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Before dawn on Easter, March
31, 1991 Phil Berrigan, from Jonah House and participant in two previous
plowshares actions; Kathy Boylan, member of the Thames River Plowshares and the Gulf
Peace Team, from Long Island, NY; Tom Lewis, participant in the Transfiguration Plowshares East
action from Worcester, MA; Barry Roth, psychiatrist and peace worker from
Worcester, MA; and Daniel Sicken, an Air Force veteran and war-tax resister
from Brattleboro, VT, boarded the USS Gettysburg, an Aegis-equipped Cruiser
docked at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, ME. (According to the Navy, Aegis is
"the most capable surface launched missile system the Navy has ever put to
sea.") They proceeded to hammer and pour blood on covers for vertical
launching systems for cruise missiles. They also left at the site their action
statement which said in part, "We witness against the American enslavement
to war at the Bath Iron Works, geographically near the President’s home."
They also left an indictment charging President Bush, Secretary of War Cheney,
the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff with war crimes and
violations of God’s law and international law, including the killing of
thousands of Iraqis. They spent nearly two hours on the ship and in the yard
before turning themselves into a member of the security force. After rejecting
unsecured bond in court on April 1st, all five were released unconditionally on
April 3rd pending trial by the state of Maine on charges of criminal trespass.
Without explanation, the state decided against prosecuting them and their
charges were dismissed one day before their scheduled jury trial. |