Western States Legal Foundation calls for cancellation of the planned January 22 test launch of an interceptor missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base at a simulated incoming Iranian missile launched from the Marshall Islands. The premise of this test is preposterous propaganda. Iran does not have nuclear weapons, nor is there any convincing evidence that it has an active nuclear weapons program. The test will only serve to exacerbate tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Further, U.S. development of missile defenses endangers prospects for deeper U.S. and Russian nuclear arms reductions and threatens to scuttle agreement on a follow-on to the START treaty. To add insult to injury, every U.S. test launch from the Marshall Islands causes tremendous environmental damage to surrounding land and water areas and compounds the historical injustice to the indigenous Marshallese people. This is not a launch by Iran aimed at California, but rather a launch by the U.S. military- industrial complex aimed at Congress and the February 2010 Defense budget rollout. The U.S. should pursue diplomatic efforts to normalize relations with Iran. This test should be cancelled and its estimated $150 million price tag redirected to humanitarian aid for Haiti.

Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director

Another planned Minuteman III ICBM launch is scheduled for August 23rd, along with two vigils on the day before the launch in protest against the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). Sometime after midnight on the 23rd, a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic missile will be launched in from Vandenberg Space Command (VAFB) in Santa Barbara county. The test target area is the Ronald Reagan missile test range at Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The demonstration at Vandenberg will begin 11:45 pm, Saturday, August 22. The protest will be held at the front gate of Vandenberg Space Command - at the intersection of Highway One and California Blvd (Six miles north of Lompoc on Highway 1 in Santa Barbara County, CA., 93437) For anyone interested, there is a Motel 6 in Lompoc, and some locals with home stay offers.

If the launch is canceled protests are canceled. See launch details at Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule (and check that website for possible launch cancellation, or date change).

For further information contact MacGregor Eddy at macgregoreddy@gmail.com or call 831-206-5043

There will also be a vigil In Southern California on Saturday, August 22, from 1 pm to 3 pm at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, located at 262 Douglas Street, El Segundo, 90245. The Los Angeles Air Force Base aka Space and Missile Systems Station, is involved in tracking and fine tuning the ICBM launch.

For further information contact Eli Monroe at eliqmonroe@yahoo.com or call 323-969-9307

Sponsors: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; and War Resisters League.

Featuring Remarks by Andrew Lichterman, Marylia Kelley, Music, and Nonviolent Acts of Witness

When: Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 7:30am
Where: At Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab
Corner of Vasco Rd. and Patterson Pass Rd, Livermore
Who: ALL OF YOU!! (You are the most important part!)

For more information, please call: (925) 443-7148 or (510) 839-5877 Press Release (MsWord document)


Cosponsored by: American Friends Service Committee, Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC, Livermore Conversion Project, Peace Action West, Tri-Valley CAREs, Western States Legal Foundation, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

In the 15-minute film, Witness to Hiroshima, Japanese citizen Keiji Tsuchiya uses his 12 powerful watercolors to tell the story of his experiences in Hiroshima as a 17-year old soldier immediately following the dropping of the atomic bomb, and shares how he ultimately directed his life towards purpose and healing

Friday, July 24 5.45 pm
Witness to Hiroshima precedes “Tibet in Song” (full length feature)
Chelsea Clearview Cinemas
260 west 23rd (between 7th and 8th Ave.)
Tickets available at: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7417405

Saturday, July 25th 6:45 p.m.
Shorts Program “Here…Look at Me.”
Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)
211-215 Centre St. (between Howard and Grand)
Tickets available at: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7417835

For more information on the film and for information about additional screenings as it becomes available, go to www.3c.com/witnesstohiroshima/index.htm

Sometime after midnight on Monday, June 29, a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic missile will be launched in from Vandenberg Space Command (VAFB) in Santa Barbara county. The test target area is the Ronald Reagan missile test range at Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands. There will be a protest at Vandenberg at the front gate at the start of the launch window, beginning shortly before midnight June 28. The front gate is six miles north of Lompoc on Highway One. For a last minute change in the scheduled launch window, check www.spacearchive.info/vafbsked.htm this is NOT an activist website, just a launch schedule. This demonstration against ICBM testing is sponsored by the Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom, the Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space, and the War Resisters League.


