Category: O’ahu

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One Creature That Deserves Extinction: the V-22 Osprey

John Feffer wrote the following article about the resistance to the expansion of the U.S. base in Takae, Okinawa.  Construction has commenced with forcible removal of protesters.  When protesters took their demands to the U.S. Embassy, several were arrested and physically assaulted.   Note that one of the aircraft being protested is the V-22 Osprey, the same aircraft proposed for the Marine Corps Base Hawai’i Kaneohe Bay.

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http://www.fpif.org/blog/one_creature_that_deserves_extinction_the_v-22_osprey

One Creature That Deserves Extinction: the V-22 Osprey

By John Feffer, February 25, 2011

V22 Osprey

Some animals should be endangered. Consider the V-22 Osprey. The tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane, costs more than a $100 million apiece, killed 30 personnel in crashes during its development stage, and survived four attempts by none other than Dick Cheney to deep-six the program. Although it is no longer as crash-prone as it once was, the Osprey’s performance in Iraq was still sub-par and it remains a woefully expensive creature. Although canceling the program would save the U.S. government $10-12 billion over the next decade, the Osprey somehow avoided the budget axe in the latest round of cuts on Capitol Hill.

It’s bad enough that U.S. taxpayers have to continue to support the care and feeding of this particular Osprey. Worse, we’re inflicting the bird on others.

In a small village in the Yanbaru Forest in northern Okinawa, the residents of Takae have been fighting non-stop to prevent the construction of six helipads designed specifically for the V-22. The protests have been going on since the day in 2007 when Japanese construction crews tried to prepare the site for the helipads. “Since that day, over 10,000 locals, mainland Japanese, and foreign nationals have participated in a non-stop sit-in outside the planned helipad sites,” writes Jon Mitchell at Foreign Policy In Focus. “So far, they’ve managed to thwart any further construction attempts. At small marquee tents, the villagers greet visitors with cups of tea and talk them through their campaign, highlighting their message with hand-written leaflets and water-stained maps.”

Yanbaru

It’s all part of the plan that would shut down the aging Futenma air base in Okinawa, relocate some of the Marines to Guam, and build a new facility elsewhere in Okinawa. The overwhelming majority of Okinawans oppose this plan. They want to shut down Futenma, and they don’t want any new U.S. military bases.

But the Japanese government has essentially knuckled under to U.S. pressure to move forward with the agreement. Building these helipads in a subtropical forest, with a wide range of unusual wildlife, is all part of the deal.

The recently re-elected Okinawan governor Hirokazu Nakaima opposes the relocation plan. And, according to Pacific Daily News, “Nakaima may actually have the authority to disrupt the plan because of his authority under the Japan Public Water Reclamation Act, which gives the Okinawa governor final authority over reclaimed land.” Washington has said that it won’t move forward on the deal without local support.

The Osprey is a budget-busting beast. The Okinawans don’t want it. Both Tokyo and Washington are desperate to trim spending.

The V-22 is one animal well worth driving toward extinction.

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The Army’s persistent Depleted Uranium problem in Hawai’i

Joan Conrow has written an excellent synopsis of the military’s depleted uranium (DU) contamination issue in Hawai’i on the Civil Beat website.   Here’s an excerpt of her article:

The Army prohibited all training with DU in 1996; however, munitions containing DU remain in wide use.

Although the Army for years denied that it had ever used DU munitions in Hawaii, contractors found 15 tail assemblies from the M101 spotting rounds while clearing a firing range at Schofield Barracks in 2005. Even then the Army did not publicly disclose the presence of DU in Hawaii. The issue came to light inadvertently in 2006, when Earthjustice discovered communication about DU in Army e-mails subpoenaed as part of the ongoing litigation over the use of Makua as a live fire training facility.

The Army subsequently acknowledged that it trained soldiers on the Davy Crockett weapon in Hawaii and at least seven other states during the 1960s.

As a result, some residents have developed a deep distrust of the Army’s statements regarding DU, even though the Army maintains it is committed to transparency on the issue.

Impacts

It’s unclear how much DU is located in the Islands, or exactly where. Some 29,318 M101 spotting rounds containing 12,232 pounds of DU remain unaccounted for on American installations, according to the Army’s permit application. In Hawaii, the Army’s initial surveys were conducted at just three installations — Schofield, PTA and Makua — and the effort was severely limited by dense vegetation, rugged terrain and what the military characterized as “safety considerations” due to unexploded ordnance.

