United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) is paying closer attention than in the past to the port militarization resistance movement. -- Early Thursday, the paper posted on its web site a squib and photo of the arrest of an unidentified man (a local attorney, unless we are mistaken) “believed to be from the Olympia area.”[1] -- Thursday’s News Tribune featured an article by Michael Glibert that articulated, perhaps more clearly than the paper ever did during the two weeks of antiwar activity in March 2007, the principle behind the port militarization resistance movement: “local ‘port militarization resistance’ groups that object to using public ports for military shipments to and from the war in Iraq.”[2] -- The report intimated that the handling of the PMR movement seventeen months ago had been a budgetary disaster for the city, with unnecessary massive force deployed against nonviolent protesters. -- “Assistant city attorney Jean Hayes said police would likely be more judicious in their decision to make arrests this time, and file more complete paperwork to document each case.” -- On his blog, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Mike Barber reported that “activists from the Pacific Northwest say they will gather daily from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Tacoma Federal Courthouse, 1713 Pacific Avenue, to demand the military stop use of their civilian port.”[3] -- The Olympian also published a piece, but borrowed most of its information from the News Tribune, a fellow McClatchy-owned paper.[4] -- UPDATE: At 1:45 p.m. on Thursday at the Port of Tacoma, a block of E. 11th St. near Thorne Rd. had been closed by policeand was guarded by a single police car, the same site from which the Stryker gear departed in the USNS Soderman late on the evening of Tues., Mar. 13, or possibly in the early morning hours of Wed., Mar. 14, 2007. -- A no-parking area has been extended up to 2,000 feet from the Sitcum Waterway, where the 950-foot General Dynamics-operated USNS Brittin has been berthed since Jul. 29....

[PHOTO CAPTION: Tacoma police officers arrest a man who was a participant in Wednesday night's protest at the Port of Tacoma. At least seven anti-war protesters were on hand to signal their displeasure with the use of the port for returning Stryker combat vehicles and other military gear from the Iraq war zone. The man, who faces a possible charge of obstructing a police officers, was believed to be from the Olympia area.]

A handful of people showed up at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday night to protest the return of Stryker combat vehicles, which had been in Iraq. The members of the Port Militarization Resistance group said the returning vehicles were part of a cycle, which would eventually see them sent back to war again.

Unlike past protests in Tacoma and Olympia, the protesters mostly stood around. They didn’t chant. They didn’t hold signs.

One man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer. Two others were given trespassing warnings.

The two who were given warnings declined to talk about their encounter with police.

** The return of a Stryker brigade from Iraq prompts Tacoma police and other agencies to get ready for possible port demonstrations **

[PHOTO CAPTION: Stryker vehicles are offloaded Wednesday from the USNS Brittin at the Port of Tacoma. More than 900 vehicles and hundreds of cargo containers will be transported back to Fort Lewis after the 4th Brigade's deployment to Iraq.]

The 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Strykers are back at the Port of Tacoma, and local authorities are bracing for a repeat of the protests that accompanied their departure 17 months ago.

Tacoma police and 10 other local public safety agencies said they spent a combined $1 million in staffing and overtime costs at the 12-day load-out in March 2007.

They arrested at least 37 people from local “port militarization resistance” groups that object to using public ports for military shipments to and from the war in Iraq.

The brigade’s Strykers, trucks, and Humvees -- more than 900 vehicles in all, plus hundreds of cargo containers -- arrived at the Port of Tacoma late Tuesday aboard the USNS Brittin.

Fort Lewis officials said soldiers will be moving them back to the post during nonpeak traffic hours.

“If there are any demonstrations, we are hopeful that the demonstrators will conduct themselves lawfully,” said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek, “and that we can complete the mission in a safe and secure manner.”

Olympia- and Tacoma-based anti-war activists say they’re preparing to demonstrate at the return of the vehicles, just as they did at the brigade’s departure.

The Olympia Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war on the grounds that it believes the war to be immoral and illegal.

The group has organized protests at all of the recent military shipments into and out of the ports of Tacoma, Olympia and Grays Harbor.

Dozens were arrested at the November 2007 return of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division’s vehicles and equipment at the Port of Olympia.

The return of military equipment to Northwest ports is managed by the 833rd Transportation Battalion, a Reserve unit based in Seattle. A spokeswoman, Heidi Secrest, said that for security reasons the unit generally doesn’t discuss the deployment and the redeployment of units and equipment.

The Port of Tacoma billed the Army about $324,000 in wharfage fees and another $204,000 in longshore worker labor for the March 2007 load-out, according to port billing records.

