The first
chapter of Iversen’s book has left me with a stark sense of sympathy for anyone
growing up in the Cold War. All I’ve heard or seen of the entire “conflict”, if
you could call it that, has been the oppression by the communist party across
the pond. Little did I know, there was plenty of secrecy and oppression of the
truth right here inside our own borders. How could something so dangerous be
permitted in such an urban and developed area? Rocky Flats seems like a
breeding place for cancer and birth defects that no one knew anything about.
Even the employees were held to standards of “need-to-know” and secrecy. How
something so hazardous could be swept under the wayside behind the guise of national
security is beyond me. It’s amazing to see how much more informed and cautious the people of
America are in such a short span. Setting up a nuclear production plant in
people’s backyards would be met with complete disapproval in this day and age.
Branching
from that, the environmental repercussions of this place are still felt today.
Killing wildlife and contaminating water and soil is permissible in the name of
national security. Has anyone ever heard of Chernobyl? Rocky Flats sounds awfully
similar to me. Who knows how long the areas around that place will be reeling
from the waste it pumped out. One positive I’ve taken from all of this is that
the American people are much more informed today than they were a short 50
years ago, and that’s a damn good thing.
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