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Electronic weapons are known to have ings of extreme tiredness shortly before Air Force Accused of been used by security forces on a number major events such as the departure of a of occasions. The Americans are reported cruise missile convoy and on other occa­ to have used ultrasound to disorient and sions when their activities might have "Zapping" Protesters demoralise their enemies during the Viet­ proved particularly awkward for the forces nam war and a number of American police using the base. Women peace campers at Greenham forces are believed to have carried out We have conducted a number of tests Common, England, claim that they are trials with infra-sound generators mounted around the base in cooperation with jour­ being attacked by the US electronic on the back of trucks. The high intensity, nalists from other organisations. Readings weapons from within the US airbase there. low frequency pressure waves these pro­ taken with a wide range signal strength They believe that some form of elec­ duce are said to cause vomiting, nausea meter showed marked increases in the tromagnetic wave or other signal is being and a range of other disturbances and to background signal level near one of the directed at them and is responsible for a induce fits in those who are subject to womens’ camps at a time when they number of illnesses they have suffered them. American medical groups have pro­ claimed to be experiencing ill effects. over the past year. tested against the proposed use of these On another occasion, previously low Symptoms range from mild headaches weapons for urban riot control. signal levels near the camp rose sharply and drowsiness to bouts of temporary Microwave radiation is also believed to when the women created a disturbance just paralysis and, in one case, an apparent have been used as a weapon at various outside the perimeter fence of the base. circulatory failure which required emer­ times. The most celebrated instance was Whether this indicated an attempt to sub­ gency treatment. Women have also com­ the irradiation of the US Embassy in Mos­ due the women by electronic means or plained of sharp pains and problems with cow during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. It has merely the use of a radar surveillance sys­ speech coordination. A team of doctors never been made clear whether the Rus­ tem it is impossible to say. from the Medical Campaign Against Nuc­ sians used the signal as a weapon or for The signal levels measured were well lear Weapons are compiling a report on the surveillance, but a television documentary above normal background levels but still condition of the women affected. screened last year reported a high inci­ within official safety limits. However, The women first noticed a pattern of dence of cancer amongst ex-Embassy staff there is evidence from a number of sources illnesses emerging in 1984. They dis­ and suggested that disorders of the blood that low levels of electromagnetic radia­ counted food or water poisoning as a cause Microwave lower owned by the U.S. and nervous system could also have been tion can have harmful effects especially caused by the signal. and started to suspect interference from Army ( 'omnumications Command, where exposure takes place over a long inside the base. They found that women at McLean, Virginia, i-iioio hi kohin look! r The women at Greenham Common sus­ period of time. pect that more than one type or frequency British Defense officials have denied different points around the camp appeared to make life difficult for them and so drive of radiation is being used against them. that any form of electronic signal is being to have experienced similar symptoms at them away. Some of the worst affected the same time, even when they were not in They say that the symptoms vary from used against the protesters. □ women now find it impossible to stay time to time and seem to reflect what takes contact with one another. around Greenham for more than a short —courtesy, Electronics Today They believe there is a deliberate intent place on the base. Large numbers of period of time. women have complained of sudden feel­

A full-scale EMP generator is operated Lawsuits Challenge Pentagon Research into by the Army’s Harry Diamond Laboratory in Woodbridge, Virginia. Called “Army "Electromagnetic Pulse" and EMP Simulator Operations” (AESOP), this facility— located about 200 feet from Warn of "H.E.R.O. Effect" a low-income residential neighbor­ hood—has been operating since 1974 and is suspected of causing a cancer cluster in by Mark Rabinowitz the neighborhood. Since 1972, the Navy has operated the In March 1987, two environmental i n u w EMP Radiation Environment Simulator groups, the Potomac River Association ■ IV M I O for Ships (Empress) program at Point Pati­ and the Foundation for Economic Trends ««.u« u n t w ence, Maryland, near the mouth of the sued in federal court to stop military re­ . UATTC Patuxent River. Empress generates two search into electromagnetic pulse (EMP) million volts of electricity beamed at war­ until it complies with environmental laws. ARMING ships anchored nearby to EMP-proof their In August, the Pentagon admitted that it 'MDKHT*£0U£WCT M0IATI0H HAZARD' electronics. had failed to prepare Environmental Im­ rtMIMTTla MU Ml M MUTIO ■ofD Controversy erupted in 1984, when the pact Statements (EIS) on any of its EMP uiOLW K UMUIfillfl ■■•n— H ft > / Navy announced plans to build Empress 2, research projects, except for one being •r UMCiirrt M nw M tri* .. a barge-mounted generator scheduled to n V M rm iM C T m r«« conducted in Maryland’s Chesapeake operate both in the Chesapeake Bay and in Bay. ■(W «t CMTMM (IKNICIUI the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina. The The hazards of EMP were vividly de­ im it ia t c * Empress 2 antenna would be 132 feet high monstrated on July 8, 1962 when the US lH.OllVf •oast* Locvict and 220 feet in diameter, with a seven military detonated a 1.4 megaton (100 A ll* L(TTtn ■ n tc i soon million volt generator. MATTC r w i t M - times larger than the bomb dropped on DC* MIO The plans for Empress 2 call for the Hiroshima) 248 miles above Johnston Is­ closure of a 12.6 square