ANZUS Plowshares - As A Nonviolent Campaign
Part 2

[Eds note: This is the second of a four part series, describing the
disarmament actions of the four ANZUS Plowwshares, the author, Ciaron
O'Reilly, Moana Cole, Sue Frankel and Bill Streit.  On 1st January, 1991,
they entered Griffiss Air Force Base, New York and disarmed a B-52 and
refuelling aircraft and part of the runway.  They remained at work until
discovered and apprehended.]

Pretrial
The following day the four of us were brought to court in Syracuse, where our
trial would eventually take place.  The sympathetic Judge conducting the bail
hearing recognised us as Catholic Workers who had taken the equivalent of a
vow of poverty and waived cash bail.  He also gave us wide scope to make
public statements to the issues at hand.  We informed him that we couldn't
accept the other bail conditions not to return to Griffiss or break the
law... as the nation was speeding toward massacre.  We were charged with two
felonies - conspiracy and destruction of government property - carrying
maximum sentences of fifteen years.   Our co-counsel - the town's resident
radical lawyer - filed motions for discovery, preservation of evidence and
inspection by an independent expert.

We had brought with us to Syracuse a support group of four who did a very
effective job of getting the news out, locally, nationally and
internationally.  They also contacted and mobilized local activists for a
support demonstration outside the court on January 2nd.  The following week,
as we were brought to court to be indicted by the Grand Jury, eight local
supporters were arrested returning our indictment to Griffiss.

The  decision to remain in jail and refuse bail conditions was a good one. 
It gave the actors time to sit with the reality of the witness and its
consequences.  It was a sustained response to the approaching massacre and a
catalyst for others to act in solidarity.  While in jail, we heard from
people in England, Australia, New Zealand, North America and Syracuse who had
been awakened and moved to action by the hope of the disarmament.  Jail was a
very grounding and authentic place to be throughout the length of the  Air
War.  One had the feeling that if we were on the outside we would be busily
undertaking actions to bring us inside anyway.  The Dan Berrigan maxim,
"Don't just do something, stand there!" seemed to ring true.  Our jail cells
quickly took on the appearances of peace offices as we continued
correspondence and media work.

The Federal Marshals, for their part, were geared to getting us out of
Syracuse and splitting us up.  Bill and I were moved hundreds of miles into
the Catskill Ranges.  Sue and Moana were transported to the town of
Rochester.  After two weeks, our initial support group had to leave Syracuse
because of various commitments.  The transition to a hard core group of local
support wasn't accomplished - leaving the burden on one local family.

Our original intention was to remain in jail throughout trial and sentencing.
At the end of the Air War we re-evaluated.  It was a very difficult decision
to change tack, but we ended up deciding to come out for three reasons.

1. To prepare for trial: four sympathetic local lawyers had come forward to
set up a Legal Defense Team.  Being removed from Syracuse and split up, trial
preparations were proving near impossible.  We began to realize that we would
have to come out, start working with each other and co-counsel to have a
coherent approach inside the courtroom.

2. Organize around the trial: We all felt that the trial would be as
important as the action as an opportunity to speak truth to power and reality
to the nation's war hysteria.  The trial would be a battle of interpretation
of the events of January-February and the B-52's role in it. Our sustained
local support had been pretty much left to one family who we had made contact
with pre-action.  It really seemed as though local people had to meet us,
know us personally, to organize around our trial.  This is an unfortunate
dynamic in our culture and movement, one that was to leave the military
resisters - who would pay the highest price for resisting this war -
relatively high and dry in terms of support.  We began to realize that if our
trial was to be a catalyst for continued resistance to Griffiss, B-52's and
the Imperial State, we had to come out and do the organizing ourselves.

3. The Peace Movement Needed Help: The political reality by March '91 was
that the peace movement had been smashed by Bush's military victory.
Organizing around self-interest and the fear of high U.S. casualties the
movement was largely co-opted by the "No More Vietnams" slogan; Bush agreed
delivering a low U.S. casualty Hiroshima.  The large peace movement that had
been mobilized in January/February was left feeling 'prophetically wrong',
stupid and disoriented.  Many of the folks had been politicised for the first
time.  We wanted to share with them the experience and hope of disarmament. 
We also wanted to share a deeper analysis of the roots and magnitude of the
massacre that had occurred.

