EDITORIALS
Thursday,
September 16, 2004
GASP’s efforts
becoming ridiculous as the group files another injunction
What do you do if after
years and years of protest and fear mongering you lose the war and they start
chopping rockets at the Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot and nothing happens?
If you’re the self-appointed group providing oversight to the world’s
efforts at eliminating weapons of mass insanity, you file for an injunction
to stop the process.
Enough of this.
Every citizen, whether they live down wind of the depot or not, prays
with all their might that you are wrong. In the hearts of the members of
GASP, there must be a hope that they’re wrong.
The authorities responsible for ridding the world of the weapons
at the depot have done more than pray. They have applied science to establish
standards of performance that should be safe for everyone.
They have forced rigorous testing and retesting and they have spent
countless hours defending their science against GASP’s fears.
GASP fulfilled its role in forcing that legal review, and all of
us owe GASP thanks for that.
But, just as in Anniston, Ala., and the other sites where incineration
removed caches of these weapons without catastrophe, the incineration at
the depot has begun without incident.
Just as with any production facility involving complicated machines
and people to run them, we can expect incidents to occur. But the results
are in, the system is ready to deal with and limit the impact of those incidents.
Now instead of a group of people who fear technology, GASP looks
like an actor reluctant to leave the stage.