mile area, includ­ land in the Pacific Ocean. In Hawaii, 800 T O M IOCATCD ■ RADIO T«AatM ITTfa Ml SUITA*LC LOCATION ing 1,193 acres of public oyster bars, for miles away, street lights went out, burglar k m f u l l m ttrm iAtio* k m o u i i three months each year. This would have a alarms began ringing, and circuit breakers I ANTCM A STM OOl To a c MATTC ALUMINUM i v a o a n o M t ar AAMATioa hazabo crrrca* to ac a u n t *i in—nra severe economic effect on many commer­ shut down the power lines. The culprit was t aic— ouao or T>a» w rrw to at a o mo hm i ihy cial watermen and could disrupt the navi­ EMP, a previously unknown effect of nuc­ IM (I i LCTTtaa AM rtatMC to ac mattc aim m m t n o— ouwc or Tun w »rw to ac auto gation system of ships and airplanes. lear explosions in space. ■ a s o o M a c v The real danger of Empress 2 and other The potential disruption which could be i,m ' i waraucrion ro» m nuA T m facilities however, is that they provide a created by EMP is phenomenal. A single false reassurance to the Pentagon. The il­ nuclear weapon exploded 250 miles above lusion that nuclear war’s effects can be Nebraska could blanket much of the US "HLB.R.O. Warning Sign” limited may result in far more destruction with EMP, disrupting electronic com­ than Empress 2 could ever cause. munications, destroying electrical equip­ * * * ment, and lobotomizing computer On September 1, another coalition of memories. The military implications of while communication systems still func­ cated, but if the recent court suit is success­ environmental groups filed a federal law­ EMP were disturbing: a couple of detona­ tion. ful, the Pentagon will have to release a list suit in Washington, D.C. which charged tions above the US would cut off The Pentagon began a program in the of all EMP simulators worldwide. that the Pentagon has failed to adequately Washington from the missile fields, thus late 1960s to shield equipment from EMP. The Defense Nuclear Agency has oper­ protect the public and the environment severing the military nervous system from Non-nuclear EMP simulators were built to ated a laboratory-scale EMP simulator for from the Hazard of Electromagnetic Radi­ its nuclear muscle. Faced with this develop shielding techniques, and each many years to test EMP’s effects on the ation to Ordnance (the “ HERO Effect” ). predicament— to use nuclear weapons first branch of the military has several health of animals. It is located on the HERO can cause conventional and nuclear or not at all— both superpowers are more simulators. We do not yet know where all grounds of the Bethesda Naval Hospital in ordnance to detonate, launch, misfire or likely to launch preemptive nuclear strikes of the military’s EMP simulators are lo­ Maryland. Continued on page 12 ON GUARD 7

high ranking officers. You will be going Ask the Lawyer before them as a civilian, however, and should not feel intimidated. You have the right to present witnesses in your behalf, by Louis P. Font though this is not a requirement for apply­ but the board does not pay for any witness ing to the Discharge Review Board. To travel expenses. The hearing is usually Q. I am being discharged from active obtain these copies, you need to submit tape recorded by the board. The board duty. I've been told that my discharge will form SF 180, asking for all of your service rarely announces any decision on the day automatically be upgraded six months records. If you already have a copy, or do of the hearing; instead, the applicant re­ after I leave the service. Is this true? not have the time to obtain them, you can ceives by mail the decision one or two No. There is no such thing as an automa­ apply to the Discharge Review Board and months after the hearing. tic upgrade of a discharge. But persistent later review your records at the Board hear­ Remember that the Discharge Review rumors to that effect are often heard on ing. It is preferable to obtain your records Board has the power to upgrade a dis­ military bases. Sometimes service mem­ first so that you can review them carefully charge on the basis of changed standards. bers are told about an “automatic” up­ before submitting the upgrade form. So you must consider current regulations grade to get them to give up important To apply for a discharge upgrade, you and directives as well as the ones that rights such as a right to a board hearing or will need to submit a form DD 293. This applied to you at the time you were dis­ legal advice prior to discharge. form is available from your Congressman charged. The board enforces a “presump­ Congress has established the Discharge or you can write to the Discharge Review Louis Font is counsel to Citizen Soldier. tion of regularity ’ ’ in evaluating the paper Review Board, which sits for each branch Board for your branch of service. On the He is a civilian practitioner of military law. record, so if you are attacking what is in of the armed forces. The Board will hear form, you are asked to list the reasons why He is a graduate of West Point, the U.S. your records, you will have a much greater the case of any discharge except a Bad you believe the discharge you received Military Academy (1968). He graduated chance of success if you can bring forward Conduct Discharge or Dishonorable Dis­ was unlawful or unfair. You should take from Yale Law School (1975). His offices are an eyewitness or written statements up­ charge issued by a general court-martial. care in writing this “ list of contentions.” located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. holding your view of events. Thus, the board will hear your case if you The contentions are the specific reasons In addition, the board may be interested received a General Discharge under Hon­ why you are asking that the Discharge Re­ stating that his or her case is scheduled to in knowing how you have conducted your­ orable Conditions or an Other than Honor­ view Board upgrade your discharge. You be heard on a certain date and that he or she self since you were discharged. It is usu­ able Discharge, or a Bad Conduct Dis­ can obtain assistance in writing this list should be present at 8 a.m. Actually, sev­ ally helpful to document your post­ charge awarded by special court-martial. from an