Pine Gap

Pine Gap is a military spy base for the United States located 20 km outside Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Pine Gap gathers military intelligence and uses a satellite tracking system to pinpoint targets in U.S. bombing raids on Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the command centre for the 'Missile Defence System', an integral part of the US 'Star Wars' system enabling the US to dominate and control space.

"Certainly in relation to identifying specific targets, Pine Gap is important. The Pine Gap contribution (to the Iraq war) is much more significant than any sending of Australian soldiers" Dr Michael McKinley, Strategic analyst at the ANU Canberra.

Christians Against ALL Terrorism – Pine Gap Six

Christians Against ALL Terrorism condemns terrorism in all its forms including the state terrorism behind the U.S and Australia’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. In order to be morally consistent, we cannot distinguish between the terrorist acts of a suicide bomber in Baghdad, or of a U.S jet bomber in Fallujah. In both cases innocents are murdered and maimed for a political objective.

We believe in a better way. Christ told us to love our enemies, to seek justice and taught us how to live non-violently.

The Citizen’s Inspection.

At dawn on December 9, 2005 a ‘Citizen’s Inspection’ took place causing Pine Gap to shut down for five hours. Six hundred employees were denied access into the base and the employee’s cars queued up for several kilometres outside.

Two members of Christians Against ALL Terrorism, Jim Dowling from Daybora and Adele Goldie from Brisbane had entered the Pine Gap military base undetected and photographed themselves on the roof of a building before being arrested. Two other members of the group Donna Mulhearn from Sydney and Bryan Law from Cairns went undetected for an hour before being arrested cutting through the last inner fence.

The four had walked for several hours through desert terrain. Jessica Morrison from Melbourne and Sean O’Reilly from Brisbane held a peaceful vigil outside the front gates around six that morning. During the vigil Sean O’Reilly was arrested for hindering police. Sean was found not guilty in the Alice Springs Magistrates court.

Jim Dowling, Adele Goldie, Bryan Law and Donna Mulhearn have been charged under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952. The Act has not been used previously and carries a maximum jail sentence of 7 years, with an additional two years for taking photographs within the base. The four will be appearing in the Alice Springs Supreme Court; a trial date is soon to be set.

Background to the action:

In November 2005, Australia’s Parliament passed ‘anti-terror’ legislation sending Australia further down the path of becoming a militaristic police state.

At the same time, a group of citizen’s, alert and alarmed at the terrorism of war, wrote to then Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill seeking permission to do a Citizen’s Inspection of Pine Gap for suspected terrorist activity.

The six Christian pacifists wanted to bring some moral and intellectual consistency into the debate on terrorism.

Christ taught non-violence, to love our enemies and our neighbours, forgive sinners and seek justice. Pope Paul VI said “If you want peace, work for justice”.

Senator Hill did not give permission for the inspection and threatened the group with seven years in prison. CAAT informed the Government and media of its intention to go ahead with the inspection. Despite this publicity and Pine Gap being one of the most significant U.S Spy Bases in the world, four members of CAAT managed to breach the Pine Gap security to enter the facility on December 9, 2005.

*“Christians Against All Terrorism”* are:

*Jim Dowling*. A Catholic Worker from Mt Mee, Jim was arrested at the October 2002 actions at Pine Gap, organised by the Australian Anti-Bases Coalition. Jim had a vision of returning to Pine Gap to carry out a Citizen’s Inspection of the facility.
“In 1991 Pope John Paul 11 called the first Gulf war ‘The seed of death’,” Jim said. “Since then and even more so since Sept 11 2001, that seed has borne much fruit as our nation has more and more embraced the belief that violence and killing are the only things that will save us from our ‘enemies’.
“In an act of demonic madness, at the same time as we have denounced violence and killing of one kind as terrorism, we have helped unleash massive terrorism on the poor people of Iraq and Afghanistan”.

