Citizen Inspections: DAVIS MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE

The next day after the Bath Iron Works inspection, on March 1, a six-member Citizen Inspection Team was denied access to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, as they attempted to inspect the base for "suspected weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction."  During a peaceful afternoon standoff at the gate that closed the road to traffic for an hour, the base commander acknowledged to the team that the depleted uranium (DU) weapons in question are present at the base.

Depleted uranium is the plentiful remains of the process of enriching uranium for reactor fuel and nuclear weapons, and is normally considered a hazardous nuclear waste. Its density, free availability, and other attributes have made it the material of choice for modern armor-piercing weapons.

Inspectors cited the opinion of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which declared in 1996 and 1997 that because the chemical and radioactive toxicity of depleted uranium weapons continues to kill non-combatants long after the battle has ended, DU ranks among the "weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction" incompatible with international humanitarian or human rights law.

Davis-Monthan is theAir Force's exclusive training base for the A-10 "Warthog"aircraft.  The A-10 fleet fired nearly one million rounds of depleted uranium bullets from its 30mm gatling guns during the Gulf War, amounting to over 300 tons of depleted uranium which remains in Iraq to this day, much of it aerosolized on impact to produce respirable particles and ash.  Iraqi civilians and thousands of U.S. and allied veterans of the war now also suffer illness consistent with depleted uranium's toxic and radioactive poisoning.

Inspector Felice Cohen-Joppa stated, "Faced with this information, we have a duty to inspect for these weapons, inform Tucson and the world, and warn A-10 flight and ground crews of their potential participation in a heretofore unprosecuted war crime."

The Citizen's Inspection Team was supported by a rally of about 60 people, who also demanded an end to the sanctions against Iraq.

The inspectors were arrested when they refused a police request to leave.  They were processed at the county jail and released that evening.  Trial is set for June 22 in Tucson City Court.

For more information contact  CIT, c/o the Nuclear Resister, POB 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733, (520)323-8697, e-mail: nukeresister@igc.org

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last updated July 10 1998