Unexploded bomb found near Puʻunene School

The AP reported that an unexploded bomb, most likely from World War II, was found in a sugar cane field near Puʻunene School on Maui:

The Maui News reports that the aerial bomb was discovered by an employee of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. during a weed control operation. It was found just east of the old Puunene School. The area once hosted a military base during World War II.

Police were called and photographed the rusted cylindrical ordnance, which was about 2 feet long by 4 to 6 inches wide. The photographs were immediately sent to the U.S. Army’s Explosive Ordnance Division. Army officials determined it posed no immediate danger.

A trench was dug Tuesday and the bomb was detonated on location.

 

Opposition to MV-22 Ospreys grows

Photo: Walter Ritte

From different sectors of the community there is growing opposition to the proposed stationing of MV-22 Osprey and Cobra attack helicopters at Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay and their plans to train across the islands.

Molokai residents are mobilizing against the Marine Corps proposal to station Ospreys tilt-rotor aircraft and Cobra helicopters in Hawaiʻi. The proposed plan would include flight training and landing on most of the islands, including Hoʻolehua and Kalaupapa on Molokai.  In the photo above, a kuahu (shrine) was built in Hoʻolehua as a protest against the military expansion.

The Marines have been engaged in a process to consult with Native Hawaiian individuals and entities to establish a programmatic agreement for the treatment of cultural sites and artifacts under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. But the process has been extremely frustrating to the Native Hawaiian participants because the military is essentially ignoring the key recommendations being put forward by the cultural practitioners.  Basically the military is reserving its authority to define what is and is not culturally significant.  This is the same problem with the Army and its expansion plans in Lihuʻe (Schofield) and Pohakuloa.  The military is ignoring Native Hawaiian input, and in some cases, buying more favorable Native Hawaiian input by assembling their own Native Hawaiian group that supports the military’s plans.

A Kāneʻohe Neighborhood Board member Bill Sager wrote in the Hawaii Independent:

Without exception at all official EIS review meetings, Windward Neighborhood Board meetings and spontaneous community meetings, fears have been expressed concerning the impacts of the proposal on Koolaupoko.

People have expressed concerns ranging from the increased noise, impacts of noise on student learning, potential dangers posed by the safety record of the Osprey and the impacts of added personnel requiring housing in the Kailua and Kaneohe communities. Hawaiian groups have expressed concern over the impact of construction activities on graves and other cultural features.

Because noise has been the overriding community concern, aircraft noise and it’s impacts on our community is the focus of this statement. The bottom line is that the noise models used in the EIS are flawed and our community will not be able to evaluate noise impacts until we actually hear them.

[. . .]

·       The model used to determine noise levels did not have mountains in model at end of takeoff end of runway. We know from experience that the cliffs surrounding Kaneohe reflect, echo and amplify aircraft noise.

·      The model used 737-700 when the P8A(replacement for P3) produces approximately 10 times more noise when using a short takeoff runway.  http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/mma/

·       What is the dBAs for 737-800 during a full power brake release take off?  I have read in a Boeing briefing that at break release the noise level at 8.9nm is around 85dbs. This does not match the numbers in the final EIS, Annex D.

·       Believe the dbBA numbers have been average over 24hours which will give MUCH lower readings. Therefore, the numbers for schools might look ok but as the studies show average over ONE HOUR!  What is important is not the average noise, but it is the peak noise generated during landings and takeoffs.

The length of runway at Kaneohe Marine Base will required the P8A to use full military power to take off.  Source is article from Whidbey Island, WA were an elected official, Angie Homola is quoted.  Her website is:  https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/apps/sbcc/Page.aspx?cid=898

·       King Intermediate School and 4 other schools are close to being at end of runway.  http://public-schools.findthebest.com

NOISE LEVEL EFFECT ON CHILDREN   Annex D.3.7 covers school effects on children in schools.

·       The following is quoted from Annex D.3.7.1,  Effects on Learning and Cognitive Abilities.   “The ANSI acoustical performance criteria for schools include the requirement that the one-hour-average background noise levels shall not exceed 35dBA in core learning spaces smaller than 20,000 cubic-feet and 40dBA in core learning spaces with enclosed volumes exceeding 20, 000 cubic-feet.  This would require schools be constructed such that, in quiet neighborhoods indoor noise levels are lowered by 15 to 20 dBA relative to outdoor levels.  In schools near airports, indoor noise would have to be lowered by 35 to 45 dBA relative to outdoor levels(ANSI 2002).”

Paragraph 6 of Annex D.3.7.1    “ Similar, a 1994 study found that students exposed to aircraft noise of approximately 76 dBA scored 20% lower on recall ability tests than students exposed to ambient noise of 42-44 dBA(Hygge 1994).  “The Haines and Stansfeld study indicated that there may be some long-term effects associated with exposure, as one-year follow-up testing still demonstrated lowered scores for children in higher noise schools(Haines, et al. 2001a and 2001b).

