Protest to Target Minuteman III Missile Launch
The launch is scheduled for the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 14. It will travel over 4,000 miles from Vandenberg AFB to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Minuteman III missiles are on 24/7 high-alert status in silos in Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota. They carry thermonuclear warheads at least eight times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.
David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, will attend the protest. He said, “A provocative nuclear-capable missile test is not the message that President Obama should be sending the world just one week after his re-election. Such tests encourage other countries to develop and test their own missiles and nuclear weapons. The tests are also extremely dangerous and disruptive to the Marshall Islanders, who have suffered enough from U.S. nuclear testing and strive to live in peace on their Pacific islands.”
In addition to opposing the testing of Minuteman III missiles, many protestors will be calling on the U.S. to decommission its land-based nuclear missiles. The missiles are located in fixed silos, making them easy targets for attack. There is an incentive to “use them first or lose them.” The high-alert status of these weapons could lead to accidental nuclear war.
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The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan international organization based in Santa Barbara, California. It has consultative status to the United Nations. For 30 years, the Foundation’s mission has been to educate and advocate for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons, and to empower peace leaders. For more information, visit click here or call (805) 965-3443.
