U.S. ARMY CAUGHT STEALING FROM
INDIANA/U.S. CITIZENS
Opinion
by
Craig Williams, Director
Chemical Weapons Working Group
Early in the morning of April 16th -- 4:15 a.m. to be exact -- the
U.S.. Army's Chemical Materials Agency (CMA), the entity in charge of
destroying the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons, was caught
red-handed stealing from the citizens of Indiana and the rest of the
country.
In an operation reminiscent of the old Soviet Union, CMA secretly,
under cover of darkness, began the shipment of by-products of
neutralized VX chemical warfare agent - the most deadly chemical known
to man - out of Indiana and headed for Texas.
Now, on it's face, this deceitful action might be considered insidious
but hardly a theft. However it was a theft, and of the worst
kind. What CMA stole was something irreplaceable, a precious
resource found in extremely limited quantities these days - trust.
After years of failed attempts to force communities in Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey to agree to the shipment of the
waste through or to their states, CMA reverted to secrecy, lies and
possibly illegal acts to get the first truckloads of the VX by-products
on the road through eight states to an incinerator in Port Arthur
Texas, a poor and predominantly African-American town already
overburdened with toxic pollution.
Hundreds of local Indiana citizens petitioned the Army not to dump this
waste on some unsuspecting community, like Port Arthur: they attended
public meetings year after year; they wrote letters and called their
elected officials; and local governments even passed resolutions
opposing the transport of the material over their roads, wherever it
may be going. But the Army, while pretending to be interested in
the public's involvement and position, secretly signed a contract,
completely dismissing the citizens' wishes, much like the KGB of old
ignored the pleas of their citizens.
Additionally, with this latest action, the Army has also blatantly
disregarded the wishes of the U.S. Congress, which explicitly
instructed CMA to ensure that any community identified as a potential
reception site for the waste be informed of the proposal and be given
an opportunity to support the plans. One of CMA's spokespersons even
admitted, that since informing the public of earlier shipment proposals
had resulted in the plans being rejected, this time as "a lesson
learned" they resorted to acting covertly.
CMA's secrecy is not a new approach, such disregard for the will of the
people has been a tactic of tyrannical governments for centuries. But
we have always wanted to believe that it wouldn't happen here within a
military program supposedly designed to keep the public informed while
destroying the deadly weapons in the most protective way possible for
all communities.
In a very direct way then, CMA officials have betrayed us, they have
stolen our trust and our faith in the promises they made to us over and
again. As one of our colleagues, who sat on the side of an
Indiana highway and watched the trucks pass her in the dark of the
night, said, "There is much more than 16,000 gallons of waste
disappearing down the road. Much more."