Representative Cynthia Thielen (R) has been working with constituents from the Kāneʻohe area to oppose the Osprey.  She submitted comments on the Marine Corps environmental impact statement (EIS) that were critical of the noise studies. Her comments can be viewed here:  Rep Thielen comments on Navy FEIS 7 10 12

 

Osprey crashes, Japanese city rejects Osprey, and Marines want to bring Osprey to Hawai’i?

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported that”Marines’ copter plan raises fear of noise” (June 12, 2012):

The public has nearly a month to weigh in on Marine Corps plans to station MV-22 tiltrotor Osprey and H-1 Cobra and Huey attack-utility helicopter squadrons at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, but any community opposition likely will boil down to a single topic, according to the secretary of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board.

“In one word,” said Bill Sager, “it’s the noise.”

[. . .]

“Several people have expressed concerns to me,” he said.

While the Marines opened a 30-day comment period on their proposals last week, “People will have no way of evaluating the noise impact of an Osprey until they actually hear it,” Sager said.

It seems a  major concern for us in Hawai’i ought to be safety.   Today, an CV-22 Osprey crashed in Florida, injuring five: 

An Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed Wednesday during a routine training mission north of Navarre, Florida, injuring five crew members aboard, a military official said.

In April two U.S. troops died in an Osprey crash in Morocco.   Last March, a Marine pilot died and radioactive strontium 90 was released into Kane’ohe Bay when helicopter crashed on Ahu o Laka sandbar in the bay.

Okinawans have been strongly opposing the stationing of Osprey aircraft.  The city of Iwakuni on the main island of Honshu was proposed as a temporary base for the Osprey until facilities were available in Okinawa.  However, Japan Today reports that “Iwakuni balks at U.S. deployment of Osprey aircraft” (June 13, 2012):

Safety concerns after a recent crash have put plans to briefly deploy the U.S. Osprey aircraft to a city in Yamaguchi Prefecture on hold, officials said Tuesday.

Opposition to the plan to temporarily base the helicopter-like planes in the city of Iwakuni has been rising since the fatal crash in April left two Marines dead in Morocco.

Japan’s defense minister said Tuesday he may go to the city of Iwakuni to persuade local officials to accept the temporary deployment. But after meeting with ministry officials on Monday Iwakuni’s mayor said he needs more assurances that the aircraft is safe.

The Marine Corps released a Final Environmental Impact Statement on its proposals on the basing and statewide training of Osprey tiltrotor and Cobra and Huey attack-utility helicopter squadrons.   The 30-day comment period began Friday June 8.  The proposal is to expand the Marine Corps in Hawai’i :

  • 24 MV-22 Osprey aircraft
  • 18 AH-1Z Viper Super Cobra helicopters
  • 9 UH-1Y Huey helicopters
  • 1,000 Military personnel
  • 1,106 Family members

The Marine Corps helicopter Environmental Impact Statement can be viewed at:

  • Written comments on the EIS must be postmarked or received online by July 11 to become part of the official rec ord.
  • Comments can be made online by selecting the “contact” tab at www.mcbh.usmc.mil/mv22h1eis/ index.html or by mail to: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific 258 Makalapa Drive, Suite 100 Pearl Harbor, HI 96860-3134 Attn: EV21, MV-22/H-1 EIS Project Manager

 

Army engineers tackle toxic cleanup at Puunene, Maui

The AP reports “Army engineers tackle toxic cleanup at Puunene, Maui”:

The Army Corps of Engineers is looking to remove toxic chemicals found in a military landfill at the old Puunene airport site on Maui.

A spokesman for the Corps of Engineers Honolulu District said studies have found toxic and possibly carcinogenic chemicals in the 6.5-acre Maui Airport Landfill, the Maui News reported.

The Army Corps says the chemicals are not a threat to the groundwater.  The military  used the airport from the late 1930s to the early 1950s.  The Army Corps held a public informational meeting on the proposal to clean up the landfill November 9th.

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana: All Our Aloha in One Kanoa

Stopping the bombing – 20th Anniversary

September 25, 2011

9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Ka Papa Lo’i o Kanewai – 2645 Dole Street

Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana rededicates itself to Kaho‘olawe

 (Kānewai, O‘ahu). The Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana (‘Ohana) will host All Our Aloha in One Kānoa on Sunday, September 25 from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM at Ka Papa Lo‘i ‘o Kānewai at 2645 Dole Street.  The event, which is free and open to the public, and welcomes families, wraps up a year of islandswide activities marking the 20th anniversary since the bombing of Kaho‘olawe was stopped,  The ‘Ohana invites the community to join in the rededication of promoting Aloha ‘Āina throughout the islands.  Activities include talk story panels, music, food and other activities.  The ‘Ohana will be serving ‘awa from the kānoa (‘awa bowl) that has been traveling across the Hawaiian Islands for the past year inviting community to rededicate themselves to Kanaloa Kaho‘olawe and continued efforts for its restoration.

