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| Citizen's Weapons Inspection Team |
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FEBRUARY 26, 1998, BANGOR NUCLEAR SUBMARINE BASE, BANGOR, WASHINGTON, U.S.A.: Vancouver East Member of Parliament Libby Davies ( NDP ) led a Citizen's Weapons Inspection team to search for weapons of mass destruction at the huge Bangor Nuclear Submarine base in Washington State, about 2 hours south of Vancouver. Speaking to a crowd of American media that gathered outside the base Davies said "our effort here today is a citizen led initiative, that I'm very proud to be a part of, to bring some sense of accountability around this issue of escalation and militarization . . . and the fact that in 1998 we still have a planet on which there are thousands and thousands of weapons of mass destruction". |
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Click on the links below for webcast RT: 6:24 |
 1997 Citizen's Weapons Inspection Team |
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For more information on local activism Click Here or Click Here for information from a broader perspective. Website for Vancouver East MP Libby Davies, Click here. Other related working TV webcasts: No War on Iraq! Jan. 18, 2003 March and Rally for Peace Canadian Peace Team in Iraq Scott Ritter - former U.S. Marines Major and Chief Weapons Inspector in Iraq - "No Case for War" Dr. Michael Parenti - "Terrorism, Globalism and Conspiracy", Public Forum on the U.S. War Drive Against Iraq Other recent working TV webcasts Click Here |
Left-wing 'inspectors' to check U.S. for weaponsJANUARY 31, 2003, VANCOUVER SUN, BY Petti Fong:A team of "weapons inspectors," headed by New Democratic Party MP Libby Davies, plans to go Washington, D.C., next month to look for stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in the U.S. capital. The six-member "team" includes Davies, MP for Vancouver East, British Labour MP Alan Simpson, academics, and labour organizers. They want to make the point that the U.S. poses more of a threat to global security than Iraq. "These weapons of mass destruction that the U.S. is talking about in Iraq are just south of the border to us," Davies said Thursday. "Hopefully this engages citizens in an exercise of accountability with our own government." Davies was contacted by a Toronto-based lobby group called Rooting Out Evilwhich claims to have 14,000 signatures of support on its Web-site. Davies, who was appointed NDP House leader Thursday, said the strong response on the Web-site is an indication of how people feel about the possibility of a U.S. war with Iraq. "It's a phenomenal response. Governments are so far removed from what people are saying that they really need to start listening. People are saying thatwe don't want to see weapons of mass destruction whether it's in Washington, D.C., or Baghdad." The "team" says it plans to inspect the military site in the Washington, D.C., area Feb. 22-23. The location has not yet been announced. Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said as an member of Parliament, Davies would be expected to go through the U.S. State Department to request access to defence areas. "It's a diplomatic issue at this point," Irwin said Thursday. "After Sept. 11, we have increased our security at bases, especially bases that have weapon systems." Irwin said all military areas in the U.S. remain on high alert and security could even be tighter in upcoming weeks. In an interview from the U.K., Simpson said there is growing public anti-war sentiment and the U.S. has to be aware of mounting opposition to its plans to invade Iraq. "Every one of the major churches in Britain has come out and said that this will be a war that carried no moral authority," he said. "When you add on the humanitarian responsibilities, most people in Britain and in Canada, I'm certain, start to recoil from the horror of it." Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day said Thursday that Davies' trip to Washington will harm American-Canadian relations. "It's not only an embarrassment to Canadians, but detrimental to our relations with the United States," Day said. "It's the type of silliness that, frankly, is hurtful to relations which are already being strained." Day said if Davies is looking to fight the U.S., it should be over issues that are critical to Canadians, such as the softwood lumber dispute and agricultural subsidies. Canada's Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore said the department is aware that Davies is heading to Washington. "MPs are free to travel as they want. We don't think this will have any effect on U.S. and Canadian relations." Rooting Out Evil organizer Christy Ferguson, who will also go to Washington, said the group was launched in September when U.S. President George W. Bush began talking about dangerous countries with weapons. "We found that according to its own criteria, the U.S. was the most dangerous country of them all. The U.S. has massive stockpiles of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. It refuses to sign or honour international treaties. Its overly aggressive." Besides Ferguson, Davies and Simpson, the other members of the weapons inspection team are: Deborah Bourque, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Steven Staples, defence analyst with the Polaris Institute ( and a veteran of the 1998 Inspection Team ); and Mel Watkins, professor emeritus in the economics and political science department of the University of Toronto. Ferguson said she will send a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld next week to request permission to visit a weapons site near the nation's capital. "There are tight controls now and we could be turned back at the border," she said Thursday. "If they don't let us even through the border, we'll make an announcement that they're refusing a weapons inspection team into their country." Rooting Out Evil has received funding from Greenpeace Canada, the Centre for Social Justice in Toronto and other peace groups. So far, according to Ferguson, $14,000 has been raised. The group hopes to raise $25,000 before the Feb. 22 date of departure. It hasn't been decided whether the group will pay for Davies' travel, but Ferguson said it's hoped that some of the six may have access to other funding. |
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This page hosted courtesy of the Community Savings Credit Union in New Westminster, B.C. Thank you. This Page Posted February 5, 2003 |
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