In the end, all it took was 10,000 voices in protest. That's 10,000
voices from mostly red-state Utah where residents were opposed to
detonation of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in an attempt
to gather data for the design, manufacture and deployment of nuclear
bunker buster weapons.
They
called this travesty Divine Strake, one of those military code names
that really makes no sense to anybody outside of The Pentagon.
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But, there was
nothing divine about this test, planned to go off in some of the most
highly radiated turf in the nation in the middle of the Nevada Test
Site where, during the Cold War, the federal government exploded more
than 1,000 nukes in pursuit of truth, justice and the American Way.
At one point, the U.S. had 32,193 of these babies locked and
loaded, ready to go at the push of a button if the Great Red Menace got
out of hand. Now, there are nearly 10,000, more than half of them
tipped and ready to go.But, this administration decided that wasn't
enough and wanted to push for the bunker busters, soft-pedaling them as
mini-nukes, as if that makes a difference.
It caused the people of Utah, Nevada and Idaho to wage a nuclear jihad the moment the test was made public.
The
original paperwork described it as the first course of a menu that
would eventually lead to the new nukes. And, as anybody with half a
mind can tell you, if you build a bomb, you must test it before you
deploy it.
But now, at least for the time being, it is over,
thanks to a cadre of residents who had the courage to stand up and say,
"Not this time!"
This was one of those truly rare bipartisan issues.
Staunch,
old-line Republicans stood shoulder-to-shoulder with progressives and
members of the Democratic Party's left-leaning activists and demanded
an end to this test, which they feared would toss tiny little microns
of atomically charged dust 10,000 feet into the sky, only to land God
knows where.
They had been through this before when, during the
Cold War, the government blew nasty nukes up in the desert and these
people were hit with the fallout, causing many cancerous deaths and
ailments. The feds told them they had nothing to fear, that the fallout
was harmless.
Many are gone. Some of those children, severely
maimed by the cancer that fell from the sky, are still around, however,
and they led the charge. And after the announcement they shed tears of
joy for those who will be spared and tears of sorrow for the innocent
victims of the worst attack ever on the citizens of this country.
It's over.
At least for now.
Contact Local News Editor Ed Kociela at ekociela@the spectrum.com or call 674-6237.
thespectrum.com
