Editorial
Posted on
Thu, Sep. 21, 2006
KENTUCKY
VOICES
WMD in
Madison CO., not Iraq
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
Although the Bush administration could not find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify a war that has killed thousands of American soldiers and resulted in untold misery for tens of thousands of people, I, unfortunately, know the exact location of lots of such weapons.
They're right here in Madison County, and I'm living within a couple miles of them.
From what I have been able to glean since moving to this area, the canisters of chemical weapons stored at Blue Grass Army Depot periodically leak mustard or nerve gas.
The headlines in the local paper periodically say something to the effect of "Leak Detected!" Then: "Leak Taken Care Of! Wasn't Anything to Worry About! Relax!"
This situation is being taken care of by the U.S. government.
Tell me, what more chilling words have you heard than, "We're the federal government (military). We know what we're doing. We're here to help."
Why do we even have a chemical weapons storage facility? We may never have used this stuff, but how do we justify having created and stockpiled it in the first place?
And now, since the U.S. government decided to create it, what do we do with it? Send it to New Jersey, whose state motto is "We Are the Home of Toxic Waste"? Even Jersey doesn't want this stuff.
So we sit, day after day, reading news reports that a leak has been detected, that the leak has been contained, that millions of dollars are being allocated to take care of the problem, that there's a citizens board, that there was a leak but it didn't mean anything, blah, blah, blah.
But we also read about a whistle blower who tried to let us know that things are not going as well as the Powers That Be say. This guy has already been reassigned and is no longer working with chemical weapons. The case may end up in court.
Where does this stop?
We read that this much money or that much money has been appropriated to take care of the problem, but there never seems to be enough. And even when money has been allocated, budget reductions take it away.
Do terrorists have to breach a nuclear power plant to wreak havoc on this country? No. I suspect that a concentrated assault on Blue Grass Army Depot could unleash a witch's brew that would make Chernobyl look like an outbreak of chicken pox.
I am not comforted that in January I received an "Emergency Preparedness Calendar" from something called the Madison County Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. Among bucolic photos of old barns and fields of daffodils is advice on how to use plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect myself from deadly nerve gas. Right.
I'm also tired of hearing about how well this stuff is monitored and protected. I just want it gone, as do many of my neighbors.
The federal government created this mess and should face its responsibility by allocating the resources to safely destroy it with all deliberate speed.
A previous government estimate, made in 1985, was 1994; the most recent was 2015.
Unfortunately, I don't think the destruction of these chemicals is going to happen any time soon. I have the uneasy feeling that I'm going to be looking forward to receiving my ""Emergency Preparedness Calendar" for many Januarys to come.
In the meantime, the problem will continue to fester and leak.
Frank Kourt of Richmond is a semi-retired communications professional. E-mail him at FJKCEK@hotmail.com.