[Cross posted atDaily Kos]
According to the WaPo on 3/31:
A huge mushroom cloud of dust is expected to rise over Nevada's desert in June when the Pentagon plans to detonate a gigantic 700-ton explosive -- the biggest open-air chemical blast ever at the Nevada Test Site -- as part of the research into developing weapons that can destroy deeply buried military targets, officials said yesterday.
The Nevada Test Site is on Western Shoshone land. Most media reports have left out the information that this test is in violation of a U.N. decision.
Indian Country Today reports
[This] test would be in direct violation of the recent decision of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. CERD, in the decision made public March 10, urged the United States to ''freeze,'' ''desist'' and ''stop'' actions and threats against the Western Shoshone......Chief Raymond Yowell, of the Western Shoshone National Council, said Western Shoshone are opposed to any further military testing on Shoshone lands.
''This is a direct violation of the CERD finding and an affront to our religious belief [that] mother earth is sacred and should not be harmed. All people who are opposed to these actions by the U.S. should step forward and make their opposition known.''
James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) said in a later retracted comment: ''I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.'' Tegnelia also said it would be the ''largest single explosive that we could imagine.''
But is it a nuclear test after all? A very thorough timeline of coverage at Disarmament Activist reviews the ambivalent communications with the DTRA, as well the connection to "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, and, given our threats against Iran, their possible use against against nuclear sites there.
What is a bunker buster? For that matter, William A. Arkin reveals our government's crazy, ill-formed nickname regulations. And, this is what a strake is.
Although various reports online state that the test has been postponed, yesterday I called Dante Pistone, the public information officer for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, who said that the test is still scheduled for 6/2. They have sent a letter to the D.O.E. requesting environmental impact information.
And, just because I rarely see his contact information in blogs, as well as because we need to, the Shundahai Network suggests contacting Donald Rumsfeld to comment:
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000
As well as,
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Attn: james Tegnelia
8725 John J. Kingman Rd.
Stop 6201
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201
800-701-5096 dtra.publiaffairs@dtra.mil
Cross-posted in my diary at
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