*Sean O’Reilly*. A registered nurse and Catholic Worker from Redcliffe, Sean recently took part in the Peace Convergence actions at Shoalwater Bay, where Australian and US military forces practised invading foreign countries together.
Sean says “The Australian government’s complicity in the implementation of U.S. foreign policy reaches new heights of evil and moral cowardice. To do nothing in opposition to this is also unthinkable.
The facility at Pine Gap is instrumental in this ongoing suppression of the Iraqi people. Its surveillance capacity allows the U.S. military to continue its destruction of Iraq and suppression of the Iraqi people. From my roots in the Catholic Worker tradition, I believe it is important go to these places, hidden from the public view. I travel there with others to witness against the terror that is being perpetrated in our own country against a people in another land”.

*Donna Mulhearn.* From Sydney, Donna was a human shield during the war in Iraq in 2003. She later returned to Iraq under occupation as a humanitarian aid worker to set up a shelter for street kids in Baghdad and support refugee families. She is a former journalist and political adviser who is now an independent writer and speaker on non-violence, spirituality and politics. Her latest Middle East trip included her third visit to Iraq as well as four months in the West Bank of Palestine
Donna’s inspiration to join the human shields was the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me bring love...”
Donna joins the action to inspect Pine Gap with first-hand experience of the damage the facility has done to innocent people. “While staff at Pine Gap pin-pointed missiles in Iraq, I experienced the impact of them,” she said. “They call it a military strike; I saw it as murder of civilians”.

*Bryan Law*. A nonviolence practitioner from Cairns, Bryan (Pagan with Catholic tendencies) believes in taking responsibility for creating the conditions of peace and social justice. Bryan has been involved in creating and supporting social justice campaigns for some 25 years and marvels at the capacity of human beings for inspired creative action.
Bryan says “War is obscenity. By depriving present and future humans of a full measure of life and health, war is a sin. Any government which launches an illegal invasion based on a lie is not legitimate. Nor are its policies or its legislation. Under the Nuremberg Principles the duty of the ordinary citizen now is to interfere with the prosecution of the war, and bring those responsible for it to account.
Pine Gap is the biggest terrorist base in Australia, protected by secrecy and lies. I’m looking forward to taking strong action with my friends in this affinity group. Let the sun shine in”.

*Jessica Morrison*. Based in Melbourne, Jessica Morrison has been involved in church based social justice initiatives for some years. From a social work background, Jessica has become increasingly passionate about the way power works in our communities to keep people poor and powerless. Inspired by notions of community development and how we can work together to challenge injustice she has been involved in opposing increases in poker machines, and seeking justice for Indigenous Australians.
Jessica says “A recent trip with a Peace Convergence to Rockhampton earlier this year to protest the Talisman Sabre war games with 10,000 US troops inspired me to think about the centrality of Australian land to the US's continued illegal war and aggressive worldwide tactics. Pine Gap is an opportunity to directly challenge the use of Australia's land and airspace to facilitate the bombing of Iraq and others to come”.

*Adele Goldie* Based in Brisbane, Adele Goldie is an artist who also works in a cooperative organic nursery, and was arrested last year at Yeppoon while taking part in the Bi-annual Peace Convergence. Adele works on peace, anti-nuclear and refugee issues.
Adele says “Pine Gap is controlled by a terrorist organisation called the US Government. Pine Gap has played a major role in two illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an illegal organisation and a terrorist organisation. It is illegal under International law and the Geneva Convention, and the Nuremberg charter”.

*Terry Spackman* A peace, environment and social justice activist from Cairns also took part in the initial stages of the Pine Gap action.

The Nuremberg Principles specify the responsibilities of the ordinary citizen/soldier when a state wants to commit crimes against peace. Every citizen’s responsibility is to obstruct the commission of such crimes, using whatever moral means are available to us, whenever we have the opportunity. It is in this context that we intend to inspect the Pine Gape Joint Defence Facility for evidence of terrorist activity.

On Thursday December 9, 2005, Christians Against All Terrorism prayed for a miracle as they exercised their moral responsibility to witness for the transformation of evil into love, of hatred into peace, and of despair into joy.

As the Pine Gap 4 face trial, we will continue to hold the government accountable for the activities of Pine Gap and we invite you to travel this journey with us.

Helping to raise awareness of this issue, hosting public meetings, and organising fundraising events for our legal fund will assist us in exposing Pine Gap and holding the government accountable.

You can contact Christians Against ALL Terrorism at: pinegap6@yahoo.com.au or by phone on 07-38894678 (Sean)