Local group, AlliantACTION, stands against DU production

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN

Cliff Kindy

A faithful community of peacemakers in the Twin Cities has objected to the manufacture of war materials for many years, first at the Honeywell Corporation, and then at Alliant Techsystems (ATK is its stock market name), a spin-off from Honeywell. The group is committed to making an antiwar statement. Every Wednesday morning at 7 o’clock, rain or shine, this group, now called AlliantACTION, holds a vigil outside ATK in Edina. Occasionally some of the members hold demonstrations and carry out direct actions. Since 1996, when the vigils began at ATK, 699 people have been arrested and five have served jail time.

Cliff Kindy, CPT member in Iraq and author of the DU epidemic article above, was arrested at Alliant Tech in 2007 in a protest against the manufacture of depleted uranium weapons. The charges were dismissed.

Some products of ATK’s $3.4 billion defense and aerospace company are cluster bombs and depleted uranium shells. According to Wikipedia, “Alliant Tech makes depleted uranium shells for use in U.S. tanks, armored personnel carriers, and howitzers. The use of these rounds is controversial because of their impact on the environment and human health, both in the long and short term.”

It goes without saying there is money to be made in the production of these munitions. DU shells have been used in Iraq since the first Gulf War and now Muslim Peacemaker Teams is conducting a study to find the relationship between the use of DU shells and increased cancer rates in Iraq. Veterans for Peace has long declared the link between DU and cancer as well as birth defects among American military personnel offspring. According to Tom Bottolene, a member of AlliantACTION, contradictory studies abound: For example, the World Health Organization has done two studies, one saying DU is dangerous (outside the danger inherent in weapons of all kinds) and one saying it is of no concern.

Why not err on the side of caution? When you get to the light rail tracks and you have a green light AND a red light, which one would you choose to obey?

Bottolene is a member of the Minnesota DU Coalition, which has been trying to get funding from the Minnesota Legislature to provide DU testing for returning American soldiers. So far, its efforts have been marginally successful.

Bottolene says his involvement in AlliantACTION stems from his concern over “the bloated military budget and the future debt we’re leaving our children.” He is against war because “it revolves around a violent solution to a problem. Kids learn conflict resolution in school and then they graduate and they’re recruited and given a gun. It doesn’t make sense.”

The people who stand in vigil at Alliant Tech every Wednesday care about war’s enormous destructive power, whether its victims are our own troops or people in other countries. DU munitions are an example of one of its devastating forces. How much peacemakers in this part of the world can do to control what happens to the people and environment of Iraq is unknown.

Years ago, during the sanctions against Iraq, many American delegations went to Iraq, bringing medical supplies, other aid and simply support and solidarity. A returning delegate told me about an Iraqi woman who said to her, “Please tell our stories to the American people. Once they know what your government is doing to us, they won’t allow it.” Now, years later, we haven’t been able to stop our government from hurting Iraqis. But there are local people who care.

For more information about the peace witness at Alliant Tech, go to www.alliantaction.org.