CPTNet
August 12, 2006

DULUTH, MN: CPTers urge National Guard: "Search and rescue, not search and
destroy"

CPT training participants joined the Catholic Worker community in Duluth, MN
on 4-6 August to remember the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to
call for the conversion of the Air National Guard back to its original
mission of search and rescue.

In 1999, the Minnesota Air National Guard, based in Duluth, shifted from a
search and rescue mission to a general (combat) mission. Over the past two
years, the 148th Fighter Wing deployed 400 guardsmen and women flying F-16s
in bombing operations over Iraq. They are scheduled to deploy to Iraq again
in January.

A series of nonviolence workshops kicked off the weekend Saturday afternoon
followed by a solemn "Walk of Remembrance" along the shores of Lake Superior
that evening. Walk participants prayed, read poetry and reflections of
survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and handed leaflets to passersby
informing them of the combat mission of the National Guard.

"It was sobering to remember that the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima
sixty-one years ago killed 84,000 people in its blast and immediate after
effects. That's the entire population of Duluth," reflected training
participant Nils Dybvig after the walk. "Today, more than 100,000 people
have been killed in Iraq," he continued. "When will we ever learn?"

Sunday morning, August 6, thirty people gathered to post Burma Shave-style
placards (one word per sign) spaced out along the median of a busy Duluth
highway. One message read: "Rescue the Guard Back From Iraq."

The group then proceeded to the air base where National Guard troops were
conducting training maneuvers. Against the deep growl of F-16 fighter planes
taking off in the distance, participants offered songs and prayers written
on the wings of giant paper cranes and white helium balloons to reclaim the
air space for peace. During a "Litany of Conversion," several group members
converted the granite sign marking the entrance to the base by draping a
large banner calling the Guard back to its original mission of "Search and
Rescue, NOT Search and Destroy."

A small delegation of peacemakers carried prayer laden peace cranes about
fifty yards onto the base to a small guard house and asked to speak with the
base Chaplain. The commander refused saying that all three Chaplains were
too busy. The group continued vigiling and welcoming busloads of Guard
troops onto their newly converted base to their newly converted mission
until 1:30 p.m. Duluth police arrived at the scene but made no arrests.

CPT Training participants who organized the witness were Jason Arndt (Gary,
IN), Michele Braley and Nils Dybvig (Minneapolis, MN), John Funk (Armstrong,
BC), Joel Gullege (Chicago, IL), Abigail Ozanne (Falcon Heights, MN), Howard
Taylor (Wentworth, NH), and Shirley Way (Stanley, NY.)