Minuteman III Missile Silo Action by Daniel Sicken and Sachio Ko-Yin

Dan Sicken and Ginny Schneider at Wally and Juanita Nelson celebration on 10/22/98.

With deep reflection I want to tell you that our gentle friend, Daniel Sicken of Brattleboro, Vermont and his friend Sachio Ko-Yin of New Jersey were convicted in Denver on Nov. 4 on all three charges after a three day trial and only 1 hour of jury deliberation.

On the 53rd anniversary of Hiroshima Daniel faced the lion in his den. On the broad plains of the Colorado prairie, with simple tools he and Sachio hammered at the door, hammered on the eroding cement of a several-ton cap over the missile silo that is designed to slide away for firing. They also destroyed bolts holding the center rail that guides the lid off for firing. They waited for authorities to arrive and peacefully submitted to arrest, hoping their action, arrest and trial would wake up neighbors ignoring the possibility of accidental launch, and discounting the many U.S. threats to use nuclear weapons since WWII.

According to Bill Sulzman, the testimony of both had lighted up the courtroom for the first time in 2 and a half days, but the jury went with the government's case which charged them with sabotage, conspiracy to commit sabotage and destruction of government property in excess of $l,000. Sentencing is set for Jan 20. They will be held at the Federal Detention Center in Littleton, Colorado until sentencing. Maximum penalty for the charges is 20 years and a half million in fines.

Evidently the jury has not understood that the Nuremberg trials after World War II determined that we are all obliged to examine our conscience. We may someday be asked, "Didn't you know what was going on?" Daniel did know that the Minuteman III missiles on hair-trigger alert are loaded with a bomb 58 times as destructive as the one used on Hiroshima's civilians.

It's encouraging that the judge allowed discussion of motives -- not always the case. I am sad that the jury deliberated for only an hour. The many military personnel brought in by the prosecutor probably have new orders and perhaps do not support the reasoning of the former commander of the Strategic Air Command, General George Lee Butler, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) who said in his remarks at the Stimson Awared dinner in January of 1997, "... Why is it that five years after removing bombers ... from alert, we keep missiles -- with their 30 minute flight time -- on effectively hair-trigger postures? What possibly can justify this continuing exposure to the associated and logistical risks?"

Was it 7 years ago? On his second day in charge General Butler called together senior staff of 20 generals and one admiral and began a deeply unsettling discussion of a dramatic shift in strategic direction based on "the lessons of fifty years at the nuclear brink." We will post his compelling remarks on the Traprock Peace Center website, much-neglected this summer and fall.

How shall we show our solidarity with Daniel and Sachio's courage and conscience? At every gathering I want to sing a song for speaking up. A song for Daniel, who noticed the apparent, unthinking compliance of his colleagues in the Air Force many years ago.

At the demonstration  at the Veterans Day observance in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Nov. 11, at the 'School of Assassins' in Fort Benning Georgia on Nov 21 and 22, when Bishop Gumbleton speaks in Amherst on Dec. 1, and when we celebrate the 50th !!! anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on Thursday, Dec. 10, I'll relflect on ways to not cooperate with our government policies promoting the destruction of all life on Earth. Last week I painted sunflower banners --- symbols for abolition of nuclear weapons and banners with text to be held outside the courtroom in Denver, reminding the jurors of Nuremberg.

Regardless of the numbness around us to brutal mechanisms let's sing out loud and clear,
"WE WON'T BE SILENT!"

What song says it clearly?
Shall we go to Denver en masse for January 20?
Shall we stay close to home and talk about nonviolence to folks still in school?
Shall we raise money for an appeal?

Shall we go to all the silo sites this summer and without risking arrest, hold our plastic hammers high, taking digital pictures and posting them widely to make light of mighty missiles?
Can Peace be an irresistable Party?  http://www.nonviolence.org/