November 3, 1997
The Cassini Launch – A Crime Against Humanity?
Has President Clinton committed a “crime against humanity” in authorizing the launch of the Cassini Space Probe? Does the US president’s constitutional powers vest him with the legal authority to threaten humanity with plutonium pollution? How far “out” does national law extend? To outer space? Were the sovereign citizens of the world consulted before the U.S. president pushed the Cassini launch button?
Let’s back up to 1945 when the Nuremberg Trials indicted, tried and convicted Nazi leaders after World War II. Seven Principles were defined by the victorious Allied powers. Among these, the first states that “any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.” Then Principle VI provides that “crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity are punishable as crimes under international law.”
In a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1950, the Nuremberg Principles became part of international law.
Until the Cassini launch, the accusation of “crimes against humanity” has only been applied to individuals committing acts of violence against other individuals during wartime: Klaus Barbie, Karl Eichman, Papon are prominent examples besides the original Nazi leaders. Never mind that when humanity itself is assigned the role of “plaintiff,” the accused is by definition guilty since no defense is valid against humanity’s security. And never mind that for a crime to be committed, there must first be a code of enforceable law defining the crime. Positive world law does not yet exist. Moreover war itself is not considered criminal under the same international law since nations consider war a legal option for their so-called security.
But the Cassini launch itself is recognized by experts both inside and outside of NASA as a real, not theoretical threat to humanity itself. Its navigational program will use the planet Earth as a giant “sling-shot” when it swings back from Venus in order to gain enough momentum from earth’s gravity to propel it to Saturn. The distance from the Earth on the “fly-by”? A mere 496 miles. Its speed as it makes the turn? 42,300 mph. Its cargo? 72.3 pounds of Plutonium-238, the deadliest man-made substance in existence. “One pound of Plutonium,” says Dr. Helen Caldicott, “if uniformly distributed, could induce lung cancer in every person on Earth.” NASA itself has estimated the chances of a Cassini accident that would release plutonium as one in three hundred and forty-five. How it arrives at the figure is not public knowledge. In its own “Environmental Impact Statement” for the mission, it states “In a worst case scenario, decontamination costs would be as high as $200 million per square kilometer…Up to 50,000 kilometers could be impacted involving a total decontamination cost of $10 trillion.” It doesn’t say where you put the contaminated soil or indeed how long it would remain contaminated and as for the civilian population, it claims that “approximately 5 billion of the estimated 7 to 8 billion world population at the time could receive 99 percent or more of the radiation exposure.”
Numerous experts warned President Clinton of the dangers to humanity if he authorized the launch. Myriad NGOs protested to no avail. Former NASA safety experts consider Cassini a catastrophe. Horst Poehler, NASA contact scientist wrote “Remember the old Hollywood movies when a mad scientist would risk the world to carry out his particular project? Well those mad scientists have moved to NASA.” Alan Kohn, NASA safety expert from 1964-1968, says that “the plans for the Cassini Flyby with a Plutonium package is unconscionable. No space mission is as important as the life and health of the public.” Under the international law describing “crimes against humanity” President Clinton is solely indictable. The buck stopped at his presidential desk despite the Pentagon’s insistence. Of course, if the actual crime is committed, it is too late for humanity. There may not be anyone around to bring the charge, even Bill Clinton himself though no doubt high government officials will be safely tucked away in some hollowed-out mountain retreat . However, the threat itself is already a global felony.
But where is humanity’s court of law? Not the International Court of Justice to which neither humanity nor any individual has legal standing. Not even the national supreme courts whose mandate stops at national borders. No, we must go where humanity lives…in the municipal courts, worldwide. The carefully crafted brief must be introduced simultaneously in local courts preferably in cities which have already declared themselves “global” or “mundialized.” Local judges may either throw the case out claiming it “frivolous,” or simply reject jurisdiction. Then we appeal. And appeal. And appeal. In the meantime, public opinion is being alerted and focused. The top level-a “World Court of Human Rights” for which the statute has been already written-will be evolving with public, NGOs and even certain national government support.
Nineteen ninety-eight is the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The right to life is codified in Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.? It is also the 50th anniversary of the birth of the modern-day world citizenship movement.
There is no time to lose. The Cassini spacecraft is already on its deadly mission and due for the “flyby” in 1999. World public opinion must now focus on this historic and potentially lethal issue. The spiritual overtones of this indefensible launch into space just three years before the 3rd millennium merits the full attention, concern and energy of every conscientious human being on the home planet. President Clinton must be legally forced either to abort this deadly mission or to order its navigation program altered so that Earth and its population are no longer endangered.