An 84 year old nun broke into a U.S. nuclear weapons complex and defaced a bunker holding bomb-grade uranium, exposing major security flaws. On Tuesday, Megan Rice, 84, and two other activists were in court for breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex. They were found guilty of sabotaging the plant and damaging federal property. Megan Rice received 3 years in prison and the other two activists, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli were sentenced to more than 5 years in prison because they have a lengthy criminal past.
The three protesters broke through three fences to get to the $548 million storage bunker. They strung crime tape and wrote messages on the walls of the bunker reading, “The fruit of justice is peace,” while splashing the walls with human blood from baby bottles. “The reason for the baby bottles was to represent the the blood of children is spilled by these weapons,” Boertje-Obed, 58, said at the trial.
In court, during her closing statement she asked the judge to sentence her to life in prison. “Please have no leniency with me, to remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest gift you could give me.” The three activist said God was using them to raise awareness about nuclear weapons and they’ve viewed their break in as a miracle.
The protesters were able to spend 2 hours at the facility, while setting off alarms before being caught. The inspector General, for the Department of Energy, wrote a harsh report on the failures that allowed the activists to enter the complex and reach the bunker holding the uranium. The Facility had a be shut-down and the security contractor was fired.
According to officials, there was never any danger of the protesters getting to anything that would explode or made into a dirty bomb. Questions are being raised after the break in. Ultimately, the demonstration showed that there are serious security flaws.
Image Credit: MSN.com