attorney; and there are some vete­ eral applicants are told to arrive at the same discharge employment record and make This procedure is not automatic, however, rans groups which offer assistance free of time. They are briefed by a member of the the board aware of any community ac­ and the former service member must charge. Each reason that you offer should board concerning the procedures of the tivities you have been involved in. The specifically apply for any discharge up­ be grounded in illegality or unfairness. hearing and are given the opportunity to board will also ask why it is important to grade. Also, there is a statute of limita­ Aside from simply submitting a list, you review their records and applications. The you to have your discharge upgraded, so tions: the application for a discharge up­ also have the right to submit a brief which board also has a summary of the applic­ be sure to think through your answer to this grade must be submitted within fifteen explains your reasoning. ant’s records which the applicant is enti­ question prior to the hearing. years of discharge. You have the right to a hearing before tled to review. Thus, you will know the The characterization of your discharge the Discharge Review Board if you request documents the board has available to it in cannot be made worse by applying to the Q. What are the procedures before the it. You should exercise this right. Statistics making a decision in your case. Discharge Review Board. Thus, an Army, Navy, or Air Force Discharge Re­ tend to show that the chances of an upgrade The hearing is informal in nature, and is applicant has everything to gain and no­ view Boards? are better when the applicant personally your opportunity to present evidence and thing to lose by applying. But be sure that A usual first step is to obtain a full copy appears before the board. answer questions of the board members. you give the application the time and of your service and medical records, al­ Typically, the applicant receives a letter The members of the board are active-duty thought that it deserves. □

me feel that I could not go on violating my the local Sanctuary movement. Other Central American own beliefs—ignoring my personal ex­ A former Army sergeant who’d been an perience of the terrible suffering of NCO in a tank battalion in Germany also Resisters Come Forward brothers and sisters in Central America. called me recently. He had gotten to know The testimony of the refugees was simply Germans who were working against the by (Name Withheld) base. During the six months I was there, too strong and clear for me to repress. US war in Central America. He told me he two classes of nearly one hundred Sal­ Within one month after arriving at has applied for C.O. status on these I am an Army Lieutenant stationed at vadoran officer cadets underwent training. (withheld) in March 1987, I applied for grounds. I, like Sgt. Cobos, have also met (withheld). While I was a Reserve Officer These classes were held in addition to Conscientious Objector status. After eight other soldiers who’ve said they would ac­ Training Corps cadet at Notre Dame, I had those in which many Peruvian, Equado- long months of fighting, I was finally tively resist the Central American war if the opportunity to study in Mexico for a ran, Columbian and Dominican Republi­ awarded 1-A-O status. Although I continue they didn’t have families for whom they year, Costa Rica for a summer, as well as can soldiers were trained. to serve in the Army, I will not carry a were responsible. travel through much of Central and South On my way from Ft. Benning to my weapon or train for combat. I expect to be But take heart, for every time a news­ America. permanent duty station, I stopped in El discharged in August of 1989. paper like yours publishes the story of one Like Sgt. Cobos, I am also appalled by Paso, Texas to visit a college friend who Meanwhile, I am doing everything I can who has resisted, you pave the way for still what I have seen, both in terms of the was working with refugees at Annuncia­ to oppose US policy in Central America. I more to come! social conditions of the Latin American tion House. It was this experience, perhaps publish a newsletter on Central America, □ people and the incredibly immoral policies more than any other, which really made help lobby Congress, as well as work with the US pursues there. While in Nicaragua, I stayed not far from a house where victims of the war were being treated. Seeing young children crippled by US bombs in a Zapping at Griffiss AFB Alleged war they don’t understand still brings tears by Joan Olsson trointestinal problems, severe headaches, Seneca are due to incidental microwaves to my eyes. fatigue, dizziness, eye pain, ear symp­ from the base communications, or due to Unfortunately, I had also committed We suspect that protesters at the Seneca toms, memory and concentration prob­ purposeful zapping of the camp for myself to a four-year stint on active-duty in Encampment outside Griffiss AFB, near lems, and depression. Women and chil­ specific reasons. the Army as an Infantry Officer. My up­ Rome, New York are also being exposed dren are more susceptible to microwave A possible use for microwave zapping is coming duty did not stop me, however, to microwave radiation. These are elec­ radiation than men. Different frequencies a specific weapon against us. This has been from forming the Student Organization for tromagnetic waves of low frequencies, of microwaves are thought to have diffe­ shown to be the case at Greenham, and Latin America, or working with the Center used for communication, surveillance, and rent physiological and psychological ef­ since Greenham is at a US base, it is not for Social Concerns and the Kellogg Insti­ radar. Microwaves are part of the large fects. It is unclear what frequencies beyond the stretch of one’s imagination tute of Latin American Studies. Although I spectrum of electromagnetic waves, from women at Greenham are being exposed to. that it has a specific purpose at Seneca. was accepted to graduate school, the Army high frequency radiation like x-rays and Some similar symptoms have been re­ We need to determine a strategy to fight ordered me on active-duty, beginning with