Report to the Congregation: Christian Peacemaker Teams' Stop Depleted Uranium Delegation Nov. 24 to Dec. 3 2006

Did we accomplish what we hoped to? Such a simple question, such a long answer. In a word, "Yes." But explaining why I think we succeeded even though depleted uranium is still the accepted weapon of choice by our government for piercing armor and busting bunkers, etc., takes many words.

We succeeded because, first, we learned how to form a team out of eight (full-time) individuals, only a few of whom had ever met each other before. And we included six other volunteers for portions of our delegation. Our ages spanned from 27 to 85, male and female, Christians of various theological traditions who are active in their local congregations, Christians who are inactive, and one Pagan. We came from Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Toronto. We divided up responsibilities and shared the work load and the variety of tasks of keeping ourselves fed, transported, spiritually energized, intellectually engaged, scheduled, photographed, bathed, and rested. And we kept a daily web "blog" of our activities — http://stop-du.org/.

We succeeded because, second, we educated ourselves about the issues involved in DU weapons production, and the controversies of health care for veterans, the politics of gathering epidemiological data to indict DU as a long-term health threat (physical half-life of 4.5 billion years) or to clear it of unfounded suspicions. (One expert explained the biological half-life as a measure of how long it stays in the human body once it is inhaled or ingested, which depends on the solubility and the size of the particles: soluble uranium oxide particles have a biological half-life of about 400 days, while insoluble nano-particles can stay within the body for a lifetime.)

Third, we informed ourselves about some ethical thinking for use in matters of complicated and inconclusive science, namely, the "Precautionary Principle," which is cited by the Physicians for Social Responsibility: "PSR believes the Precautionary Principle applies in the case of battlefield use of DU. In this context, the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof" — http://www.psr.org/documents/psr_doc_0/program_4/DU_Report.pdf.

Fourth, we networked with other groups which have been working on the DU issue for some time, and which come from different perspectives. One especially helpful link was with the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance — http://www.stopthebombs.org/orepa.php4 — which is located only two hours west of our prayer vigil site at the Aerojet plant in Jonesborough, TN. Ralph Hutchison, a Presbyterian minister and executive director of OREPA, came to speak to us at our vigil at Aerojet in Jonesborough, TN. Craig Etchison, college professor of English and Linguistics, spoke at our press conference and vigil in Pinto, MD, across the Potomac from the ABL/ATK plant in Rocket Center, WV.

Fifth, we are committing ourselves to the "long haul," to continue our involvement with Christian Peacemaker Teams on the Depleted Uranium issue or on other more direct violence reduction interventions, which have been the traditional CPT foci. Or we three team members in Kansas may join with the Oklahoma folks who are organizing to oppose the bunker buster factory in McAlester, OK (south of Tulsa).

I compare CPT's and other groups' campaign against Depleted Uranium to Carrie Nation's and other Prohibitionists against alcohol. There are a lot of entrenched interests at stake, and after a long struggle, even if we get DU eliminated from weapons, as alcohol was banned when the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified in 1919, there may be a backlash and we may be reversed, just as the Twenty-first Amendment which was ratified in 1933, overturned the Eighteenth. (The Prohibition Movement began in the 1840's. Our own Carrie Nation, buried in Belton, MO, in 1911, before Prohibition was enacted, only became active in her temperance work after 1889 when she moved to Medicine Lodge, KS.)

Opposition to the use of Depleted Uranium in weapons may be said to have begun in 1996 (when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that depleted uranium weaponry is not prohibited by the treaties of the Second (1899) and Fourth (1907) Hague Conventions or by the Geneva Protocol (1925) as their primary use is not to poison or asphyxiate, but to destroy materiel and kill soldiers through kinetic energy). This ruling by the ICJ only spurred the creation of numerous groups to take their case to the court of public opinion. Therefore, by this reckoning, we are only ten years into this campaign. The suspected long-term environmental and health effects of DU weapons lead opponents to believe that the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Conventions declare DU to be an illegal weapon of mass destruction.

As Christian pacifists, we oppose all weapons and all violence, of course, but working for the reduction of violence is a more achievable goal for Christian Peacemaker Teams. Thus, after much discernment, CPT joined this campaign to stop DU weaponry. We acknowledge that the science is unclear, and more research needs to be done, but we believe the Precautionary Principle should apply, and an immediate moratorium should halt the manufacture and use of DU weapons in war theaters or in practice ranges, and that military personnel should refuse to load DU ammunition or use it in any of its forms.

We invite you to join us in this struggle!

— Phil Rhoads
RhoadsPrtg@aol.com