Anti-war group tries to enter Raytheon
'U.N. inspectors' arrested: United Neighbors targets missile factory
David Pittman, Tucson Citizen, Feb. 14, 2003

A drizzle fell from the dark sky as about 50 people in yellow hard hats, white lab coats and "U.N." armbands trudged up a two-lane road yesterday afternoon toward the main gate of a missile factory.

But these arms inspectors were in Tucson, not Iraq.
And they were not from the United Nations, but from a peace group calling itself United Neighbors. And the complex they were approaching was not some mustard gas factory in Baghdad, but Raytheon Missile Systems, south of Valencia Road off Old Nogales Highway.

And though the people claimed to have come to Raytheon to interview "scientists and inspect documents and production facilities for evidence of illegal weapons production," the truth is, they were not weapons inspectors at all, but protesters masquerading as such to draw attention from the news media.

They succeeded.
Television cameras whirred, newspaper photographers clicked, and reporters scribbled in notebooks made soggy by the rain.

[...] "We are here to enforce international law," McHenry said as he led the crew toward Raytheon's main gate. "We want to verify that no weapons of mass destruction are here.

[...] "Moeller supports the U.N. inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but he said it is hypocritical of the United States "to demand others stop producing weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. is the biggest producer of such weapons in the world."
- posted by ARYABHATT @ 4:46 pm