 Three unique kūkākūkā sessions will bring in members of the community to connect to Kaho‘olawe:

11 – 12 PM.  MAKAHIKI.  Makahiki practitioners from various O‘ahu communities will share their experiences around the revival of Makahiki on Kaho‘olawe and how they’ve connected those practices to their own wahi kapu (sacred places).

1  – 2 PM.  I MUA NĀ PUA.  Young people will share what the island has meant to them as students and family members through poems, songs, oli, or their personal stories.

3  – 4 PM.  EA.  Activists and proponents of Hawaiian sovereignty and restoration will describe their visions of how Kanaloa Kaho‘olawe fits into a Hawaiian entity.

Live music will be featured between sessions, including music by the Hakioawa Serenaders, Steve Ma‘i‘i, Jon Osorio, Ernie Cruz, Jr., and Kupa‘āina.

The lo‘i at Kānewai was re-established by UH Hawaiian language and culture students who were also members of the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana.  Kūpuna who guided the activities on Kaho‘olawe also helped young people to re-open the lo‘i kalo.  The histories of the two communities are interconnected.

Ono food, familiar to those who have accessed Hakioawa with the ‘Ohana, will be available for donation.  All proceeds from the day will support the mission of the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana.

Formed in 1976, the vision of the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana is Aloha ‘Āina.

Its mission is to promote Aloha ‘Āina throughout the islands through cultural, educational and spiritual activities that heal and revitalize the cultural and natural resources on Kaho‘olawe.

Native American Activist Winona LaDuke on Use of “Geronimo” as Code for Osama bin Laden and the “Militarization of Indian Country”

Winona LaDuke has just published a book The Militarization of Indian Country in which she discusses the situation in Hawai’i and the Native-owned military contracting industry.  I spoke with someone from her organization as they were researching information for the book.  I haven’t seen it yet to know how the information was incorporated.  Today, she was on Democracy Now! She discusses the military assault on Hawai’i and the use of “Geronimo” as code name for Osama bin Laden.  One figure she cites – 79,000 acres – of military expansion in Hawai’i doesn’t sound correct.  But she describes Kaho’olawe, Pohakuloa and the Stryker Brigade expansion. Here’s the video of the program and an excerpt from the transcript:


Source: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/6/native_american_activist_winona_laduke_on

We’re joined now by Winona LaDuke, Native American activist, writer. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. She’s executive director of the group Honor the Earth. She was Ralph Nader’s running mate in 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. And her new book is called The Militarization of Indian Country. She’s joining us from Minneapolis.

Winona, thank you so much for being with us. Let’s start off by talking about who Geronimo was and the significance of his name being used.

Let me see how the New York Times described the moment: “The code name for bin Laden was ‘Geronimo.’ The president and his advisers watched Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, on a video screen, narrating from his agency’s headquarters across the Potomac River what was happening in faraway Pakistan.

“’They’ve reached the target,’ he said.

“Minutes passed.

“’We have a visual on Geronimo,’ he said.

“A few minutes later: ‘Geronimo EKIA.’

“Enemy Killed In Action. There was silence in the Situation Room.”

Winona LaDuke, your response?

WINONA LADUKE: I mean, you know, the reality is, is the military looks at it from its own perspective. This was one of the most expensive single campaigns to find somebody, bin Laden. And the reality was, is that the Geronimo campaign, the campaign against the Apache people, was one of the most expensive wars ever waged by the United States government. You know, for 13 years, they spent millions of dollars, essentially. Five thousand soldiers, and additional, went after these people, relentlessly, for that long period of time. So, from the military’s perspective, that’s a little of how they were looking at it.

You know, from our perspective, of course, and from, I think, all Americans’ perspective, Geronimo is a hero. He’s a national patriot for our peoples. And in that, it is indeed an egregious slander for indigenous peoples everywhere and to all Americans, I believe, to equate Osama bin Laden with Geronimo.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Winona, in terms of the military, this seems to be a constant historical inability to grasp, the relationship of the government to Native American people. I was struck particularly by—during the wars in Kosovo, when the United States used—constantly talked about the Apache helicopters that were leading the fight against ethnic cleansing, or the new helicopter that supposedly was going to be the stealth helicopter that the military developed but then had to scrap, the Comanche helicopter. And there seems to be a constant insensitivity to the long struggle for freedom and defense of their land by the Native American peoples on the part of the U.S. military.

WINONA LADUKE: The reality is, is that the military is full of native nomenclature. That’s what we would call it. You’ve got Black Hawk helicopters, Apache Longbow helicopters. You’ve got Tomahawk missiles. The term used when you leave a military base in a foreign country is to go “off the reservation, into Indian Country.” So what is that messaging that is passed on? You know, it is basically the continuation of the wars against indigenous people.

Donald Rumsfeld, when he went to Fort Carson, named after the infamous Kit Carson, who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Navajo people and their forced relocation, urged people, you know, in speaking to the troops, that in the global war on terror, U.S. forces from this base have lived up to the legend of Kit Carson, fighting terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan to help secure victory. “And every one of you is like Kit Carson.”