For Northern California activists, the famous Green Tortoise bus will leave San Francisco at 4 pm on Sunday June 28 and will pick up people in towns along 101 South, arriving at the protest just before midnight. Andrew Lichterman of the Western States Legal Foundation will be the front gate speaker. The Green Tortoise will get back to SF by 8 am, dropping of participants at other pickup pickup points along the way.

Bus fare is $50 round trip, $25 for students and retired, free for the stony broke. Music and food will be provided. The bus bus pick up schedule will be crafted to fit demand. To reserve a spot on the bus, and for bus pickup points and other details, contact MacGregor Eddy, macgregoreddy@gmail.com or call 831 206 5043.

For an overview of the role Vandenberg Air Force Base plays in U.S. military activities, including its current wars, see Vandenberg Air Force Base: Where the Present and Future of U.S. Warmaking Come Together Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2006 (pdf)

WSLF Executive Director Jacqueline Cabasso and WSLF board member and Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy John Burroughs at the MacBride Prize presentation

The International Peace Bureau announced today that its annual award, the Sean MacBride Peace Prize, will be given to Jacqueline Cabasso, a well-known US advocate of nuclear disarmament. The prize will be awarded during the IPB's annual seminar, which this year is held in Copenhagen. IPB President Tomas Magnusson declared: "At this crucial time in history, just days after the momentous US election result, IPB believes this award to Jackie Cabasso will help underline the urgency for the new Administration and for all other nuclear-armed states, of taking bold steps towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. She has played a vital role within the movement by acting as a constant 'watchdog', monitoring closely (and challenging) the work going on inside the nuclear weapons laboratories; and as critical voice in the nuclear debate 'beyond the Washington beltway'."

Full International Peace Bureau Press Release

International Peace Bureau Sean MacBride Peace Prize Laureate Lecture
Jacqueline Cabasso, November 14, 2008, Copenhagen

Q&A: Will Nuclear Disarmament Be on Obama's Agenda? Thalif Deen interviews JACQUELINE CABASSO, winner of the Sean MacBride Peace Prize

WITNESSES TO HISTORY: Conveying the Tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

RSVP/for more information: (510) 839-5877
Part of Nuclear-Free Future Month: www.nuclearfreefuture.org

reception flier (pdf)

Toward a Nuclear Free Future * No War on Iran; Stop Threatening, Start Talking!

Saturday, August 9th 2008 63 years after the U.S. bombings of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945, and Hiroshima, August 6, 1945.

At Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, Corner of Vasco Rd. and Patterson Pass Rd, Livermore, CA

flyer (pdf) front back

We will gather at the northwest side of the Lab at 10:30am, and traverse the "nuclear maze", a huge structure created to teach about the inextricable link between nuclear weapons and nuclear power and the direct impacts of the nuclear fuel cycle on local communities. At 11:02am we will gather for a moment of silence followed by music from Kaylah Marin and an address from our Keynote speaker, Reverend Nobuaki Hanaoka, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

For more information: www.nuclearfreefuture.org (925) 443-7148 or (510) 839-5877 Cosponsored by: Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, American Friends Service Committee, Bay Area United for Peace and Justice, Berkeley Fellowship of UUs, Fresno Center for Nonviolence, Grandmothers for Peace, Livermore Conversion Project, Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Peace Action West, rogressivePortal.org, SF Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility, Tri-Valley CAREs, UC Berkeley Fiat Pax, Western States Legal Foundation

Why at Livermore Lab?

Livermore is home to one of the two Labs responsible for designing and developing every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Today, the Lab is working on modifications to existing warheads and plans to create new, so-called "Reliable Replacement Warheads." Livermore is the place to demand that the U.S. lead the world towards nuclear disarmament, not more Hiroshimas and Nagasakis. United for Peace and Justice has eclared August Nuclear-Free Future Month, dedicated to education, awareness and activism to stop nuclear madness.

Together with Mayors for Peace and the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, WSLF is working to make the connection between nuclear weapons and the military-industrial complex that sustains them and the social and economic crisis facing our cities. Find out more about how you can get involved on our Engaging Cities page.

Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security is a non-governmental response to the June 2006 release of the final report of The Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Commission, Weapons of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms. The product of a collaboration of Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, Western States Legal Foundation, and Reaching Critical Will of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, it offers mostly praise, but sometimes criticism, for the Commission's report, and goes well beyond to provide a stand-alone assessment of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. It contains in-depth analysis and recommendations regarding U.S. policy in relation to the international security framework, disarmament and non-proliferation, nuclear weapons R&D, missiles and weapons in space, climate change and nuclear power, Iran and the nuclear fuel-cycle, and demilitarization and redefining security in human terms.

