Q&A: Jailed Nun Voices No Regret for Trespassing at Nuclear-Arms Facility
http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/q-a-jailed-nun-voices-no-regret-for-trespassing-at-nuclear-arms-facility-20131223
Q&A: Jailed Nun Voices No Regret for Trespassing at Nuclear-Arms Facility
By Diane Barnes
December 23, 2013
Global Security Newswire
Megan Rice, an 83-year-old nun in custody in Ocilla, Ga., says she was making a statement.
In an unusual exchange of questions and answers with a reporter, Rice said the peaceful demonstration she staged last year with two other activists inside the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee underscored a need for worldwide disarmament by exposing the danger of nuclear arsenals in stark terms.
Rice and her accomplices each face a possible three-decade prison sentence for their July 2012 action at Y-12, which handles sensitive materials and components for nuclear weapons.
Writing from the Irwin County Detention Center, where she awaits sentencing on Jan. 28 with the two men who joined her in illegally entering Y-12 grounds, Rice said a maximum punishment would only further benefit their cause. It could challenge "consciences to act" critically toward arguments that nuclear weapons are necessary tools for countries to help ensure stability and defend their interests.
"I expect only a life sentence to continue to live in truth, compassion and love for all of God's creation," Rice said in her handwritten response, which sounded spiritual themes and spelled out a deeply ideological perspective in response to nearly every question. "Keep your eyes on the prize: a healed, peaceful planet."
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