The reality is, is that the U.S. military still has individuals dressed—the Seventh Cavalry, that went in in Shock and Awe, is the same cavalry that massacred indigenous people, the Lakota people, at Wounded Knee in 1890. You know, that is the reality of military nomenclature and how the military basically uses native people and native imagery to continue its global war and its global empire practices.

AMY GOODMAN: Winona, you begin your book on the militarization of Native America at Fort Sill, the U.S. Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma. We broadcast from there about a year ago in that area. Why Fort Sill? What is the significance of Fort Sill for Native America?

WINONA LADUKE: Well, you know, that is where the Apaches themselves were incarcerated for 27 years for the crime of being Apache. There are two cemeteries there, and those cemeteries—one of those cemeteries is full of Apaches, including Geronimo, who did die there. But it is emblematic of Indian Country’s domination by military bases and the military itself. You’ve got over 17 reservations named after—they’re still called Fort something, you know? Fort Hall is, you know, one of them. Fort Yates. You know, it is pervasive, the military domination of Indian Country.

Most of the land takings that have occurred for the military, whether in Alaska, in Hawaii, or in what is known as the continental United States, have been takings from native land. Some of—you know, they say that the Lakota Nation, in the Lakota Nation’s traditional territory, as guaranteed under the Treaty of 1868 or the 1851 Treaty, would be the third greatest nuclear power in the world. You know, those considerations indicate how pervasive historically the military has been in native history and remains today in terms of land occupation.

I must say, on the other side of that, we have the highest rate of living veterans of any community in the country. It’s estimated that about 22 percent of our population, or 190,000 of our—or 190,000—or 190,000 living veterans in Native America today. And all of those veterans, I am sure, are quite offended by the use of Geronimo’s name, you know, in the assault on bin Laden and in the death of bin Laden.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Winona, in your book, you go through a lot of these takings of land and what it’s been used for. Obviously, the nuclear accident following the tsunami in Japan has been in the news a lot lately, but you talk about the origins of the United States’s own nuclear power, the mining of uranium, the development of Los Alamos Laboratory. Could you talk about that and its connection to Indian Country?

WINONA LADUKE: You know, native people—about two-thirds of the uranium in the United States is on indigenous lands. On a worldwide scale, about 70 percent of the uranium is either in Aboriginal lands in Australia or up in the Subarctic of Canada, where native people are still fighting uranium mining. And now, with both nuclearization and the potential reboot of a nuclear industry, they’re trying to open uranium mines on the sacred Grand Canyon. You know, we have been, from the beginning, heavily impacted by radiation exposure from the U.S. military, you know, continuing on to nuclear testing, whether in the Pacific or whether the 1,100 nuclear weapons that were detonated over Western Shoshone territory. You know, our peoples have been heavily impacted by radiation, let alone nerve gas testing. You’ve got nerve gas dumps at Umatilla. You’ve got a nerve gas dump at the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation. You have, you know, weapons bases, and the military is the largest polluter in the world. And a lot of that pollution, in what is known as the United States, or some of us would refer to as occupied Indian Country, is in fact all heavily impacting Indian people or indigenous communities still.

JUAN GONZALEZ: You also talk about the radiation experimentation in Alaska in the 1960s in your book. I don’t think—very few people have heard of that. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

WINONA LADUKE: Yeah. You know, I was an undergraduate at Harvard, and I remember I used to—I researched all this really bizarre data, but there was this project at Point Hope, where the military wanted to look at the radiation lichen-caribou-man cycle, of bio-accumulation of radiation. And so, they went into the Arctic. You know, there’s widespread testing on native people, because we’re isolated populations. We’re basically—you know, most of us in that era were genetically pretty similar. It was a good test population, and there was no accountability. You know, testing has occurred, widespread. But in that, they wanted to test, so the village of Point Hope was basically irradiated. Didn’t tell the people. Documents were declassified in the 1990s. And all that time, this community bore a burden of nuclear exposure that came from the Nevada test site, you know, and in testing those communities.

You know, Alaska itself is full of nuclear and toxic waste dumps from the military, over 700 separate, including, you know, perhaps one of the least known, but I did talk about it in this book, The Militarization of Indian Country, VX Lake, where they happened to forget about some nerve gas canisters, a whole bunch of them, and they put them out in the middle of the lake, and they sank to the bottom. And then they remembered a few years later, and then they had to drain the darn lake to go get all these—you know, all the nerve gas, VX, out of the bottom of the lake. And, you know, they renamed it Blueberry Lake, but it’s still known as VX Lake to anybody who’s up there. And, you know, the unaccountability of the military, above reproach, having such a huge impact on a worldwide scale, having such a huge take at the federal trough, the federal budget, and in indigenous communities an absolutely huge impact in terms of the environmental consequences of militarization.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Winona LaDuke, Native American activist, writer. Her latest book is called The Militarization of Indian Country. Winona, talk about the history of native participation in and opposition to war. But begin with your dad, with your father.

