Peace activist who smashed Dutch F-16s sentenced

Peace activist who smashed Dutch F-16s sentenced

December 16, 2005 - On August 10, Italian peace activist Turi Vaccaro smashed two Dutch F-16 jets with a hammer. He climbed over a fence at Woensdrecht AB and created for more than 5 millions Euro damage to two F-16s parked in a hangar.

When arrested he said he wanted to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 60 years ago. Turi Salvatore Vaccarro belongs to a christian direct action movement which struggles for nuclear disarment. The action was a so-called "ploughshares action", based on the bibical prophesy of Isaiah "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and learn war no more".

On October 27th he was sentenced to six months emprisonnement and 750.000 Euro to partially compensate for the damage.

He completely destroyed the two cockpits of the jets and according to some sources, one jet needed to have the whole steering system replaced.

The F-16s belonged to a squadron at Volkel airbase where 20 nuclear weapons are stored. They were at Woensdrecht AB for maintenance.

Source: http://www.f-16.net/news_article1543.html

OK, I don't mind if you disagree with me, but this ain't the way to protest . I want to know how he got into a secure area and how he wasn't noticed while he smashed the first cockpit before moving on to the second .

And what's with this sentence??? If he was in the USA, he'd be looking forward to at least 20 years in a federal prison and restitution to be worked off at something like $.12 per hour while he's in prison! Does anyone think he's actually going to pay all that money?

My deepest sympathies go to the maintainers who have to fix this mess - best of luck guys!

Yeah, I think he got off way light. So one activist goes nutz and who is out the money? BS!

-Aaron

I think their penil system is rather crowded, so 6 moths I believe is a heavy sentence. I could be wrong here of course. From what I understand, only the most serious offenses get actual jail time.

I think their penil system is rather crowded, so 6 moths I believe is a heavy sentence. I could be wrong here of course. From what I understand, only the most serious offenses get actual jail time.

No, thats a pretty light sentence over here, but i think the judge probably was some lefty anti war hippie.

"The F-16s belonged to a squadron at Volkel airbase where 20 nuclear weapons are stored."

That's the line I like. So much for OPSEC. This reminds me of a story my supervisor told me. He was stationed at Griffis AFB in Rome, New York. Every year, a bunch of left overs from the '70's (peace protesters) would jump the fence with hammers and beat up a B-52. They would always go for the external fuel tank and hammer the crap out of it. Funny thing is, external tanks aren't that expensive (relatively speaking) and pretty easy to change.

"The F-16s belonged to a squadron at Volkel airbase where 20 nuclear weapons are stored."

That's the line I like. So much for OPSEC. This reminds me of a story my supervisor told me. He was stationed at Griffis AFB in Rome, New York. Every year, a bunch of left overs from the '70's (peace protesters) would jump the fence with hammers and beat up a B-52. They would always go for the external fuel tank and hammer the crap out of it. Funny thing is, external tanks aren't that expensive (relatively speaking) and pretty easy to change.

I have to agree with you about OPSEC, but you know journalists ...

I love how non-educated people always confuse external tanks as bombs !!!

At least the incident isn't as bad as the one in Puerto Rico in the '70s. I think the European media likes to point out that nuclear weapons are present at an area to rile the citizens up. I live up here in missile country and there was a thing on the news a awhile ago about some anti-nuclear protesters that broke into a silo complex in Colorado and beat on the 200 ton, steel-reinforced concrete blast door with hammers!? Of course they went to jail and had to pay for damages, but really! Those doors are designed to take a nuclear blast from the outside and also hold the missile in the silo if it misfires and they thought hammers would do anything.

I love how non-educated people always confuse external tanks as bombs !!!

But I thought everything that had fins, a round shape, pointy nose, and hung from the bottom of an airplane was a bomb.....

No, thats a pretty light sentence over here, but i think the judge probably was some lefty anti war hippie.

If this had happened over here in Belgium, he would probably have had an even lighter sentence. Almost every judges, politicians and journalists are lefty pacifist here, and the minister of defence is one of the worst.

Every year people try to enter Kleine Brogel AB to protest against the nuclear weapons stored over there; politicians often encourages them to do so!

This reminds me of a story my supervisor told me. He was stationed at Griffis AFB in Rome, New York. Every year, a bunch of left overs from the '70's (peace protesters) would jump the fence with hammers and beat up a B-52. They would always go for the external fuel tank and hammer the crap out of it. Funny thing is, external tanks aren't that expensive (relatively speaking) and pretty easy to change.

Your supervisor told you right. Unfortunatly, at least in one instance the protestors gained access to the flightline at Griffiss, beat up a poor ol' BUFF (and threw some red paint on it) and actually had to find someone (don't recall if they went searching, or called) to arrest them. I believe that over the years there were several wing tanks 'beat up' along with some MLG doors, any there may have been one instance where someone gained access to the cockpit with a hammer.

Had a lot of friends over with the 416th BW and 49thFIS...
Mike
ex-of Liverpool, NY (about 45 miles from the Griff...)

It gives you a window into the minds of these clowns if they are pounding away on what they think is a bomb. It takes a serious lack of mental faculties to start whacking away at high explosives with a hammer. Put up a few No Admittance Past This Point : Use of Deadly Force is Authorized signs and a sniper with a .50 rifle and grant the hippies their wish.

50 cal is teh win, if you're keen on intarweb l33tspeak.

They should have kicked his a$$ for a few days, then gave him to the crew chiefs so they could kick his too! This piss poor behavior should never be allowed, make examples of this type of swine, do it now!

Bad thing, I think that if a incident like that happens in Chile (with our brand new-shinny F-16), the ground crew and the PM probably make the life of the offender a LIVING HELL for a couple of hours before turn him over to the Carabineros (Chilean police), and if you can say something about the judges here is their tendence to toughness ...

Besides, the Air Bases had military guards with orders to shoot to kill if someone tryes to enter the premises and dont stop when ordered .. in 2005 there were several incidents and at least 3 people died in military grounds (1 peruvian 2 chileans) and several other were detained (including some "argentine tourist" ).

The peruvian where trying to cross the northern border thru a minefield and a couple of Chilean Marines shout him to stop, he didnt leasen and the marines fired to his legs ... sadly when the bullets hit they went up in his body ripping off the lower belly .. the poor fellow died from the blood loss

The other two incidents were in the main Chilean Marines training base in Viña del Mar and was kind of similar, civilians try to enter the premises and didnt stop when ordered and the guards shoot at them ...

You may think that this is a over reaction, but it has happened that criminals as attacked the guards of military bases to take their weapons, they usually get their a$$ kick, but in 2005 just one time they were able to get the Army Infantry School guard by surprise and take their SIG rifles ... a shame for the officer and NCO on duty ... I know that the officer, NCO and soldiers involved in the incident get a LOT of extra time in the PT field to "sharpen their concentration" in the word of the colonel

The weapons were recuperated by the police a couple of days latter ...

Bye

I think the military police acted accordingly (but that is just me). I think they did what they should have done. These violators knew the risk and got what they deserved....no ill feelings from me, this teaches folks a lesson, you mess with the military hardware, you get what you deserve...hard line but I feel that way.