Western Shoshone integral in stopping Divine Strake detonation

[Waya]

MERCURY, Nev. - Government doublespeak is nothing new in Indian country; virtually from the days of first contact, Natives have been deflecting verbal and political subterfuge, broken treaties and both covert and blatant threats to Mother Earth. In a contemporary, ongoing battle and multi-state, multi-agency and multi-cultural effort to halt what the U.S. government called ''a scientific experiment designed to significantly advance the nation's ability to defeat underground facilities that produce and store weapons of mass destruction,'' the Western Shoshone Nation was at the heart of the feds' decision to back off from the proposed Divine Strake test detonation.

In a Feb. 22 statement, Defense Threat Reduction Agency Director James Tegnelia said, ''I have become convinced that it's time to look at alternative methods that obviate the need for this type of large-scale test. This decision was not based on any technical information that indicates the test would produce harm to workers, the general public, or the environment.''

Conversely, Western Shoshone elder and activist Carrie Dann last year asserted that the indigenous peoples of North America ''decry all weapons of mass destruction as they are first tested upon us, and we oppose the use of these weapons against all other peoples or nations.''

The 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil test - touted as non-nuclear by the DTRA - at the Nevada Test Site is a vivid illustration of how the American government consistently attempts to impose its will on its citizens. And in a long-term display of unity and solidarity that included members of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, senators and representatives from Nevada and Utah, and ''downwinders'' and their survivors, the people have spoken, creating enough pressure that forced the government to finally cancel the explosion that would have created a mushroom-shaped cloud in the desert.......



http://indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414725