gamma rays, down to light and infrared, ported by women who have been at this. We also need to let women coming on Basic [Officer’s] Course at Ft. Benning, and to low frequency radio and mic­ Seneca, but there is at present no documen­ the land know of possible risks to their Ga. I tried to make the best of it, feeling rowaves. It is also possible to be exposed tation of microwave “zapping,” though it health and well being. We also need to that maybe there was a place for a moral to microwaves from video display termi­ is strongly suspected. document carefully the health and feelings officer in today’s Army. nals (VDT’s), and your kitchen mic­ It is fairly clear that at Greenham the of all the women. Information packets are While attending Basic at Ft. Benning, I rowave. microwave radiation is purposeful. When also available. □ was shocked to find that thousands of Latin Documented symptoms of microwave the women started a demonstration, the Contact: Joan Olsson American troops were being trained at the exposure include: irregular cycles, post­ level of microwaves rose sharply. It is not RFD # 1 , Box 171 “School of the Americas” located on menopausal bleeding, nausea and gas- known whether the symptoms seen at W. Edmeston, N.Y. 13485 8 ON GUARD

Healing From the War: Trauma & and felt. I would forgive— not in response Transformation After Vietnam. to a promise that it wouldn ’t happen again, Arthur Egendorf. Boston: Houghton Mif­ but as a gift, as an ennobling act, the only flin. 324 pp. $15.95 gesture that had the power to be thoroughly In early February 1967,1 went to Viet­ healing for me.” nam as an 18-year-old Marine, eager to do With that “ennobling act,” Egendorf my duty— as I understood it at that point in heals himself— and dismisses all question my life—and without the shadow of a of right and wrong. But someone was re­ doubt that I was 4 ‘doing good, ’ ’ practically sponsible for all that waste and misery. A and morally. Thirteen months later, hav­ whole lot of people, in fact. And it is an ing been witness and party to the wholesale empty and perhaps even irresponsible ges­ destruction of a people and culture, I came ture to forgive those who do not seek for­ home to an alien land in a state of utter giveness, have never sought forgiveness shock and confusion. and are even now preparing to hurl another While it is impossible to generalize generation of Americans into Central about the experiences and reactions of the America, the Philippines or God-only- some 3 million men and women who knows where else. served in Vietnam, what happened to me Certainly, I agree wholeheartedly with was hardly unique. In its heyday, Vietnam Egendorf’s insistence that Vietnam vete­ Veterans Against the War attracted rans must ultimately accept responsibility thousands of ex-soldiers who had under­ for their own lives. But, unlike him, I also gone a similar transformation from willing insist that the other actors in the tragedy of warrior to disillusioned survivor. Few wit­ Vietnam accept responsibility for their nesses will ever forget the spectacle, in the lives and actions. Given the nature and spring of 1971, of former soldiers hurling outcome of the war, such an insistence their medals onto the steps of Congress in may well preclude ever reaching any na­ an outburst of emotion and repudiation un­ tional consensus about the war and where precedented in American history. we as a nation should go from here. But if By now, the impact of the war on the being, of what we are most essentially in pledge of having written the book “for consensus means getting in line with young people who were asked to fight it that instant. In the light of such seeing, the those who served, for the people around Ronald Reagan, Rambo and the “new pat­ has long since become manifest: 58,000 thereness of all emerges freely, joyously, them who want to help, and for the men riotism, ” I for one can certainly live with­ dead; 300,000 wounded; 21,000 physi­ as awesome and wondrous, as shimmering and women who lived through the war at out it. cally disabled; 13,000 psychologically or openness.” home.” Instead, he inflicts upon us his To his credit, Egendorf has no use for neurologically disabled, plus the countless Though I’m sure Egendorf is convinced own private odyssey of self-discovery, the current trends in American policy and thousands suffering from varying degrees that passage and others like it have which may have begun in Vietnam, but, in popular opinion. But his alternative—a of what is now medically termed post- something—perhaps everything— to do the end, has no more to do with the utopian fantasy in which we will transform traumatic stress syndrome; 500,000 at­ with the trauma suffered by Vietnam vete­ “grunts” who slogged through the rice the world by proclaiming “a human cen­ tempted suicides and 55,000 ‘ ‘successful ’ ’ rans and how to heal it, I’ll be darned if I fields than a state dinner at the White tury as prologue to a new millennium,” suicides and deaths by drug overdose or in can figure out what. Enormous portions of House. when all of us will place “ourselves and single-car accidents; inordinately high the book are taken up with long-winded, Moreover, Egendorf’s refusal to make our national institutions in service to rates of divorce, unemployment and in­ abstract discussions of Buddhist medita­ moral judgments about the war or those humanity”—is pure gossamer, a desper­ carceration. tion, the Enlightenment, Freemasonry, who promoted it is a dangerous abdication ate attempt to offer hope in the face of Such statistics, true and devastating as Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis, the of responsibility—his own anoothers. “I hard-core reality. In “Healing From the they are, can be misleading, however. Industrial Revolution and cosmic con­ sat there in the hotel ballroom, ’ ’ he writes, War,.” veterans and nonveterans still Most Vietnam veterans, over the long haul sciousness; Egendorf draws upon every­ “ listening to theesf trainer, contemplating struggling with the trauma of Vietnam are have successfully managed to get on with one from Homer to Poe, Goethe to a step that seemed more daring and more not likely to find much of practical value. their lives. But the