We agreed to leave jail on the basis that we would all stay on site in
Syracuse, form a live-in community and commit ourselves to the work of
organizing around and preparing for trial.  This was relatively unique in
Plowshares history.  Most groups have either remained focussed in jail or
risked dissipation on coming out and returning to families, communities and
hometowns, while awaiting trial.  Our presence in Syracuse over the next four
months was a dynamic one.  As the peace movement collapsed around the
country, we provided living proof that the war was not over for us, scores of
military resisters or millions of Iraqis and refugees.  Our presence in town
was something akin to a "Baptist Revival" or a "Redemptorist Mission".  We
had experienced the prophesy of disarmament enfleshed and were enthusiastic
to spread this hope.  Besides the media work and networking with peace
groups, we spoke at an array of forums - Religious Educators conference,
church services, peace conferences, concerts, campus meetings and a "10,000
Maniacs" concert.  The Syracuse Peace Council and its widely distributed
newsletter, the Pax Christi branch which has offered consistent resistance at
Griffiss over the last ten years, the "young guns" of the Nonviolent Action
Group, SANE/FREEZE, Vietnam Veterans, and a traditional left coalition were
all receptive and keen to support our organizing.

Catholic Worker and resistance communities throughout the north-east
organized "Celebrations of Hope" which would combine music, poetry, politics
and celebration.  Over the four months we travelled to Washington D.C.,
Philadelphia, Utica, New York City, Worcester, Ithaca and Binghamton to
celebrate the reality of disarmament dawning in these dark times.

In Syracuse, we began a weekly vigil and leafletting at the Federal Building
which also contained the military recruitment offices and the court where we
would eventually go to trial.

We were given a floor of an old warehouse to set up living and office space. 
We inherited the use of a lot of office equipment from the defunct chapter of
"Witness for Peace".  We were embraced into the daily rhythm of the local
Keough family.  Other folk came forward with food, money and vehicle access. 
A Spiritual Director surfaced and helped to keep our community life on an
even keel, with weekly meetings to work through rising conflicts and
anxieties.  The local Jesuits made available their Retreat centre for time
out - which we would take individually and collectively.

We would start the day with scripture, prayer and a community meeting before
getting down to trial preparations and organizing.  We had weekly meetings
with our legal team.  We would be representing ourselves with them as
advisors.  The relationship with our co-counsel was excellent.  We made it
clear from the outset that our priority was not to "get off", that that was
no priority at all.  The purpose was to put the weapon and war on trial. 
This, of course, went against all their professional training and legal
instincts.  We had lots of creative conflict, devil's advocacy, tutoring in
legalese and fun.  Lawyers lacking in an appreciation of radical politics
have often sown confusion in resistance communities at the point of trial. 
These were a wonderful collection of human beings.  Two were Vietnam veterans
which brought a new depth to our community.  Our decision to try and engage
the court - to explore and make it accountable to its own rhetoric, demanded
a lot of work and preparation.

Our pretrial hearing was set for May 20th.  We began to organize a two hour
vigil for peace prisoners and military resisters to precede it.  We wanted to
make our trial an act of solidarity with others, not our own privatized
predicament.  Over 100 local people turned up dressed in black, carrying the
names of imprisoned military and civilian resisters - their "crimes" and
sentences.  The silent vigil accompanied by a solemn drum beat was extremely
powerful.

Inside, Bill argued that the charges were unconstitutional.  Due to the
existence of a state religion of "nuclearism" and accompanying laws, that
were in direct conflict with constitutional guarantees of our freedom of
religion.

Moana argued that the charges were not valid as the weapons system disarmed
were in direct contradiction of International Law, thereby having no legal
protection or status as "property" under U.S. law.

I argued that given the mass support for the war (90% at that time) and the
accompanying hostility toward peace activists, that a 'fair trial' would
demand an expanded and extensive voire dire (jury selection).  I reminded the
Judge that in better times than these, the "Chicago Eight" convictions had
been overturned on the basis of limited voire dire.  I suggested individual
and extensive interviews of prospective jurors conducted by the defendants.

These were powerful arguments that explored the (empty) rhetoric of the
court, its terms of reference, and the politics surrounding the war and the
act of disarmament.

Judge McCurn came back and denied all our pretrial motions, even voire dire. 
He granted some of our requests on discovery (access to some of the
government's evidence.)

Our legal strategy thus became one of exploring the necessity defense,
recognised as legitimate under U.S. law, but with few legal precedents.  We
used the four elements as a framework to delegate the research and work.
1. An imminent threat.
2. No legal alternative.
3. A causal relationship between our action and the removal of the threat.
4. Proportionality between action and threat.

Each  defendant was allocated a lawyer.  (Joe Heath's ponytail and my dreads
seemed destined for each other!)  We would meet as an entire group weekly to
check progress and allocate tasks.  We began to pursue relevant expert
witnesses that would testify to the elements.  It was quite a unique
situation for Plowshares, as between action and the trial the weapon system
had actually been used.  In past trial "imminence" (give us the specific date
nuclear war is to start?) was always a big stumbling block to a necessity
defense.

Our witness starting line up included:
1. Imminent Threat:
Ramsey Clarke - former U.S. Attorney General under L.B.J.
* had witnessed the effects of aerial bombardment in WWII, Korea, Vietnam,
Grenada, Panama, Iraq - had visited Iraq and Hussein in Nov.  90 and many
U.S. government officials trying to remove the looming threat.
* had been in Iraq during the U.S. bombing, witnessing the death and
destruction of B-52 bombardment.