It’s also unclear just how DU may be affecting human health and the environment in Hawaii, as well as other parts of the world where it was used in combat. Its potentially severe and long-lasting impacts are the core of a growing controversy over its use on the battlefield and its presence in the Islands.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Here’s a related article from August 2010 on the Army’s application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an after-the-fact license to “possess” DU at ranges in Hawai’i.

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Army temporarily closes beaches to check for munitions hazards

Source: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14054713

Army temporarily closes beaches to check for munitions hazards

Posted: Feb 17, 2011 6:04 PM Updated: Feb 17, 2011 6:04 PM

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) Areas of Makua Beach and the Keawaula section of Kaena Point State Park will be temporarily closed starting next week.

The annoucement came from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, who, along with the U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii will be conducting work in these areas to address potential munitions hazards from past military training sessions.

“This work is an important part of the Army’s commitment to cleaning up areas that may have been affected by our past use,” said Colonel Douglas Mulbury.

The areas were at times used for military training between 1930 and 1990, and were cleaned up in the past, but now the Army is using new technology to evaluate if more environmental restoration is needed.

Traffic stops may occur.

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Navy might shift more jets, and noise to Kane’ohe

More militarization for O’ahu!   All the residents around Kane’ohe Bay are probably loving the prospect of more deafening noise from the planes.   Peace activist and Quaker elder Elayne Pool got a good quote in the article.   Kane’ohe residents need to be talking to folks in Ginowan City.

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Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110216_Navy_might_shift_more_jets_to_isles.html

Navy might shift more jets to isles

A cost-cutting effort could also mean more noise for Kaneohe

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 16, 2011

The Navy is looking at eliminating a West Coast base for its new P-8A Poseidon sub-hunting and surveillance planes, a cost-saving move that could shift more of the jets — and noise — to Kaneohe Bay, officials said.

Hawaii, Whidbey Island in Washington state and Jacksonville, Fla., had been selected in 2009 as home bases for the Poseidons, a version of the Boeing 737 that will replace aging, propeller-driven P-3C Orions.

Kaneohe Bay was picked for two squadrons and 18 aircraft that are expected to begin arriving in 2015.

But with the Pentagon seeking to re-prioritize $100 billion in spending, the Navy said it is considering operating from two bases instead of three.

…

Kaneohe resident Elayne Pool, who has lived along the bay for 32 years, said she expects the P-8As to add to the din.

“I don’t want them to be here,” the 83-year-old said. “The noise factor is going to be incredible. Noise is a factor in this bay — it’s a basin and it resonates.”

She added that she can clearly see the underbellies of the P-3C Orions on approach from her condo a block off the beach, and she’s concerned about the torpedoes, cruise missiles, bombs and mines the planes can carry.

READ FULL ARTICLE

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Generals clash on cause of April Osprey crash

Coming soon to Mokapu and Pohakuloa? Speak out against the Osprey invasion.   We need a predator fence against these invaders.

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http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/01/air-force-generals-clash-on-osprey-crash-012211w/

Generals clash on cause of April Osprey crash

By Bruce Rolfsen – Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 22, 2011 10:12:48 EST

In a rare public display of disunity, two generals are at serious odds over the cause of a fatal aircraft accident.

The April 9 crash in Afghanistan was the first loss of a CV-22 Osprey in combat. Two of the three cockpit crew members — pilot Maj. Randell Voas, 43, and flight engineer Senior Master Sgt. James Lackey, 45 — died attempting a night landing at a desert landing zone. The co-pilot survived; he has not been indentified. Also killed were a soldier and a contractor — two of 16 passengers in the cargo compartment.

Brig. Gen. Donald Harvel, president of the accident investigation board, said he believes engine problems brought down the special operations Osprey on its landing approach. Lt. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, to whom Harvel answered during the investigation, argues aircrew errors caused the crash.

Harvel cited engine problems in his report; Cichowski wrote a dissent that he released with the report Dec. 15.