fact remains, as Viet­ Kazantzakis, Confucius to Heidegger. In blessed than I had ever taken. I would no W.D. Ehrhart nam veteran and psychologist Arthur the process, he narrows his audience to longer hold myself, my former leaders, the Egendorf points out in the introduction to intellectuals and fellow philosophical world, life, history, the human race hos­ his “ Healing from the War,” most of us visionaries— and thus abrogates his own tage for the pain I knew about, witnessed — courtesy Present Tense still “have not finished with Vietnam” and ‘ ‘the suffering is not over. ’ ’ I began Egendorf’s book with the hope of discovering what we might do to further the process of healing and prevent such Air Force Officer Resists Ouster suffering in future generations. Certainly, Egendorf is eminently qualified to address by Tricia Crilchfield served; ‘ ‘The fact that Ellen continues to the subject. Himself a disillusioned volun­ receive the highest evaluations for her job teer soldier and once-active member of Ellen Nesbitt, a gay lieutenant in New performance points up the absurdity of the V.V.A.W., he was instrumental in initiat­ York’s Air National Guard, has won at Pentagon’s draconian rules which require ing the first Vietnam veterans’ “ rap least a temporary victory in her fight to the discharge of homosexuals regardless of groups” in the early 1970s, and has con­ remain in the service. For the past two their fitness to serve.” tinued to work with and study Vietnam years, her attorneys Louis Font, Tod En­ In a related case, a federal appeals court veterans since then. sign, and cooperating attorney Sharon in Chicago recently ordered that Sgt. The first half of Egendorf’s book did not Flood have been fighting the Air Guard’s Miriam ben-Shalom be reinstated to her disappoint me. Alternating between per­ attempts to discharge Lt. Nesbitt solely Army Reserve unit in Milwaukee. Ms. sonal vignettes and more detached com­ because she is an acknowledged homosex­ ben-Shalom has waged an eleven year mentary, he creates a powerful picture of ual. fight to be returned to duty after the Army the downward spiral traveled by so many In July, 1987, Ellen’s attorneys filed a involuntarily discharged her in 1976. In of us who served in Vietnam. Along the federal lawsuit in the Eastern District on 1980, a federal court in Wisconsin ruled way, he illuminates the incredible insanity New York’s Long Island, seeking a court that she should not have been discharged of the war and the duplicity and hypocrisy order mandating that the Air Guard pro­ since Army regulations at the time allowed of American policymakers, both civilian vide Nesbitt with an administrative board a discharge only for homosexual acts and and military. hearing where she can defend herself tendencies and not simply for statements Midway through the book, however, against their involuntary discharge action. about sexual preference. The appeals court Egendorf begins to go awry. In an appa­ In early October, just before the oral also ordered that the Army insure that no rently sincere effort to avoid divisive re­ arguments on their motion were to take one in the military retaliate against the gay crimination and what he sees as irrelevant place before Judge Jacob Mishler, the Air activist while she serves the eleven remain­ moral judgments, he falls into an abyss of Guard agreed to indefinitely postpone any ing months on her original Reserve con­ philosophical and mystical speculation discharge action. Since then, government tract. » that is impossible to fathom. Writes Egen­ attorneys have apparently been discussing The ruling may not directly affect Lt. dorf, in the chapter titled “ Turning It the legality of denying Lt. Nesbitt her Nesbitt’s case since the military has tight­ Around”: “To observe presence so due-process rights to a public hearing. ened its regulations to cover those who clearly, we must open ourselves not to In the meantime, Ellen continues to per­ merely acknowledge being homosexual anything in particular but to being. We form her duties as member of the 247th and discharges under these regulations must present ourselves, at which point we Combat Communications Squadron at have withstood court challenges. □ Lt. Ellen Nesbitt see everything as an eternal reflection of Roslyn, New York. Attorney Font ob- ON GUARD 9

injured when US nuclear bombers crashed World's Radiation Victims Get in their countries, were heard for the first time. The Pentagon has recorded over thirty such accidents since it first gained a Together for the First Time nuclear arsenal Ole Markussen described how he and 2 Using government mortality statistics, he several hundred other Danish workers > found that infant mortality in the Pacific cleaned up plutonium-laced snow after a Coast states, where fallout was the B-52, loaded with four hydrogen bombs, ^ heaviest, rose by 54% in June, 1986, a crashed at Thule, Greenland in January, month after the accident, compared with a 1968. Since then, he and many of his co­ year earlier. Overall, the U.S. experienced workers have developed chronic health a 3% increase in total deaths (35,000 ex­ problems which some scientists attribute cess deaths) when the same periods are to radiation from the damaged bombs. compared. While most participants applauded the “No socio-economic or medical care conference organizers for pulling off an change can explain these sharp rises and international conference with very limited declines,” Stemglass explained. “Only a funds, a substantial number of delegates short-lived toxic agent, such as Iodine-131 expressed criticisms. Zengiro Sakaguchi, and other short-lived isotopes could ac­ Secretary-general of Gensuikin com-- count for such rapid changes.” plained that the conference had failed to Dr. Jay Gould, of the Public Data Ac­ stimulate meaningful discussions among cess group, presented another study which the various delegations. “Too many found “disturbing” mortality increases in speakers have simply lectured us, with lit­ the post-Chernobyl period among 25-34 tle time allotted for discussion or ques­ year old Americans— normally one of the tions,” he argued. healthiest age groups. Gould noted that Tom LeBlanc, a Native American ac­ these young people had been