Clara Terrel outside the gates of Offutt AFB upon her release with her ban and bar letter.

Clara Terrell, age 19, was arrested today for walking onto Offutt Air Force Base to deliver the Christmas message reprinted below.

She was arrested by base security and released with a “ban & bar” letter stating that “Your misconduct… created a substantial threat to the peace and order of the base community…”

This linecrossing was part of the 28th Annual Feast of Holy Innocents Retreat and Witness which was held today at STRATCOM, Offutt Air Force Base, Bellevue, Nebraska.

STRATCOM serves as the home of our nation’s nuclear weapons targeting and command headquarters. They hold the whole world under a threat of global nuclear annihilation every day, every hour, every minute of the year.

This annual witness is held on the Feast of Holy Innocents as an attempt to explore the links between King Herod, his killing of the innocent children in Bethlehem, to the murderous deeds of modern day Herods and the US empire that supports and controls them. We attempt to expose, confront and convert our country’s God-awful nuclear weapon’s operational headquarters through this prayerful retreat and witness at Offutt.

Clara’s statement reads:

“I believe that the message brought to us by Jesus Christ is a message of peace. We cannot buy this peace with the blood of Iraqi children and we cannot pay for it with the lives of United States service people. Even all of the power held behind these gates cannot console the mothers and fathers, Iraqi or American, who are grieving for their children this Christmas.

“This is a place where the power of weapons of mass destruction rests.

“This is a place where the decisions are made, which children will live and which will die.

“This is a place where we come to celebrate Christmas and proclaim the Gospel: that the powerful will be thrown down and the lowly will be lifted up.”

(Please be in touch with the Des Moines Catholic Worker community for information on the on-going campaign of nonviolent resistance at STRATCOM).