Daniel Ellsberg and 14 Nuclear Protesters Are Victorious in Federal Court By Jane Ayers, Reader Supported News 25 October 12 U.S. government dismisses case before trial begins http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/307-11/14194-daniel-ellsberg-and-14-nuclear-protesters-are-victorious-in-federal-court
[Excerpted] A federal Magistrate judge Rita Federman last Wednesday allowed the U.S. government to dismiss all trespassing charges against the "Vandenberg 15," a group of citizens who in February conducted a civil disobedience action at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The group was attempting to stop a testing of the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that later reached a target in the Marshall Islands (without a nuclear warhead).The group was urging the base commander to stop the testing of thermonuclear warhead delivery vehicles and to eliminate land-based missiles in the U.S.
The Vandenberg 15 included prominent leaders of the
anti-nuclear movement - Daniel Ellsberg, a former Pentagon nuclear weapons
strategist, (who also released the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971);
Father Louis Vitale, a Franciscan monk and co-founder of the Nevada Desert
Experience; Cindy Sheehan, founder of the Gold Star Families for Peace, whose
son, Casey, was killed in the Iraq war; and David Krieger, president of Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), member of Veterans for Peace, etc.
Attorney Matthew Umhofer stated, "Ultimately the
government did the right thing to dismiss this case, because they had no real
trespassing issues. It is the highest form of patriotism for my clients to
petition their government, and they were acting within their rights, and did
not trespass as charged. Truly, they are the true patriots, because these
nuclear weapons can threaten our national security."
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