exposed, as tive with the Indigenous Peoples Uranium Participants in Global Radiation Victims’ children, to fallout from 1950-59, when Forum in San Francisco, also questioned Conference march to the United Nations to present demands. atmospheric bomb-testing was at its the emphasis on academic presentations by height. “The Chernobyl radiation had an scientific experts. “Indigenous people by Tod Ensign been focused almost exclusively on almost immediate adverse effect on the also have much to teach others in terms of eliminating weapons; nuclear power has ability of persons with weakened immune traditional medicines and a non-exploita- Nearly 300 anti-nuke organizers and remained unchallenged. Apparently, systems to resist infections of all kinds,” tive relationship to the environment,” scientists from over 20 countries gathered “glasnost” doesn’t extend to public dis­ he concluded. LeBlanc observed. He called for more in New York City Sept. 26-Oct. 3 for the cussions of Chernobyl and other nuclear Like the rest of the conference, these communication and trust among the di­ First Global Radiation Victims Confer­ disasters within the U.S.S.R. reports were ignored by the mainstream verse conferees. ence. The eight day conference dealt with Some workshops featured testimony by media. Kitty Tucker, a conference organizer, a broad range of radiation-related subjects, different groups of nuclear victims, from A number of lawyers who have been attributed many of the logistical shortcom­ from the worldwide effects of Chernobyl’s the “hibakusha” bomb victims of attempting to use the courts to win com­ ings to the failure of the larger anti-nuke fallout to the impact of nuclear production Hiroshima and Nagasaki to indigenous pensation for victims and to reform radia­ groups, such as SANE/Freeze, Green­ and testing on indigenous people. people contaminated and sickened by tion practices also shared their experi­ peace, and the Mobilization for Survival to Activists from Malaysia, Samiland, and uranium mining and processing in the US ences. Rob Hager, who heads the Nuclear pitch in. “They all made a lot of promises, the Marshall Islands joined delegates from Southwest and in the Pacific. Other panels Reform Project of the Christie Institute but delivered nothing, ” she stated bitterly. the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan to featured detailed scientific presentations offered a gloomy prognosis; ‘ ‘So far, radi­ It appears that a permanent coordinating exchange information and develop strate­ on deficient radiation-exposure standards, ation victims in this country have won only body will emerge to coordinate and plan gies for abolishing nuclear weapons and educating medical personnel on the one case (the ‘downwind’ residents in for additional international conferences in reactors. The largest delegation was sent hazards of diagnostic X-rays, and prelimi­ Utah) and that was reversed on appeal. Our the future. by the Japanese Congress Against Nuclear nary estimates of health damage due to the opponents have so many resources that For more info: Health and Energy Bombs (Gensuikin) which has branches Chernobyl disaster. they can just beat on us for years and Institute throughout that country. Dr. Ernest Stemglass, a radiological years.” Hager added that special interest 236 Massachusetts Ave The Soviet Bloc countries were invited physicist at the University of Pittsburgh, legislation and appellate rulings have also NE, #506 but did not attend. Kitty Tucker, confer­ presented some startling data on health ef­ helped insulate the nuclear industry from Washington, DC 20002 ence co-chair explained that within the fects due to the relatively-low doses of liability. (202) 543-1070. Warsaw Pact countries, nuclear protest has Chernobyl fallout that reached the U.S. One group of radiation victims, those Military "Whistleblowers" Offered Protection by Tricia Critchfield but fears reprisal if he reports it, since his CO, “Major Smith” is authorizing these A California Congresswoman has intro­ purchases. If, upon disclosing this infor­ duced the “Military Whistleblowers’ Pro­ mation to the Inspector General (IG) or to a tection Act” which is designed to protect member of Congress, “Sgt. Jones’” effi­ GIs who come forward to report waste, ciency ratings suddenly begin to worsen, fraud, or abuse. or he’s denied promotion or his slot to U.S. Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) exp­ attend NCO School was pulled— in other lains that HR 1394 forbids any DoD civi­ words, he fears he’s a victim of command lian or military official from taking an un­ retaliation—the bill authorizes him to re­ favorable personnel action against a ser- quest an IG investigation. "A gold watch?! Why, this must have cost BILLIONSI!" vicemember who has filed such a report. Evidence of both the original wrongdo­ Prohibited actions include denial of prom­ ing reported and the alleged retaliation will issue a decision after the retaliation has A legislative assistant to Representative otion, reassignment or denial thereof, de­ be gathered within thirty days. The been reported. It can order any action Boxer told ON GUARD that she expects a cisions concerning training or educational “whistleblower” receives a copy and if necessary to protect the ‘ ‘whistleblower, ’ ’ tough fight if this bill is to pass Congress. opportunities, change in responsibilities his claim is substantiated, he can, with the including payment of money as compensa­ “ But, it’s about time people who speak out and/or poor efficiency ratings. assistance of the judge advocate, petition tion. against waste and fraud are offered some W e’ve all heard about $600 toilet seats the Board of Correcti6ns of Military Re­ Finally, if “Sgt. Jones” doesn’t agree sort of protection,” she argued. “These and $6,000 coffee pots. Let’s say “Sgt. cords for review. with its decision, he may appeal the people are going beyond the call of duty. ” Jones” discovers corruption of this type The Board has 180 days in which to Board’s ruling to a federal appellate court. ON GUARD agrees. □ 10 ON GUARD

argues that what is needed is “ a nonviolent Brian Willson Returns to the revolution in the first world. If we don’t do it, we’re not going to survive.”

