"No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority." --Thomas Jefferson to New London Methodists, 1809.

The Port Militarization Resistance Campaign (PMRC) does not oppose use of public ports for legitimate commercial purposes. We support the promotion and viability of jobs for community union labor. We have developed, and intend to pursue, a continuum of actions designed to achieve our goal of demilitarizing the Port of Olympia, including an obligation to resist through non-violent civil disobedience.

The occupation of Iraq is a violation of international law and multiple treaties of which the US is either an author or a signatory, including the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Convention, and the UN Charter. Yet Article VI of the US Constitution provides that, "all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby..." Allowing our publicly financed Port to be used to support the occupation is a violation of our Constitution and opens our community to potential legal consequences of this violation.

For these reasons, PMRC opposes using the Port of Olympia--and the debasement of our port workers--to ship weapons cargo to Iraq, thereby sustaining immoral and illegal US actions. The best way to support US troops is to prevent them from being positioned dangerously in the midst of Iraq's civil war where they highly risk killing and being killed. Denying equipment shipments destined for use in the Iraq occupation freezes the deployment of the troops intended to use such equipment.

By containing lethal weapons cargo in the Port of Olympia, we serve the safety of the people in our community, the safety of our troops, and the safety of our nation--as well as Iraq and other countries currently threatened by our government. Since we have as yet been unable to permanently prevent these weapons from being deployed to Iraq, the result is the loss of 48 soldiers' lives and untold numbers of Iraqis.

A majority of Americans and local residents oppose the continued occupation of Iraq, and an even stronger majority opposes any further military escalation. Therefore, using the Port of Olympia to transport equipment bound to or from Iraq goes against the will of the majority of our community. As such, the people have a right to speak out in opposition to any act of government they legitimately believe to be immoral and/or illegal. That right cannot be repressed without consequence to the authority that presumes to commit such acts of repression.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq has cost the State of Washington over $10.4 billion. Thurston County's share of that burden is nearly $374 million. (Meanwhile, local governments lack sufficient funds to address basic human needs and maintain essential public infrastructure.) The increased security costs associated with using local ports to export or import materials contributing to the US' illegal occupation reflects increasing public resistance and its growing willingness to speak out in opposition.

Yet the policy of confronting such predominately non-violent opposition with excessive demonstrations of police authority is both unnecessary and expensive. Importing riot police, intentionally "shadowing" possible dissidents, and using intimidation and other bullying tactics to detain or dissuade free protest are tactics most associated with history's most heinous and oppressive states.

Following the last weapons shipment from the Port of Olympia in May 2006, the City of Olympia has chosen not to provide port security for military shipments. The Thurston County Sheriff is also no longer willing to provide security without certainty the Port will fully guarantee coverage for those expenses. Thus far, the Port of Olympia has declined to commit to this guarantee. The Port now relies on strong-arm private security, similar to Blackwater. Mercenary security has reached home. It has been reported in the Tacoma News Tribune that the cost to secure such shipments could exceed $500,000. Add in the cost of police provided by neighboring jurisdictions and the total may well exceed $1.2 million. The associated costs for both the Port of Olympia and the Port of Tacoma, as well as other cooperative cities and counties, will certainly increase considerably as criminal and civil court proceedings continue.

We have exhausted most other options. We petitioned our national leaders to find the courage to actively seek cessation to conflict in Iraq and they have failed us at every level. We are now asking our local elected leaders to do what Congress and the President will not: find the will and the reason to act responsibly, to deny use of our public port as part of the US illegal international actions in Iraq. However, we must act in the absence of responsible government; failing to act would make us complicit in their crime.

We have a moral obligation and the constitutionally protected right to speak out in resistance to our public port being used in ways we do not support. As certain as it is immoral to use this port to export goods produced through slavery or other illegal or inhumane means, it is similarly immoral to use it to assist genocidal oppression of a sovereign people who offer us no threat.

--West Hamilton, Vietnam War Marine Combat Veteran. Sources: National Priorities Project (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Cost-of-War/); The Tacoma News Tribune (April 1, 2007) http://www.thenewstribune.com/331/story/30048.html

Video links of demonstrations and police brutality: http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=191790&shu=1 http://www.komotv.com/news/11173716.html?video=YHI&t=a

Online coverage: http://www.kirotv.com/news/14560677/detail.html http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_olympia_protest.html http://www.theolympian.com/570/story/267840.html