The City of Tacoma appealed to the Army to help with its $661,000 in police costs, but the Army declined, as it did with a similar request from the City of Hoquiam following protests at the May 2007 load-out of Army helicopters.

Secrest said it would be up to officials at the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., to say whether, in light of the growing security costs involved at Northwest ports, the military considered alternatives for this latest shipment.

For instance, some outbound Fort Lewis equipment has been sent by rail to Port Hueneme, Calif., or Beaumont, Texas, to be loaded on ships for the Middle East.

Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said members of the department’s special response team were on standby in case they’re needed at the port.

Of the 37 people arrested at the last Tacoma protests, two were convicted in Tacoma Municipal Court of obstructing a police officer and were fined $100 each. A third was convicted of obstructing as well as resisting arrest and misdemeanor assault on a police officer and was fined $300.

Assistant city attorney Jean Hayes said police would likely be more judicious in their decision to make arrests this time, and file more complete paperwork to document each case.

In several cases last time there were no reports, “so we didn’t even know what happened,” Hayes said.

“Many of these protesters are going there with the intent of being arrested, that’s why they’re there,” she said. “I think this time the police might not be so accommodating.

“I mean, they’re going to arrest people who need to be arrested, but if there are people down there who say, ‘We’re going to cross this line so you have to arrest us,’ well, they’re not going to be playing that game.”

Fulghum said department officials reviewed their response to the last protests, “so if it did come up again, we’d be better prepared, and things would go smoother, and safer.”

[CORRECTION: The author of the following piece was misidentified in an earlier version as "Mike Whitney." My apologies. --M.J.]

As equipment from Fort Lewis's 4th Stryker Brigade is returned from Iraq from the cargo ship USNS Brittin at the Port of Tacoma this week, a coalition of anti-war, anti-military, and peace activists say they plan peaceful and confrontational tactics to end military shipments to and from the port.

The Brittin has been offloading its substantial cargo since arriving home Tuesday, and activists from the Pacific Northwest say they will gather daily from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Tacoma Federal Courthouse, 1713 Pacific Avenue, to demand the military stop use of their civilian port.

Demonstrations ranging from "peaceful, family vigils" to "new and exciting tactics to be used in opposition of the military use of this public port," including quarantining the equipment, could occur, said the according to a press releast from Port Militarization Resistance activist coalition.

Citing a belief that the equipment was used in war crimes, Patty Imani, a spokeswoman for the Olypmia Port Militarization Resistance coalition, said in a press release, "We hope to create safe space for all to voice their opposition to these crimes against peace and to resist the use of public lands to enable a bloody occupation."

The Ports of Olympia and Tacoma, from which vehicles and other equipment used by Fort Lewis soldiers deployed to Iraq have been shipped, have become lightning rods for peace activists in recent years.

Most recently, protesters in March attempted to prevent a shipment of military equipment from the Port of Tacoma, resulting in a confrontation with police and 37 arrests.

Military equipment from the Iraq War, including Strykers and Humvees, was being unloaded Wednesday at the Port of Tacoma, and law enforcement officials were prepared for protesters.

A handful of people showed up at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday night to protest the return of combat vehicles.

The members of the Port Militarization Resistance group said the returning vehicles were part of a cycle, which would eventually see them sent back to war again.

Unlike past protests in Tacoma and Olympia, the protesters mostly stood around. They didn’t chant. They didn’t hold signs.

One man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer. Two others were given trespassing warnings.

The Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war in Iraq on the belief that the war is immoral and illegal.

“We’re opposed to the cycle at all points,” Wally Cuddeford of the protest group said.

Protests have been a part of the return of wartime military equipment during the past few years at ports in Olympia, Grays Harbor, and Tacoma. Confrontations sometimes have led to violence, leading to a number of arrests.

“If there are any demonstrations, we are hopeful that the demonstrators will conduct themselves lawfully,” Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek had said earlier.

Piek added that “(We hope) that we can complete the mission in a safe and secure manner.”

Military shipments at the Port of Olympia in November and May 2006 resulted in protests that lasted for days, and dozens were arrested. Charges are pending against some of the protesters arrested in November.

In both cases, the equipment being loaded and then unloaded belonged to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), which served 15 months in Iraq.

More than 900 vehicles in all arrived at the Port of Tacoma on Tuesday aboard the USNS Brittin.

Tacoma police and 10 other public safety agencies said they spent $1 million on staffing and overtime during the 12-day loadout last time. The Port of Tacoma billed the Army about $324,000 in wharfage fees and another $204,000 in longshore worker labor for the March 2007 loadout, port billing records say.

Equipment belonging to 4th Brigade was loaded at the Port of Tacoma in March 2007, leading to another round of protests.