A2 - Sunday, July 18, 1982 - North Shore News |

IN HER BRILLIANT

book .abont Adolph
Eichmann, Hannah
Arendt talked abont
the “banality of evil”.
How,.avhen you come
up against a great evil
and lopk at it closely,

what is most horrifying
about it is its or-
dinariness.
There was nothing
demonic about Eichmann,
Arendt wrote. He was

maddenjngly dull. Under
different circumstances, he

would have been a totally -

obscure clerk, tucked away
somewhere in a
bureaucracy.

Last month, in Moncton,
New Brunswick, I had a
face-to-face encounter with
exactly the sort of thing
Arendt was talking about.

I interviewed a chap
named fan Skinner, the
manager of an innocuous-
looking two-storey building
surrounded by hurricane
fence, where nuclear fuel
bundles were being readied
for shipment to the military
dictatorship in Argentina.

There is a very good
chance the stuff will wind up
in a warhead of an atomic

engineer,

ctly personal

bomb — almost a certainty,
‘Mr. Skinner is an

a no-nonsence

type. a family man, dour,

patient, white-haired, a four-
“square personality.

Honest, too.
He allowed me to in-

4erview him and answered

all my questions candidly.
When I asked him who
had signed the contract on
Argentina’s behalf in the
deal to provide nuclear fuel,

‘he acknowledged that it was

an admiral.
That would be Admiral
Carlos Castro Madero,

president of the National
Atomic Energy Commission,

- at the time a member of the

ruling junta.

TI asked Mr. Skinner if he
was bothered at all by
reports that at least 10,000
people in Argentina have
disappeared since Admiral
Madera’s junta came to
power, people who were
tortured, murdered, raped
and thrown into’ con-
centration camps.

In other words, how does
it feel to do busines with men
who have been described as
neo-Nazi thugs?

Mr. Skinner said, “I don't
like to think about that.”

I asked him what he
thought about the possibility

by Bob Hunter

of Argentina building
nuclear weapons using the
plutonium from the very fuel
bundles he was in charge of
assembling.

His answer was delivered
in a soft, injured tone of
voice.

“TI don’t like’ to
philosophize,” he said.

It was all very polite. After
the interview, Mr. Skinner
gave me a tour of the nuclear
fuel plant, requiring only
that no general photos be
taken, “since we don't want
our competitors to know our
techniques.”

Yes, of course. This is a
business, isn’t it?

The place was as clean as
an operating room. The
workers wore white gloves
so that the fuel rods wouldn't
be contaminated by human
touch. It is not until after
they have been used in a
CANDU reactor that they
become deadly.

The fuel bundles were
fascinating. They are only
about 20 inches long, a
cluster of thin metal rods
that reminded me of the
bundles of grain which were
the symbol of power in
ancient Rome.

I looked at Mr. Skinner
and I looked at the 160-odd
workers at their benches

a choice of Gs

aud Ouk Salad ,

fillet of Sabon Lemon Putin

eangots on Onion Soup,

12”

(aur Djavan o Oh “Won yon Steak Bs 95

V5, Ae Sconel

of he Davouhy ~ 5
enchantingly homantic, atentve
offering youthe classic evening —

alas

Sumall Wondey wine the favonite Setnel Hideaway!

fon neseAvations 924-2373

DepcCove_

Specialist in:
inter-locking:
‘Sidewatks, drive
Patios and pools etc. ©

under the glaring lights, and
they were all so damned
normal.

It was hard to keep in

Elan Paving Stone Company Ltd.

We can refer you to many jobs done ‘bys us ‘onthe

mind the fact that, like North Shore eB
sorcerers’ apprentices, they
were cooking up the FREE ESTIMATES,
elements for nuclear

weapons to be handed over
to tyrants on the other side
of the planet.

A litte manufacturing
plant on the outskirts of
Moncton, its Canadian flag
flapping on the manicured
front lawn, seemed such a
unlikely place to find great
evil lurking.

Yet there it was. If
shipping A-bomb material to
an unstable military regime
isn’t evil, what is? The last
thing the world needs is
another macho finger on the
nuclear trigger.

I wanted to ask Mr.
Skinner and his staff, “How
do you sleep at night?” But
they were being such fine
hosts, it would have seemed
impertinent. How can you
be rude to people who are so
polite?

/ munch aon. Friday. Dinner 7 days.

ERIMOS

140 Lonsdale
North Van. 985-6151.

So ordinary. So regular. Jewellery
Just typical Canadians,
eh?

Appraisal Service
Were
you lucky?

The winning numbers in
the Wednesday July 14 draw

Alevander &
Manlwant

FINE JEWELLERY LTD.
Park Royail-North Mail 926-7213

of the Western Express
lottery were: $10,000:
3030543, 1559966, 1517521,

1518378, 2848807. $100,000:
1938731, 3174407, 3481731,
3060991, 3631086.

Final Clearance
of our

**Moving Down The Mail’’ Sale

20%-50% off
Entire Stock

Park Royal Store Only

Grirts’ summer dresses, sizes 2-14 Now % to *% OFF
Boys’ wear, sizes 2.14. selected styles. Up to 50% OFF
Infant wear and accessones 20-50% OFF

Rugby Pants $15.88

Canterbury Rugby Shirts $29.99

Thank you, our customers, tor making our store such a

tremendous success We look forward to seeing you in our new
location just down the Mall

Shohanee

THE FASHION CENTRE FOR CHILDREN
2025 Park Royal South
Gallery West 926-5616