WINONA LADUKE: Yeah, you know, I wrote this book out of a debt, really, to my father. My father was a Korean War resister, and he spent 11 months in prison for refusing to fight a war that he did not believe was his. There is a long history of native people, whether the Zunis, whether the Hopis, whether Iroquois, whether the Ojibwes, who said, “You know, that’s really not our war. We’re staying here.”

The United States, you know, people—one of the reasons that it is said that native people received citizenship in 1924 was so that they could be drafted. And they have been extensively drafted. You know, for a whole variety of social, political, historic, cultural and economic reasons, native people have the highest rate of enlistment in this country, from historic to present. You know, in some places, in our Indian communities, you have very dire economic situations, and the military recruiters are very aggressive. And young people do not have a lot of choices. I mean, I had a young man from my community say, “Auntie, I joined the military.” I said, “Why did you join the military?” He says, “Because I was either going to jail or going to the military.” You know, and I have heard that story more than once in Indian Country.

So, having said that, you have a history of warrior societies, of people who are proud, who have defended our land. You know, 500 years is a long time to defend your territory. And, you know, we’re still here. And within that, our warrior societies continue, whether it is at Oka, whether it was at Wounded Knee, whether it is on the front lines of the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, or whether it is in the Grand Canyon, defending our territory. At the same time, you have a number—you know, a large rate of enlistment. And so, you have native veterans who are, in our community, highly regarded for who they are as courageous individuals and a very significant part of our communities. At the same time, there is no program to reintegrate these individuals into our society. A lot of—you know, the highest rate of homelessness is in the veterans in this country. And many other issues of PTSD and such exist widespread in our communities because of our isolation and our high rates of enlistment and our high rates of veterans.

AMY GOODMAN: Winona LaDuke, you also talk, when talking about Fort Sill, about the Comanche people asking for Fort Sill not to destroy Medicine Bluff. Can you talk about the sacred places in the United States, starting with Fort Sill? Where are they threatened, and how do you preserve these lands?

WINONA LADUKE: Well, you know, the military has—the U.S. government is the largest landowner. The United States—you know, native people are large landowners, but the military has a huge chunk of our territories. And in those, there are a number of places that are our sacred sites. Perhaps the best examples are really in Hawaii, where the military took the island of Kaho’olawe, an entire island, to turn it into a bombing range for 40 years. You know, that was my first politicization, I would say, as to the impact of the military in indigenous communities. Took a whole island, and then, eventually, the island is now returned. The aquifer is cracked from bombing. And, you know, it is in—it’s unconscionable, the practice. Today, Hawaii, you see the continuation of the expansion of military holdings there. Pohakuloa is an expansion for the Stryker that they are looking at on the Big Island of Hawaii to take another 79,000 acres of land—there’s only so much land on an island—full of sacred sites, full of historic sites, that Hawaiians, Native Hawaiians and all people have a right to visit but now is becoming a part of a military base. And increasing land takings, particularly in Hawaii, is one of the worst cases.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And Winona, as we mentioned earlier, you were a vice-presidential candidate twice on the ticket, an Independent ticket, with Ralph Nader. And as you see now, in these years of the last few years of the Obama administration, do you see any significant change in the way that the Native American nations across the country have been treated under the Obama administration?

WINONA LADUKE: You know, I would say that things are better. I would say we’ve got a few egregious problems still. You know, you have, for instance, the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. As you likely know, there were four holdout countries, as of 2007, that did not sign on. U.S. and Canada are the only two countries that have yet to sign on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Obama administration made some lip service to it, posturing. I was thinking maybe we’re in like some kind of yoga position on it; I don’t know what posture he’s in. But we’d like to see that carried out. As well, you know, apology—you know, these are, in many ways, symbolic gestures. There was an apology to native peoples that was issued, but no one heard it. So its’ kind of like saying, you know, “I’m sorry,” to a wall. Probably should have a little formal apology.

But then there is the reality of—that things in Indian Country are not getting better. You can’t keep putting money in the federal budget for the military and robbing everything else, so that people on my reservation and other reservations don’t have housing, don’t have education money, don’t have health service, you know, don’t have basic, basic rights. And the only way in the native community, really, to get economically ahead, in many cases, is to become a military contractor.

I don’t know if you noticed in the book that it turns out that Blackwater is a Native American contractor. Now, I didn’t know that, you know, and I really hadn’t thought of them as a Native American contractor. But with the Chenega native corporation, they’ve got about $1.9 billion in federal contracts that they received, most of those as a sole-source, non-bid contractor, because they went under the shell of an Alaskan native corporation, the Chenega Corporation. And so, you know, native communities are becoming military contractors because that’s where the money is. You know, so the irony of the whole history of colonization, military colonization, valiant patriots like Geronimo fighting against the U.S. taking of our lands, the destruction of our peoples, to now a situation where the largest private army in the world is a Native American contractor. And the fact that they so egregiously abuse the name of Geronimo and, in widespread cases, you know, refer to Indian Country as the territory that is to be taken by the U.S. military, you know, it is time to revisit this history.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Winona LaDuke, ending on where we began, with Geronimo, you supported President Obama, Barack Obama, for president, the first African American president, who—it was under him that this Geronimo name was given. Of course, I’m sure it wasn’t he, himself, who gave this name for this operation to kill bin Laden. He was born in Hawaii. His school, native name, and you talk about Hawaii being so important in native history. Your thoughts about President Obama in light of what—this latest controversy?

