June 2012 Philadelphia Chapter of Pax Christi U.S.A.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE
Excerpt from Catholic Agitator by Dennis Apel, February, 2012 (Dennis is a regular demonstrator at the base along with Scott Fina)
Perhaps Vandenberg’s glitziest, and yet most despicable, mission is the testing of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). For the past 65 years, the base has launched ICBM’S from California to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 4200 miles away in a remote area of the South Pacific. The journey takes all of 20 minutes at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour and the mock warhead carried by the missile penetrates the lagoon at the atoll, depositing its load and demonstrating to the world the accuracy of this delivery system of death and destruction beyond comprehension. Although the warhead does not carry its intended cargo, a 300 kiloton thermonuclear bomb, in order for it to simulate a real warhead payload for tracking and weight it carries a payload of depleted uranium, DU (a misnomer in that it has a half life of 4.5 billion years, the age of the sun), a heavy – metal radioactive element which has been polluting the traditional fishing grounds of native Marshallese for over six decades….
As if the prospect of annihilation on a massive scale were not enough (e.g. the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a mere 15 kilotons as compared to the 300 kilotons of our modern warheads), every aspect of research, development and deployment of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems has caused untold suffering and death, both in the United States and in remote corners of the world.
Dennis Apel
Beatitude House Catholic Worker, Guadalupe CA
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