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Nuclear transport through Scotland expected on Monday 12th of May

fwd | 11.05.2003 20:31 | Anti-militarism | Ecology

A nuclear transport is on the road, heading for Scotland.
There will be protests against these weapons of mass destruction.
The nuclear warheads are expected to arrive at Coulport, near Faslane, Helensburgh, on Monday, 12th of May 2003 in the afternoon.

Do you want to be a weapons inspector?

A British military convoy carrying illegal weapons of mass destruction is due to arrive in Scotland on Monday. The heavily guarded convoy of lorries slipped out of a top-secret atomic bomb factory near Reading on Saturday morning and travelling by road is due to arrive at its destination - a nuclear bomb store at Coulport on Loch Long on the Clyde - on Mornday afternoon. Each of the three lorries in the convoy is thought to be carrying two nuclear warheads which each have a destructive capacity eight times the
bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The bombs have been ruled illegal under international law.

Civilian weapons inspectors from Scottish CND, Trident Ploughshares and Faslane Peace Camp will be monitoring the convoy as it travels through Scotland as part of the UK Nukewatch network. At some point the civilian weapons inspectors will attempt to stop the convoy for a close-up
inspection, but this is likely to be resisted by the British regime's security personnel who are escorting the convoy.

The convoy is expected to travel on a route that will take it up the M74 to Glasgow then up the M73 and A80 to Stirling then along the A811 to Balloch at the south end of Loch Lomond, then up the A82 alongside Loch Lomond to
take the Glen Fruin road to Coulport. As well as being illegal under international law the movement of these weapons puts the communities living along the convoys route in a great deal of risk of a major nuclear accident.

If you wish to join the team of weapons inspectors on Monday please meet outside Partick station at 11am on Monday.

For more information please phone Phill on 07751477628.

fwd

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Hanford Washington, Pat Act and dangerous tra

12.05.2003 17:46

dangerous transport on undafe public highways. Terrorists frindly?

 http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=27286&group=webcast

Even as Seattle today does a dirty bomb drill and the feds are crawling all around, accumulating data to keep secret...doing this war drill in the streets.

a3m


Convoy now arrived

12.05.2003 19:09

The Trident Nuclear Warhead Convoy arrived at RNAD Coulport this evening around 7pm, over 3 hours later than usual. It had taken a different route from the one it has used for a number of years principally to try and avoid protesters. After leaving Albermarle Barracks near to Newcastle at 10am it headed up the A68 before heading East instead of the usual route West to Carlisle and North on the A74/M74. We think it joined the Edinburgh City By-pass and then took the M90 to Stirling. There a group of six 'citizens weapons inspectors' had been waiting just below Stirling Castle with a banner to alert the public to weapons of mass destruction passing through the area. Due to being outnumbered two to one it was not possible to attempt to halt the convoy on this occasion. As the convoy stopped further along the road for a teabreak the weapons inspectors tried to get closer to the trucks and to tell the large police escort that they were gathering information for Hans Blix! The convoy eventually moved off to complete it's delivery of Trident warheads ready for deployment on Trident submarines.

Jane
mail e-mail: scnd@banthebomb.org


illegal?

14.05.2003 09:00

" illegal weapons of mass destruction "

Illegal how? The UK declared that we have them and signed the non-proliferation treaty. They're not illegal.

Paul
mail e-mail: god@ihatemyself.org
- Homepage: http://www.ihatemyself.org


it makes me laugh

14.05.2003 15:41

citizen weapons inspectors?? some times the idiots who organise this pointless and dangerous opposition to the movement of the United Kingdoms LEGAL and LEGITIMATELY held nuclear deterrant make me laugh so hard. If they had been allowed on the truck (which if i was convoy commander, i would have been sorely tempted to allow them) what would that have achived? Do these idiots even know what a single MIRV warhead looks like stripped, and even if they do some idiot peacenik is unlikley to be able to tell you much about it.

The sooner you stop and think logically for a moment, the better. You would then realise that the only thing which preserved peace in Europe between the Soviet and western blocks was the principle of Mutually assused destruction, otherwise WW2 would have ended just in time for WW3, the Uk, US (and maybe the French, but you know what a nation of cowards they are) against the Soviet Union.

And as for CND, considering they spent the cold war working under the control of the East German Intelligence service (granted without the knowledge of most of its members), a foreign power which was targeting The United kingdom and her allies, i am amazed they have the brass neck to campaign in public (although i did note Bruce Kent dropped of the radar for a few years out of the shame of it).

The anti nuclear activists are going to have to realise that its a big, bad world out there, and if you are going to negotiate with some of the more unpleasent regimes out there, you have to do it while holding a bigger stick than thiers or states like Syria, Iran, cuba, North Korea etc will not listen to you.

Yes i know its very fashionable to go on demos, and while at Uni (before you go off to join Daddies merchant banking firm) its fun to be a student, but, you cant let your silly ill concieved little fashionable idea interfere with the smooth and efficent running of the United Kingdoms main deterrant against foreign aggressors.

For god sake stop and think about it, open your minds and start thinking with some common sense!!!!!!!

Kenny Mullen


Illegal weapons

17.05.2003 22:04

For the information of the last contributer - whilst the holding of nuclear weapons is not materially illegal under international law, the World court project :(comprising a panel of judges and lawyers with expertize in International law NB), found that their use would be (illegal) under almost all forseeable senarios. Whilst the UK has indeed signed up to the non-proliferation treaty, the UK (together with the USA and France) have actually altered the rules of engagement over recent years. During the so called Cold war for example, Nuclear weapons could only be used as a response to an imminant threat of massive destruction to the state. These rules of engagement however have since been altered (several times - and without democratic debate) to allow (for example again), use of a nuclear weapon on a sparsely populated area of a belligerent country as a demonstration of our overwhelming power. Furthermore, said rules would allow for an attack on a non nuclear belligerent.

I would also like to point out to the last contributer that the UK and USA have in fact been using a form of nuclear weapon during both Gulf wars: (IE: DU weapons). On the other hand of course, it could just be a coincidence that since Gulf War MK1, forms of cancer either little known or more often entirely UNKNOWN amongst the Iraqi population have become COMMON PLACE. Again by total coincidence (of course), many of these same cancers, birth defects / deformities etc were and still are : (although declining steadily since the early 70's) prevelent amongst the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (See Hidden Agendas John Pilger - Vintage 1998)

Meanwhile - CND activity is NOT the exclusive territory of what the contributer appears to regard as pampered middle class students. The fact that FINALLY after many years of relative dormancy amongst the student population regarding political issues, they are once again finding their voice - and looking beyond the price of their next STU piss-up - is for this writer at least CAUSE FOR GENUINE CELEBRATION.

Our modern world is becoming increasingly ORWELLIAN. We have a Labour Govt keener on privatization and actually taking it further than a Tory one could even have dared to dream about. We have a polorized and mainly right wing media. We appear to have a total lunatic in charge of the most powerful nation on earth (or should that be as figurehead), and we have a population fed on a diet of trivia, soaps, half truthes and down right lies.

PS: Mutually assured destruction = MAD Which of course it was).
PPS: The nuclear threat is in fact greater now than at any other time in history - hence CND et al are EVEN MORE RELEVENT.

Paul
mail e-mail: john.glendenning@btopenworld.com