WINONA LADUKE: Well, you know, I think a formal apology is due to the native community, to the family of Geronimo, as requested.

I think that a review of the impact of militarization on Indian Country—you know, we are trying to get back some of our land that is held by the military, but it’s so darn toxic. And the military is busy making more things toxic, getting more exemptions under federal law, so that they are above any environmental laws. You know, it would be nice to get something back that was taken, and to get it back clean and to get it back good, whether Badger Munitions in Wisconsin, Fort Wingate. But we don’t want—we don’t want toxic land, you know, back, returned to our people.

Reviewing the military psychology of Kit Carson, you know, and using that nomenclature, how offensive it is to native people. And talking about some kind of a justice, in terms of—I don’t have an answer—it’s a tricky one—how you make justice with the military. But what I would say is that what was done historically was wrong, what was done this week was wrong, and it would be an opportunity for the Obama administration to do the right thing in relation to Indian Country, because Indian Country is not to be assaulted by the U.S. military.

AMY GOODMAN: Winona LaDuke, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Native American activist, writer. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota, executive director of the group Honor the Earth. Her new book, just out, The Militarization of Indian Country.

The Pentagon’s Biggest Boondoggles

The New York Times published this excellent Op-Chart graphic of the most wasteful military spending programs. Note that several of the programs listed are military earmarks backed by Senator Inouye or programs that related to Hawai’i in some way.

Missile Defense and Global Information Grid involves many of the wasteful programs associated with the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua’i, computer and space warfare programs on Maui and a host of projects related to the ill-fated Project Kai e’e and Navy UARC at the University of Hawai’i. “Net-Centric Warfare” was one buzzword for these “revolutionary” technologies.

Along similar lines, Future Combat Systems was part of the transformation of the Army into modular, mobile, electronically networked and omniscient elements in the battlefield. The Stryker was one of the first elements to be deployed as a part of this transformation.

The Littoral Combat Ship is an enormously expensive program that was awarded to both Lockheed Martin and Austal USA. Austal USA was the manufacturer of the controversial Hawai’i Superferry, which was a prototype for the military’s Joint High Speed Vessel.   The Hawai’i Superferry contract helped Austal to establish its shipyard in the U.S., which enabled it to compete for the military contracts.

The F-35 Fighter is one of the troubled and expensive programs that President Obama vowed to veto. Senator Inouye went up against Obama to push for the F-35.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/opinion/13arquilla.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Published: March 12, 2011

Op-Chart

The Pentagon’s Biggest Boondoggles

JOHN ARQUILLA and FOGELSON-LUBLINER

As our government teeters on the brink of a shutdown, and Congress and the president haggle over spending cuts, the Pentagon budget should be scoured for places where significant reductions may be made. Not the handful of trims alluded to by Defense Secretary Robert Gates — $78 billion over the next five years, with these savings simply used to shore up spending on other acquisitions — but major cuts to systems that don’t work very well or that are not really going to be needed for decades to come.

Unworkable or unnecessary systems tend to have something in common: their costs are often uncontrollable. A 2009 Government Accountability Office study of 96 major defense acquisition programs found that almost two-thirds of them suffered major cost overruns — 40 percent above contract prices, over all — with average delays of nearly two years. Those overruns totaled close to $300 billion, about the amount of President Bill Clinton’s last full defense budget request a decade ago.

Listed below is just a sampling of what systems could be ended without endangering America; indeed, abandoning some of them might actually enhance national security. These cuts would generate only small savings initially — perhaps just several billion this fiscal year, as contracts would have to be wound down. But savings would swiftly rise to more than $50 billion annually thereafter.

And there’s plenty more where these came from.

John Arquilla is a professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School and author of “Worst Enemy: The Reluctant Transformation of the American Military.” Fogelson-Lubliner is a design firm.

Cries for Kahoolawe Surface in the Senate

http://mauinow.com/2011/02/09/cries-for-kahoolawe-surface-in-the-senate/

Cries for Kahoolawe Surface in the Senate

February 9th, 2011 

By Wendy Osher

Members of the Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana are speaking out against a bill introduced in the state senate that seeks a reduction in the number of members on the Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission.

The above image from the Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana is being used in social media to raise awareness about the pending legislation.

SB609 would reduce the number of members on the KIRC from seven to five, effectively eliminating the current requirement that two members be selected from a list provided by the Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana.

Under the bill, the KIRC would be made up of: one member from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, one county official appointed by the governor from a list provided by the Mayor of Maui County, and the chairperson for the Board of Land and Natural Resources. The remaining two members would be selected by the governor in consultation with native Hawaiian organizations.

The bill would also require a four year wait before members could be reappointed to the commission.

The Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana is a grassroots organization that has been at the forefront efforts to stop bombing on the island and provide stewardship of the island’s natural and cultural resources. Since 1980, the organization has led cultural access trips to Kaho’olawe for thousands of students, community organizations and volunteers.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing this Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 10 a.m. at the State Capitol Conference Room 225 before the Senate committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land and Housing. Testimony can be submitted online at the following link: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony/?measure=SB609.

More on military expansion on Pohakuloa

The full extent of military expansion at Pohakuloa is only becoming more evident.

The Army website for the Pohakuloa Training Areas Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement can be accessed here. Written comments on the proposed action and alternatives will be accepted via e-mail (ptapeis@bah.com) and U.S. mail until February 7, 2011 to:  PTA PEIS, P.O. Box 514, Honolulu, HI 96809. Materials from the scoping meetings will be made available on the “Project Documents” page.

Yesterday, I learned that people witnessed construction activity up on the slopes of Mauna Loa.  The activity was so high on the mountain that the observer thought it surely must be outside the boundary of the Pohakuloa Training Area.    Later, they saw explosions near the site from aircraft and land based artillery fire.

We have confirmed that the construction companies were building ‘targets’.  Julie Taomia, an archaeologist at Pohakuloa said that the activity is most likely related to Marine Corps projects. She said that the Pohakuloa Training Area extends pretty far up Mauna Loa, beyond the old Hilo-Kona Road.   She said that the Marines did an Environmental Assessment (EA) for this range construction work. However, since this was done as an EA, as opposed to a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), it slipped past the notice of most people.  Furthermore, since this is a Marine Corps project, she said that cultural monitors, which are required under the Army Stryker Brigade programmatic agreement, are not required to oversee ground disturbing activity, which is just a way for the Army to avoid responsibility for the impacts on an Army range.  This loophole must be closed.   The Marine Corps expansion contributes tot he cumulative impacts of military activity.  There should be way to conduct cultural and environmental monitoring  for all activity related to the installation regardless of which service branch is doing the project.

In addition to this current Marine Corps expansion activity, the Marines are expanding training in Pohakuloa to accommodate the new aircraft scheduled to be stationed at Mokapu (a.k.a. the Marine Corps Base Kane’ohe).  I missed the following article in the Big Island Weekly when it came out in September.

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http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2010/09/01/read/news/news02.txt

The Marines are landing on the island

New squadrons may be using Pohakuloa for future training and gunnery exercises
By Alan D. Mcnarie
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 9:50 AM HST

The United States military is planning yet another expansion entailing increased use of Pohakuloa Training Area. The Marine Corps wants to move up to three additional squadrons of aircraft to the islands, including 9 UH-1Y Huey and 18 AH-1Z Cobra helicopters and 24 of its controversial MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

The Marines held “scoping meetings” for an Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed expansion last week in Hilo and Kona. The meetings followed an “open house” format: instead of allowing public testimony before an open mic, the meeting’s organizers set up various visual displays manned by experts to answer questions, and allowed members of the public to present written testimony or dictate their input to a court reporter. But a group of protestors led by Malu Aina’s Jim Albertini brought their own microphone system to the Hilo meeting to voice their objections to the plan, including concerns that increased use of PTA’s firing range could stir up depleted uranium dust there and that the Ospreys, which have a less-than-perfect safety record, could present dangers to servicemen and to the community.

The move would essentially allow an entire Marine Air-Ground Task Force to operate out of Kaneohe Marine Air Base. Most of the components of such a task force, including command and ground elements and CH-53D “Sea Stallion” heavy-lift helicopters, are already in place here. The proposed move would allow medium-lift and assault helicopters needed by the MAGTF to train alongside the other elements of the force.

Although the new aircraft would be based on O’ahu, their presence would be felt across the island chain. The plan calls for training, including gunnery exercises, at Pohakuloa; for refueling facilities and night exercises at Molokai Training Support Facility and Kalaupapa Airfield, respectively; for additional activities at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, and possibly for target practice on an islet called Kau’ula Rock, near Ni’ihau.

Perhaps the plan’s most controversial element is the Osprey, a hybrid aircraft with stubby wings that end in two giant propellers that can lift the craft like a helicopter, then rotate to pull the machine forward like an airplane. The Marines want Ospreys to replace their aging C-46 “Sea Knight” medium-lift choppers, which have only about half the Ospreys’ range and speed.

“It’s much more capable (than the C-46) and it’s faster – and faster, for the Marines, is safer,” said a Marine spokesperson at the scoping meeting.

But the Osprey has a troubled history. Based on an experimental craft that gained Bell Helicopter and Boeing a joint government contract in 1983, first flown in 1989, Ospreys remained in development for the next 15 years; along the way, it compiled a long record of cost overruns, mechanical failures and crashes, killing 30 people before the first operational Marine squadron began training in 2005.