NEEDED: INTENSE PRESSURE Barricades Willson points out that citizens actually by Stephen Babb Nicaragua in 1986— 17 years after going He then organized Veterans’ Peace Action have an obligation under international law to Vietnam. Teams which have held marches and to restrain their government from engaging ‘ ‘You don’t allow your brothers and sis­ Willson spent two months living with a stationed observers in Nicaraguan war in criminal conduct. The legal basis for ters to be killed in your name, ” says Brian family in Esteli. Shortly after he arrived, zones. Most recently, he has led the this, Willson argues, is the Nuremberg Willson, summing up his motive for ac­ the contras attacked several nearby com­ Nuremberg Actions campaign, which or­ Protocols, a body of conventions agreed to tivism. Willson is the Vietnam veteran munities, killing 11 civilians. The incident ganized the Sept. 1 Concord protest. by most of the world community in the who lost both his legs in a Sept. 1 protest at left Willson shaken and angry, and instil­ Willson was instrumental in shaping the wake of the post-World War 2 Nazi trials. the Concord Naval Weapons station. led in him an almost unbearable sense of committee’s strategy, which now includes Willson believes the Nuremberg Ac­ Willson and other activists were on the urgency about stopping the carnage. He an around-the-clock vigil at the Concord tions Campaign’s approach—pressing the tracks to protest US military shipments to remembers telling the family, “That’s my tracks. While the campaign’s immediate public to take a stand— is the only way to Central America. money out there. W e’re killing people for goal is to stop the arms flow from Concord change US policy toward Central Ameri­ Dressed in slacks, a T-shirt expressing a lie. I’ve been through it before and this to Central America, it raises much deeper ca. “The answer isn’t in Washington,” he solidarity with Salvadoran refugees and time I’ve got to stop it.” issues. Willson says the group wants says. There has been “a long history of his ever-present St. Louis Cardinals cap, After returning from Nicaragua Willson people in the US to recognize that “the bipartisan support for a policy of covert Willson was relaxed and animated during says he “couldn’t just go about my busi­ lives of people in the third world are worth terrorism” toward Central America, he our interview. Willson spends several ness.” He gave up his career as a lawyer no less than their own.” The campaign notes. The two major parties agree the US hours a day learning to walk on his artifi­ and became a full-time activist. From that urges people to ‘ ’take responsibility for US has a right to intervene in the internal af­ cial lower legs. He still experiences a good moment to the present he has been con­ actions abroad— actions taken in our name fairs of other countries. The Republicans, deal of pain— not only from his legs, but stantly engaged in political action begin­ but without our consent— that do violence he says, opt for “flagrant military aggres­ also from a fractured wrist and other in­ ning with last fall’s Veterans Fast for Life. to those people,” Willson explains. He sion, and the Democrats prefer more in­ juries. A small indentation on his forehead sidious political meddling.” is a reminder that the train also literally Willson feels strongly that “we won’t split his skull open. Willson has recovered "Every person has a track and a place see a major policy shift in Washington rapidly. He seems to have pulled through without a consciousness change on the part by sheer force of will. on it to take a stand" —Brian Willson of the American people” and the applica­ Willson came from a very conservative tion of intense public pressure. What is family. “I was incredibly straight . . . on needed, he says, is “sustained, day-by- the right, an all-American boy who was day resistance” exemplified by the round- literally bom on the Fourth of July,” he the-clock vigil at Concord by some 1100 says. At college in 1964, he was the cam­ protesters. pus campaign manager for GOP presiden­ Witnesses describe the incident in tial candidate Barry Goldwater. In 1969, at which Willson lost his legs as a deliberate age 28, he began serving in Vietnam. “It attack. Willson says he never imagined was a watershed experience,” he says. “ I that the munitions train would fail to stop. had a shocking awakening when I realized He thought of the Concord protest as rela­ that most of what I had learned growing up tively low-risk compared, for example, to was a lie.” the Veterans Peace Action Team march But Willson is quick to point out that through a Nicaraguan war zone he took Vietnam was only the starting point; he part in last spring. “I couldn’t believe it arrived at his current positions through a when I woke up in the hospital and they gradual process, not a one-time “conver­ told me what had happened,” he recalls. sion.” After Vietnam he became a lawyer To those who claim he should have fore­ and worked to support causes such as seen what would happen, Willson replies, prison reform, advocacy for mental pa­ “I’m sorry, but I don’t expect to be tients and veterans’ rights. He first visited Brian Willson and wife, Holley Rauen in his hospital room. maimed for exercising my First Amend­ ment right of dissent. I refuse to expect or accept it and I won’t expect it when I go fluent Spanish speaker and a member of accident reports led to an investigation by back to the tracks. ” To those who dismiss Body Count the National Spanish Honor Society, the office of Sen. James Sasser (D-Tenn), him as a “fanatic,” Willson stresses the might have been doing in Honduras. Lee’s into the possibility that these deaths might irony of a situation where ‘ ‘if you go off Continued from page I accident came at the same time a memo not have happened in Honduras at all, that 10.000 miles away to kill Vietnamese and his grip when he slipped in the river. Lee’s was made public indicating that U.S. they may have been cases of so-called maybe be killed yourself, you’re consi­ body was recovered two days later. troops had engaged in combat with San- “bodywashing,”—that the deaths may dered a hero, but if you put your life on the The conclusion of Maj. Michael Ander­ dinista troops inside Nicaragua at least have actually occurred in Nicaragua and line for something you believe in, for son, Baxter’s superior, was that the once in 1984. restaged in Honduras. peace, you’re considered a masochist and Lieutenant’s actions showed not only During the past four years there have Daniel Cobos, an Air Force cryptologic a weirdo.” “disobedience,” but also “wanton disre­ been various other reports of U.S. troops linguist who has applied for status as a Willson describes the Sandinista revolu­ gard” for Lee’s life. Anderson recom­ participating in combat and combat sup­ Conscientious Objector, has said that he tion as “a beacon of hope for the third and mended Baxter’s court-martial. port missions inside Nicaragua and flew intelligence missions over Nicaragua first world alike. ” This is why he has cho­ The release of these reports to Eva Lee, elsewhere in Central America. During one as recently as April, 1987. sen to focus so much of his energy on it, he Craig’s mother, acquired with the aid of 18 month period between 1983 and 1984, The involvement of American troops in says. But he adds that US intervention is “ On Guard,” is the first official explana­ 13 members of an elite helicopter unit, Nicaragua, which would have been a vio­ jeopardizing the sovereignty of a number tion of Lee’s death offered by the military. Task Force 160th, died in reported training lation of the Boland Amendment between of other countries equally deserving of sol­ Ms. Lee, who lives in New Haven, Conn., missions. Members of the 160th, whose 1984 and 1986, and concerns of family idarity. He cites El Salvador, Guatemala first learned of her son’s death not from the motto is “Death Waits in the Dark,” had members of those who have died in Central and Angola—where there are some Army but from a local television news told family members that dressed in civi­ America was not addressed during the 20.000 amputees, mostly victims of mines report. lian clothes and without identification, Iran-contra investigations. And as the talk planted by US-funded rebels. Willson With the help of Nathan Campbell, a they would fly night missions into Central turns from war to peace in the region, plans to go on speaking tours in these coun­ reporter for The New Haven Inquirer, Ms. America. According to a congressional in­ interest in their story diminishes even tries as well as in Scandinavia and the Lee enlisted the office of Cong. Bruce vestigator, sources inside the military were further. USSR. Morrison (D-Conn.) to inquire into the ac­ close to confirming these reports when a Eva Lee says that even now, having read Brian Willson appears ready to confront cident. The reluctance of the Army to pro­ newspaper story scared them off. the accident reports, she still wants to whatever the future brings with indefatig­ vide information, the failure to return In December of 1984 two Navy SEALs know what Craig was doing in Honduras in able optimism. “After all,” he says, “I Craig’s dog tags, and the refusal of a fun­ died when they reportedly wandered into the first place. survived being hit by a train; I mean, what eral director to allow family members to demolitions set by members of their own “They send .my son, a fluent Spanish are they going to do next? I feel more at positively identify Craig’s body, led them unit during a log clearing mission in speaker, on a supposed training mission in peace with myself now than I’ve ever felt to consider the possibility that something Northern Honduras. But a former member Honduras and he can’t swim and he before.” was being covered up. of the unit says he conducted reconnais­ drowns in a river, ’ ’ she says. ‘ ‘But you tell “Every person has a track,” he adds, Both Morrison’s office and the Lee fam­ sance missions in Nicaragua with one of me, aren’t there any rivers in the United “and a place on it to take a stand. ” □ ily still wonder what else Craig, who was a the SEALs. Contradictions in the Navy States?” □ — courtesy, The Guardian

Collection Number: AG1977

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