[WCUSP] Cop Assaults Activist at Lockheed Protest about cluster bombs used in Lebanon

[yvonne simmons]

>  Kate, this is the article about the cluster bombs
.Yvonne

> "We're Not Disturbing the Peace, We're Disturbing
> the War!"
> Cop Assaults Activist at Lockheed Protest
> 
> By WILLIAM HUGHES
> 
> A protest action was held on Friday morning, Dec.
> 22, 2006, in front of and 
> along the sidewalk of a huge complex of office
> buildings, housing the 
> national headquarters of Lockheed Martin, one of the
> world's largest 
> producers of cluster bombs. Over a million of these
> lethal weapons were 
> used by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the
> recent war this past 
> summer in Lebanon.
> 
> As activist Patrick J. Elder began to give a talk
> about the corporation's 
> role in the making and distribution of the deadly
> cluster bombs, he was 
> interrupted by a group of three or four Montgomery
> County, MD police 
> officers. They were yelling at him to "get off the
> grass." Elder, who was 
> standing next to Gail Murphy, of the Code Pink
> group, immediately complied 
> with the officer's request. While Elder was standing
> on the sidewalk 
> discussing the need for such a hostile attitude by
> the police, one of the 
> officers walked directly up to him and in a very
> aggressive manner pushed 
> him hard with both of his arms to the ground. Mr.
> Elder fell over on his 
> back. Although he didn't appear to be injured, he
> was visibly upset by the 
> unprovoked attack, which was captured on video.
> 
> Ms. Murphy quickly rebuked the officer in question
> for his over-the-top 
> behavior, as did Kevin Zeese of DemocracyRising.US
> Mr. Elder, it is fair to 
> say, was both shocked and outraged by the officer's
> conduct. He indicated 
> that he wasn't going to file a criminal charges
> against the assaulting 
> office, but that he might file a complaint with the
> Montgomery County 
> police department over the totally unnecessary
> incident. Mr. Elder, and 
> some of the other more than 35 protesters, did let
> both the officer 
> involved and his supervisor, who showed up later,
> know that he "needs 
> training." Mr. Elder added: "We're not disturbing
> the peace. We're 
> disturbing the war!"
> 
> The activists, many of whom live in the
> neighborhood, started their rally 
> at the Davis Public Library, near the Lockheed
> Martin facility, at 9:00 AM. 
> The protesters then marched, in a light rain, from
> the library for about a 
> half mile to the corporation's headquarters. They
> carried boxes, dressed up 
> as coffins and draped in black, along with signs and
> banners depicting the 
> victims of the IOF's bombings in Lebanon. They also
> chanted slogans, like: 
> "Stop making cluster bombs! Stop killing children!"
> Montgomery County, a 
> suburb of Washington, D.C., is located just north of
> the Capital Beltway. 
> The Peace Action Montgomery group was the main
> sponsor of the demonstration.
> 
> According to Larry Callahan, one of the organizers
> of the rally: "Cluster 
> munitions manufactured by Lockheed Martin contain
> several hundred 
> explosives, grenade-like bomblets. A high number of
> the submunitions do not 
> explode on impact and become 'de facto' land mines
> threatening innocents 
> for years to come...These weapons kill and maim
> thousands of civilians 
> every year...We demand the weapon-makers stop making
> cluster bombs and 
> compensate victims or leave the neighborhood..." The
> corporation, Lockheed 
> Martin, reported "sales of $37.5 billion in the year
> 2005, and pretax 
> profits of nearly $3 billion. It employs about
> 140,000 people worldwide and 
> is principally engaged in producing...the world's
> most lethal [military] 
> weaponry. Its CEO, Robert J. Stevens, took in nearly
> $16 million in 
> compensation in 2006."
> 
> Background on the cluster bombing of Lebanon: Peace
> activist Kathy Kelly 
> was in that country during the time of the terror
> bombings of the civilian 
> population by the IOF. She gave a talk on Nov. 20,
> 2006, at UMBC campus. 
> Kelly said: "In the last four days of the
> Israeli-Hezbollah War, Israel 
> dropped 1.2 million cluster bombs. Does that fact
> relate to us? Well, if 
> you go to Hopkins, MN, there is a plant there,
> Alliant Techsystems, that 
> produces cluster bombs. I asked one of my friends
> there if they knew 
> anything about the plant having a contract with
> Israel? She said that they 
> go there on 'a vigil' and that on some days, the
> 'Israeli flag' is flying 
> over the plant. They always fly the flag of 'the
> country' they are doing 
> business with. So, do you see? If 1.2 million
> cluster bombs are dropped, 
> then that is great for business for the Alliant
> Techsystems company. They 
> can make 1.2 million more!"
> 
> Lockheed Martin is also an integral part of the
> Military-Industrial Complex 
> in the U.S., whose growing negative influence over
> our federal government, 
> ex-President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in
> his famous 1961 "Farewell 
> Address." Curt Goering of Amnesty International has
> labeled Israel's 
> massive bombing campaign in Lebanon, including its
> use of over a million 
> cluster bombs on the civilian population, "a war
> crime." His group is 
> pressing the UN for a full investigation.
> 
> Finally, after the police attack on Mr. Elder, Kevin
> Zeese took the 
> microphone to defend the Constitutional right of
> peaceful dissent. He told 
> his fellow protesters: "Lockheed Martin is the
> largest defense contractor 
> in the world, but it is only part of the problem. We
> have to deal with the 
> reality of a very large military industrial complex
> that is the most lethal 
> in world history and the most politically powerful
> in world 
> history...Controlling both [political] parties.
> Producing weapons of mass 
> destruction that have never been seen before in
> human history...We have a 
> strong peace movement that is growing...We don't
> feel intimated by this 
> kind of police activity. We're still here. We're
> still getting our message 
> out. We're still succeeding in our goal today."
> 
> William Hughes is the author of "Saying 'No' to the
> War Party" 
> (Amazon.com). He can be reached at
> liamhughes at comcast.net.
> 
>   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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