“The mishaps that we had in the 90s and in 2000 [when two Ospreys crashed, killing 23 people] were tragic,” said Jason Holder, one of the Marines’ authorities at the scoping meeting in Hilo. But he said that since those incidents, the Marines had brought in “outside experts” to fix the problems that no crashes had occurred in over 80,000 flight hours since 2002.

That statement wasn’t entirely accurate. An Osprey went down under combat conditions in Afghanistan in April of 2010. But that accident occurred during a dust storm and may have been influenced by weather, pilot error or even enemy action. Due to an electronic malfunction, another Osprey took off without a pilot and made a rather unsuccessful landing.

The Ospreys have had enough other problems that the U.S. General Accounting Office recommended last year the Secretary of Defense require a new analysis of alternatives to the aircraft, and that the Marines develop “a prioritized strategy to improve system suitability, reduce operational costs, and align future budget requests.”

“Although recently deployed in Iraq and regarded favorably, it has not performed the full range of missions anticipated, and how well it can do so is in question,” the GAO Web site (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-692T) summarized.

At the Hilo meeting, the Sierra Club’s Cory Harden provided a long list of media references about various problems with the Ospreys, including the aircraft’s inability to glide to an unpowered landing, as helicopters can, and a downwash from its rotors that can be so powerful that during a demonstration at Staten Island, New York, it knocked down tree branches and injured 10 spectators.

In light of such problems, Harden asked that the EIS “evaluate the risks of Ospreys harming military personnel and civilians” in Hawai’i.

Another major concern voiced at the meeting was the continued presence of depleted uranium at Pohakuloa and the risk that increased use of the facility’s target range might have of stirring up radioactive dust. The military has maintained that the number of DU shells fired there, and the risk of the dust leaving the area, were both minimal, while critics claim that thousands of uranium spotter rounds may have been fired, that the dust could spread for miles, and that even a few molecules in the lungs could cause cancer. Albertini pointed out that a County Council resolution had called for a moratorium on any live fire exercises at PTA until an independent assessment and cleanup of the DU there had taken place.

The deployment of the new Marine Aircraft would almost certainly mean more use of PTA’s firing range. The Osprey’s notorious downwash could certainly stir up dust. But while it can mount an optional belly or ramp gun, it is primarily a transport, not a gun platform. A much bigger user of the firing range would likely be the Marines’ venerable Cobras, which have been blasting enemy targets with gunfire and Hellfire missiles since the Vietnam era. Jim Isaacs, another Marine expert running one of the information stations at the Hilo meeting, noted that with the Cobras, “sixty percent of events are ordnance related.” He noted, however, that the Marines’ Cobras did not fire any ordnance containing DU.

The new aircraft probably would create some jobs in the islands – especially construction jobs. Ironically, despite the choppers’ and Ospreys’ go-anywhere mission, one big ticket item involved in moving them here could be the construction of new landing pads at Schofield and elsewhere. Marine spokesperson James Sibley told the Weekly that while there were “no plans” currently for new helipads at Pohakuloa, “Right now PTA can barely support the operators of the helicopters that we have here”: that downwash could potentially lift the existing runway’s steel mesh material, causing damage.

Despite their obvious differences, the Marines joined the protestors in an opening pule, or Hawaiian prayer. A court reporter typed continuously during the protestor’s testimony, apparently taking it down.

Members of the public who missed the meetings are encouraged to visit the project’s website, http://www.mcbh.usmc.mil/22h1eis to submit online testimony, or to mail comments to Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Attn: EV21, MV 22/H-1 EIS Manager, Makalapa Drive, Suite 100, Pearl Harbor, HI 96860-3134.

Hawaiian Leader Frenchy Desoto, 81, Dies

Aunty Frenchy DeSoto, a kupuna of the Native Hawaiian movement, a Wai’anae community leader and a staunch advocate for the clean up and return of Makua valley has died at the age of 81.  As KITV reports:

Longtime Hawaiian activist Adelaide Keanuenueokalaninuiamamao “Frenchy” De Soto died Friday night at her Makaha apartment, according to family members. She was 81 years old.The eldest of her six children, former city councilman John DeSoto, said she had been hospitalized for four days, suffering from pneumonia and congestive heart failure.

She was also a leader of Hui Malama O Makua, a coalition of organizations that fought to end the U.S. Army’s live-fire exercises in Makua Valley on Oahu’s Waianae Coast.

In the 1970s, Aunty Frenchy was also a leader in the Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana.  Only weeks after the first protesters landed on Kaho’olawe in 1976 there was a rally at Makua valley in solidarity with the activists on Kaho’olawe.   The fire of protest was spreading.

Movement leaders gathered at her encampment at Makua beach to discuss strategy.   At the time a strategic decision was made to focus on stopping the bombing of Kaho’olawe first.  Decades later in meetings of the Makua activists, she frequently reminded us that Kaho’olawe leaders promised to help Makua after Kaho’lawe was liberated and would wonder aloud where they were.  At least she lived to see the end of live-fire training in Makua.

Aloha e Aunty Frenchy.  Wai’anae has lost a fiery voice for justice, but her legacy lives on the movement for Makua.