Rainbow Warrior confronts U.S. military shipment as it tries to leave Holland for the Gulf
Amsterdam, February 20th 2003: At 07.30 CET this morning, the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior sailed into the Dutch
port of Rotterdam and confronted a ship loaded with U.S. military equipment that was about to leave Holland for the
Gulf.
25 activists from Argentina, Australia, Finland, Russia, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and
Turkey used three inflatable boats and canoes to try and prevent the cargo vessel, NDS Progress, leaving port. The
activists were chased by Dutch police and U.S. military personnel used water cannons to try and stop them climbing onto
the side of the cargo vessel. One Australian activist has been arrested but the protest is ongoing.
"Day and night, U.S. tanks and helicopters are being shipped to the Gulf from European ports. Greenpeace is determined
to do everything it can to stop this relentless march to war. Not only would it make the world a more volatile and
dangerous place, it'd also be illegal, disastrous and immoral,” said Femke Bartels of Greenpeace, speaking from the port
of Rotterdam.
“It's illegal under the United Nations Charter. It'd be disastrous for the people of Iraq, for the environment and for
international security. It'd also be morally wrong, and an irrational way to address the global problem of weapons of
mass destruction,” she added.
President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have cited Iraq's suspected possession of weapons of mass
destruction as a justification for an invasion, yet the U.S. and the U.K. have some of the world's biggest arsenals of
such weapons. They have made it clear they will not refrain from using their weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and
would even consider using nuclear weapons although the International Court of Justice has ruled that threatening nuclear
war is illegal.
Greenpeace is opposed to war on Iraq whether or not an attack is sanctioned by the United Nations. Greenpeace considers
the solution to weapons of mass destruction is collective international arms control and disarmament. The frameworks
already exist in the form of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Biological Weapons Convention and the
Chemical Weapons Convention. But, rather than being strengthened, these global treaties are being undermined, especially
by the Bush Administration. Although both the U.S. and the U.K. committed themselves to nuclear disarmament thirty years
ago, they have actively increased their nuclear arsenals ever since.
Greenpeace is calling on the Dutch government to stop aligning itself with those countries intent on war and to start
listening to the views of its people and to team up with other European countries that favour a peaceful solution to the
present crisis in the Middle East.
Notes to Editors: The Rainbow Warrior recently disrupted U.S. war preparations in the U.K. and Belgium. For further
information on these and other Greenpeace anti war protests around the world see nowar.greenpeace.org
Greenpeace International Press Office pcuonzo@ams.greenpeace.org