Comments on Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security

This assessment of our Final Report and its 60 recommendations is exactly the kind of response we were hoping for. The Report has now been critically reviewed and scrutinized by experts from civil society organizations, adding to its credibility. A very timely and important contribution. - Hans Blix, Chairman, Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission

This book is an important contribution to the effort to rid our planet of weapons of mass destruction, and I encourage my colleagues in Congress to read it. - Congresswoman Barbara Lee

A lucid, compelling book with concise, detailed directions for reducing nuclear dangers on the path to disarmament, a reliable road-guide away from the nuclear abyss. But it simultaneously reports that the current U.S. administration is reading that map upside down, following the guidelines posted in precisely the wrong direction. There is no time to lose for the passengers on planet earth to take hold of the wheel, turn the map right-side up, and let its authors pilot us to safety. - Daniel Ellsberg, 2006 Winner of the Right Livelihood Award

Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security can now be fully accessed online at

http://www.wmdreport.org/ndcs/online/

Order hard copy online

What: On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., peace and justice activists will read Dr. King’s prophetic 1967 speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." The reading will be preceded by a press conference addressing the relevance of Dr. King’s vision today, and will close with a healing ritual.

When: Friday, April 4: 12 noon--2 pm

Where: Oakland Federal Building
1301 Clay St, between 12th and 14th Streets
Near 12th Street/Downtown BART

Special guest: Ms. George Friday, Director, Independent Progressive Politics Network and past National Co-Chair, United for Peace and Justice

ALSO: On Saturday morning, you are invited to join us for an informal breakfast, music and a participatory reading of the speech followed by a discussion facilitated by George Friday.

Saturday, April 5: 10 am--12:30 pm
First Congregational Church of Oakland
in the New Oakland Room
2501 Harrison at 27th Street
Parking lot/wheelchair accessible

Donation requested to cover food and expenses: $5 - $15 sliding scale; no one turned away

WSLF Executive Director Jacqueline Cabasso appeared on the August edition of "Other Voices," Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's Award-Winning Monthly Forum & TV Program, Named "Best Issues Talk Show" 2007 by the Alliance for Community Media. The August show, titled "In the Shadow of the Bomb Nuclear Proliferation in a Time of War," can be viewed by clicking here.

WSLF executive director Jacqueline Cabasso on KPFA's Against the Grain, July 31, 2007, show on nuclear power and nuclear weapons (streaming audio).

WSLF executive director Jacqueline Cabasso on the Chicago, Illinois talk show "Radio Islam," June 8, 2007 (streaming audio).


Security Council Called Hypocritical on Nukes, Thalif Deen, IPS, May 31, 2007

Demonstrators gather to re-create 'Peace Camp' protest Las Vegas Sun, May 24, 2006

U.S. Test to Model Low-Yield Nuclear Bomb Effects Global Security Newswire April 4, 2006

Blast to Simulate Nuke Explosion Albuquerque Journal, April 2, 2006

Channel 7 San Francisco (ABC TV affiliate): New Generation Of H-Bombs On The Horizon

The Wire, (radio, Australia): "International hypocrisy over Iran's nuclear ambitions" mp3 realaudio

KOPT 1600 AM - Oregon Progressive Talk Radio: One hour interview with WSLF executive director Jackie Cabasso on nuclear weapons issues, Feruary 9, 2006 (free sign in required).

Ignoring the U.S.'s "Bad Atoms": For the New York Times, Washington is NPT's enforcer, not a violator, By Steve Rendall, in Extra!, a publication of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, July/August 2005

Fusion Energy and the Illusions of Power, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Commentary, Summer 2009 pdf

Rhetoric vs. Reality: Elite Disarmament Proposals and Real Disarmament Prospects, Jacqueline Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2009 pdf

Deterrence, Torture, Power, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Commentary, Spring 2009 pdf

Nuclear Weapons Forever: The U.S. Plan to Modernize its Nuclear Weapons Complex, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2008 pdf

StratCom in Context: The Hidden Architecture of U.S. Militarism, Presentation by Jacqueline Cabasso at the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space annual meeting, Omaha, Nebraska April 12, 2008 pdf files text slides

