They're Building Nuclear Missile Parts in Woodstock? You Can't Escape America's War Economy.

[StarfarerBill]

from CounterPunch

"Woodstock, New York -- I'm proud of my small town's worldwide association with peace. Many times during the 24 years that I've lived here, I've stood in peace vigils on the Village Green - and provided a bit of local color for visitors' snapshots. Tourists and other assorted pilgrims are drawn to Woodstock by peace as well as by the festival that didn't happen here.

"So I was stunned as I sat the other day in our excellent public library, examining an archive which they store in a remote closet. The documents told me that for six decades Woodstock's largest employer has been making crucial, custom components for nuclear missiles.

"In the 60s and 70s, hippies graced the Village Green. A mile away, down a banal country lane, under the benign gaze of a statue of the Buddha, skilled workers assembled fans that were "critical to the success of nearly every U.S. military missile program," as the company's promotional material boasted. And specially-designed Woodstock fans were busy in the skies over Vietnam in B-52 bombers, making possible the "Christmas Bombings" of 1972, which were the largest heavy bombing strikes launched by the U.S. since World War II.

"Today, Made-In-Woodstock components fly F-15s and F-16s and Apache attack helicopters over Iraq, rumble through Afghanistan in Bradley tanks, fire warheads from rocket launchers, and prowl the oceans in nuclear submarines."

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/144748/they%27re_building_nuclear_missile_parts_in_woodstock_you_can%27t_escape_america%27s_war_economy