Admiral Eugene Carrol- a former U.S. military commander in the Middle East
theatre.
* expert knowledge of U.S. military strategy.
* expert opinion that the decision to unleash aerial bombardment using B-52
bombers had been made before January 1st, '91.

Sr. Anne Montgomery - had been present in the Iraq (Gulf, eds) Peace Camp and
on January 16 had heard the last moments of the B-52 (roaring overhead)
threat passing from "imminent" to "actual".

Bill Cross - Vietnam War combat veteran, psychologist, graduate and former
lecturer in psychology at West Point.
* the social and individual psychology of "denial of imminent threat" in
combat and when confronted by the mass destruction of modern warfare.

2. No Legal Alternative:
Bill Griffin and Ollie Clubb - local political scientists
* expert witnesses that there were no options offered by the U.S. electoral
process, fifteen days before the deadline.

Francis Boyle - an international  law expert, was willing to testify to the
illegality of the B-52.  He would argue that the B-52 had no status as
"Property" under international law.

3. A Causal Relationship Between Our Action and the Removal of the Threat:
David Lange - as a lawyer he had defended anti-nuclear activists in the '70's
who had blocked nuclear warships.  He was prepared to testify that such
actions initiated a chain of events that had removed the threat of nuclear
weapons from New Zealand.  As New Zealand's Prime Minister, he signed into
law the criminalisation of nuclear weapons.

The government witnesses - who were to testify the bomber had been grounded
and the runway  closed by the action.

Howard Zinn - bombardier over Dresden, radical historian and author.
* expertise in nonviolent action bringing about social change in the United
States (see "Peoples' History of the United States").

4. Proportionality Between Action and Threat:
Paul Walker - a former U.S. Intelligence Officer and presently a social
scientist with an expertise in armaments.
* could offer expert testimony in relation to fuel air explosives, napalm,
cluster bomb units dropped by B-52 s in Iraq
* the court had financed Paul, on our request, as an expert to do an
independent inspection of the disarmament at Griffiss.

Paul would testify that the Air Force had grossly inflated the repair costs
to the B-52.

We pursued these witnesses and explored what other local backups would be
available.  Individually, we began to work on our personal testimonies,
weaving in the precepts of the necessity defense.  In our
defendant/co-counsel subgroups we divided up the expert witnesses to develop
examination supportive of the necessity defense.  The week before the trial,
we set up legal headquarters at one of the lawyer's offices in walking
distance of the Federal Court.  We were leaving the question of non
cooperation in the courtroom open, depending on how the trial developed.

Our objective remained to put the war and weapon system on trial.  Our
approach was to continue to explore the court's rhetoric - the necessity
defense - and develop our own terms of reference in our personal testimonies.

As trial day approached, energy and time for the witness inside and outside
the courtroom compete.  We had been very fortunate to have been embraced,
upon release, by the most hi-energy peace group in town at the time -
Nonviolent Action Committee.  (Their slogan being "Action is our middle
name!")  They had postponed all projects and handed their weekly meeting over
to organizing around the trial.  People broke down into various collectives -
media, accommodations, food, witness and defendant transport, office and
specific demonstrations.  We were expecting a lot of people from out of town
and St Andrews Church gave us their hall for the length of the trial. It
became a centre for cooking, sleeping, reflection and celebration.

A few days before the trial, the defendants moved out of the warehouse/office
and into a local (empty) seminary.  This gave us a lot of quiet space with
few distractions.  Max "The Fax" a Plowshares media specialist drove into
town with his portable fax machine and hooked up with the office and media
collectives.

Jury trial was one of the most intense and exhausting processes I have been
involved in (that's why they call it "a trial", I guess).  A full day in
court, post-court meetings with lawyers and defendants to review, media
stuff, back to the hall for support activities and preparation for the next
day.  It's important that the defendants hand over the political organizing
to supporters and focus on the trial.  It's important that the supporters use
the trial as a catalyst for their own continued resistance.

On the eve of the trial we had a great Coffee House celebration with local
talent as well as imports from out-of-state, Australia, and New Zealand.  We
would kick off each trial day with an hour vigil outside the court in
solidarity with civilian and military resisters imprisoned, in brigs,
awaiting court martial or trial.  Picnics were organized at the court for
lunch breaks and meals in the evening at the hall where most of the
out-of-town folks slept.  Throughout the whole event there was great
crossover between local activists, many who had been mobilized for the first
time by the war, and the experienced plowshare movement from out of town.
To be continued...
Ciaron O'Reilly,
03810 - 052
Reeves County Law Centre
PO Box 1560 Pecos, TX 79772 USA