committed such abhorant acts against the Chinese at Nangking and the American POW’s from Wake etc… I have no, zero, sympathy for the jap culture from that time. In fact I truly regret that we only had two bombs ready to go in late summer of ’45. While I think it wonderful that we can be allies today I would have been fine backing Nimitz words in Dec of 41.. that the only place Japanese would be spoken would be hell.
The title of the article is rather stupid. They did nothing to the missile nor the warheads. This groups has played these assinine games over the years performing the same moronic acts.
Back in the 80’s Danny Boy Rather was there with his 60 Minutes cameras rolling and made every effort to distort and to demean the security teams.
The title of the article is rather stupid. They did nothing to the missile nor the warheads. This groups has played these assinine games over the years performing the same moronic acts.
Back in the 80’s Danny Boy Rather was there with his 60 Minutes cameras rolling and made every effort to distort and to demean the security teams.
“And to all out there with some sort of knowledge of history and an adequate IQ would know that the nukeing of japan saved lifes on both sides. The Firebombings of Japan killed more!! That would have continued if we didnt nuke them, then add an invasion, plus the fact that everyone on the Island of Japan was going to fight results in alot more deaths to all.“
World War Two was a horrible nightmare, I can remember it firsthand. Many of the comments here are as ignorant and as full of Jingoisim as those they used to make back then. Even our president says things like “bring it on”.
Folks, you need to smarten up, or you will suffer another actual war. This low level stuff right now is not war. A real war, like WW2 ended up with the allies doing things toward the end of the war that were just as immoral and plain evil as what the axis were doing at the start. When its all over and done, nobody wins. Trotting out glib statements like “war is hell” doesnt even begin to encompass an understanding of just how awful it is.
Oh and the first guys to start bombing cities were the Brits, not the Krauts. So lets not think the allies were pure as driven snow. The Japs attacked us because we blockaded them, which was an act of war.
Some Idiot here says “one marine is worth 500K japanese civilians”. Reminds me of the way our enemies use to talk. Its the language of ethnic cleansing. Disgusting and immoral.
Good Day. The strongest possible piece of advice I would give any young woman is: Don’t screw around, and don’t smoke.
I am from Jamaica and also now’m speaking English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Way to russia guide has partnered with the leading airlines and travel agents in usa, uk and russia to bring you the best offers for airline tickets to.“
Best regards :p, Afric.