The Divine Strake Nuclear Weapons Simulation: A Bad Signal at a Bad Time, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2006 pdf

Vandenberg Air Force Base: Where the Present and Future of U.S. Warmaking Come Together Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2006 pdf

Questions and Answers About Weapons of Mass Destruction, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2006 pdf

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Operations Doctrine

Draft Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, Joint Publication 3-12, Final Coordination (2) 15 March 2005

This document, along with the comments from the various commands on the draft, were downloaded from the Joint Chiefs of Staff doctrine public web site. The site was shut down on April 7, 2005 and this and other doctrine documents are not available from that source for several weeks. In early 2006, both the draft Joint Nuclear Operations documents and those they were slated to replace were withdrawn altogether. We have archived these nuclear doctrine documents and other related documents on the WSLF site so they will continue to be available to the public on our Nuclear Weapons Doctrine page.

Signs of Change in the First Committee, Jacqueline Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Fall 2005 pdf

The Nevada Test Site: Desert Annex of the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation and Nevada Desert Experience Information Bulletin, updated Summer 2005 pdf

Compliance Assessment: The NPT Declared Nuclear Weapon States, Presentation to the 2005 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, Western States Legal Foundation and Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, May 11, 2005

Web Research Guide: Military Spending: Researching Impacts on your Campus or Community, updated May 2005

War is Peace, Arms Racing is Disarmament: The Non-Proliferation Treaty and the U.S. Quest for Global Military Dominance, Western States Legal Foundation Special Report, May 2005 full document(pdf) summary (6 pages, pdf) Information Brief version (2 pages, pdf)

Slide Presentation: "No More Nuclear Excuses for War!" In the midst of the ongoing war in Iraq, why is it important to demand the elimination of nuclear weapons? This presentation provides an overview of global nuclear weapons issues, U.S. nuclear policies, and their relationship to the wars the U.S. is fighting today and may fight tomorrow. PowerPoint or pdf

Military Spending: Researching Impacts on your Campus or Community

This web page provides resources for researching military spending and related issues. Topics include the military budget, military funding of university research, the impacts military spending, and the trade-offs between military spending and government spending on other types of programs. Additional resources are provided for California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Science cheerleaders shout out for global strike weapons May 18, 2007

Next generation strategic weapons and the possibility of arms races to come April 7, 2007

No Shortcuts: From This March to the Next February 13, 2007

From Los Alamos to Kwajalein to Iraq: Bechtel and the engineering of empire August 12, 2006

Pentagon Envisions New Warheads for New Delivery Systems July 27, 2006

War without end July 20, 2006

The rise of the surveillance industrial complex July 7, 2006

Potemkin Missile Crisis July 2, 2006

A world still on the nuclear brink June 2, 2006

Worlds apart: from Washington to the Nevada Test Site gates May 30, 2006

Government withdraws environmental finding, Divine Strake test delayed May 26, 2006

April 29, 2006 March for Peace, Justice and Democracy May 20, 2006

Government admits Divine Strake test data likely will be used to research nuclear weapons effects May 1, 2006

Bringing Nuclear Disarmament "Home" to the Peace and Justice Movement April 24, 2006

"Divine Strake" and the talk of a nuclear attack on Iran April 12, 2006

The "Divine Strake" low-yield nuclear weapons simulation: government denials and responses April 12, 2006

U.S. plans for Iran "options" and the nuclear weapons debate April 9, 2006

What should go without saying (The United States and International Law) April 6, 2006

Did the WashPost Miss Explosive Story? (Divine Strake nuclear simulation test) March 31, 2006

Scale, Locale, and Demonstrations March 25, 2006

Insider critiques of the "Reliable Replacement Warhead:" peer review for a nuclear-armed empire March 16, 2006

Vandenberg Air Force Base: the role of military space in U.S. warmaking March 14, 2006

The Global Free Fire Zone: "Prompt Global Strike" and the Next Generation of U.S. Strategic Weapons, February 10, 2006

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Doctrine: Disappearing from Public View, February 3, 2006

From the Other Side of the Glass: Some Responses to the State of the Union Address, February 2, 2006

The Quadrennial Defense Review, the State of the Union, and the "Long War", February 1, 2006

U.S. strategic weapons programs: too many to talk about, January 22, 2006

Iran and the United States: assessing the nuclear threats, January 12, 2006

ALERTS AND EVENTS

Press Releases