Anti-War Actions

Several Trident Ploughshares pledgers have been at the forefront of protest against the War in Iraq. In the weeks of build-up to the war and during the war pledgers used non-violent direct action against the military machinery of war, particularly at bases around the UK.

Many Trident Ploughshares pledgers have felt that the War in Iraq is intimately linked to Trident because:

  On several occasions Britain has threatened to use its Trident nuclear warheads on the Iraqi people.
  Both Trident, and the B52 bombers and Tornadoes that have been used in such huge numbers against the people of Iraq, are weapons of mass destruction.
  In the same way that Trident is illegal, so is the crime against humanity that has been committed in Iraq. The United Nations did not give a mandate to invade the country nor to bring about a "regime change".
  Trident nuclear missiles cannot distinguish between innocent civilians and military personnel; neither can the cluster bombs and cruise missiles which have in recent weeks rained down on Baghdad.
  Iraq’s suspected possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction is the reason Bush and Blair gave for this war, and yet the UK and US’s deployment of nuclear weapons of mass destruction is unquestioned. This is outright hypocrisy. All nuclear powers are obliged under treaty to negotiate the speedy dismantling of their nuclear warheads.
  Trident pollutes the environment with toxic and radioactive waste for countless generations to come. Military operations are also responsible for the widespread destruction of the environment through bombing, pollution and radioactive depleted uranium.
  Both Trident and the War on Iraq are huge wastes of resources. £1.5 billion is spent on Trident each year, £2000 a minute. That’s enough to pay for 75,000 extra nurses or 50,000 extra teachers. Equally, the war will cost billions of tax payer’s money that could be spent on schools and hospitals.
  Trident is undemocratic, with the decision to deploy the system being made without public debate and with the majority of British people still being opposed to nuclear weapons. The War against Iraq was also undemocratic with the majority of the UK population opposed to invasion.

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