READ FULL ARTICLE

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Remembering the Ehime Maru

Ten years ago, the USS Greeneville nuclear submarine smashed into a Japanese high school fishing training ship the Ehime Maru sending it to the bottom of the sea and killing nine passengers including four students.  The collision was a product of the rampant militarization in Hawai’i, where sub commanders give joy rides to wealthy political donors so that these civilians become advocates for maintaining levels of funding for the Cold War era sub fleet.    The highly charged political incident was smoothed over by hands at the highest levels of government in Tokyo and Washington.   A captain was rather lightly disciplined for the reckless action. Yet he claims to have been made a scapegoat.  The higher ups who arranged for these political joy rides were not brought to justice.  Nor was there significant debate about the dangers of such intensely militarized seas surrounding the Hawaiian islands.

Here’s an opinion piece I wrote about the incident in 2001.  Let us remember the nine who perished in the seas off Maunalua Bay and work to reduce the militarization of our islands to ensure that another Ehime Maru incident will never happen again.

The Honolulu Star Advertiser published a retrospective on the incident:

Ten years ago Wednesday, the USS Greeneville was impressing 16 civilian guests south of Oahu with some of the capabilities of a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine.

On the surface, there was open-air time with the Greeneville’s gregarious, cigar-smoking captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, as the sub powered through the waves.

Underwater there were steep ascents and descents — “angles and dangles” in Navy jargon, at one point reaching a classified depth below 800 feet — as well as high-speed turns.

And finally, there was the demonstration of an emergency main ballast tank blow, an action that forces 4,500 pounds per square inch of air into ballast tanks, causing the 6,900-ton submarine to breach the surface like a humpback whale.

On Feb. 9, 2001, the Greeneville, longer than a football field, rocketed upward from a depth of 400 feet, its crew not knowing it was on a collision course with a Japanese high school fishing training vessel, the Ehime Maru.

What came at 1:43 p.m. was unthinkable: The submarine hit the Japanese ship. The Greeneville’s steel rudder — reinforced to punch through Arctic ice — cut through the underbelly of the 190-foot Ehime Maru.

The Japanese vessel sank in five minutes nine miles south of Diamond Head. Twenty-six on board survived, but nine others — including four high school students — perished.

Never in U.S. Navy history had a collision between a nuclear submarine and a civilian vessel killed so many people.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Army helicopter makes forced landing at elementary school

Of course, they turn what could have been a dangerous accident into a photo op with kids climbing inside the helicopter and trying on flight gear.  How militarized are we?

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Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/Army_helicopter_lands_in_Hawaii_Kai_field.html

Army helicopter lands in Hawaii Kai field

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 08:58 a.m. HST, Feb 07, 2011

An Army 25th Combat Aviation Brigade helicopter carrying nine Schofield Barracks soldiers and a crew of four made an emergency landing at Koko Head Elementary School this morning.

…

B.J. Weiner, Fort Shafter spokeswoman, said a “microchip malfunctioned,” triggering a warning indicator light on the helicopter’s instrument panel.

“Army regulations require the pilot to land the helicopter at the first available place,” Weiner said. “In this case it was the school’s baseball field.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Hawai’i Island Appeal for Solidarity

Activists from Hawai’i island issued an appeal for solidarity in the face of a massive military expansion planned for Pohakuloa.   Please send solidarity statements to ja@interpac.net. Mahalo!

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For Public Release concerning U.S. military training at Pohakuloa
See list of individual signers below

Further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org

Appeal for Solidarity!

We (the undersigned) appeal to all Hawaii peace, justice, environment, and independence activists, to the general public, and to local and state government officials.  We ask that you stand in solidarity with us on Moku O Keawe in resistance to major U.S. military expansion at the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area, and now even helicopter assault training for Afghanistan on our sacred mountains –Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

We congratulate the Malama Makua community organization for its victory in stopping all military live fire in Makua Valley on Oahu.  But Makua is still held hostage by the military and used to train for ongoing U.S. wars of aggression.

We are opposed to pushing U.S. desecration and contamination from one site to another.  We want an end to U.S. occupation in Hawaii and the restoration of the Hawaii nation.  We want the U.S. to stop bombing Hawaii and clean up its opala.  We want to put an end to U.S. desecration and contamination of all sacred cultural sites.  We do not want the U.S. training anywhere to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, and contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.

Restore the Hawaii Nation!

End U.S. Terrorism!
Military Clean-Up NOT Build Up!
Stop all the Wars!  End all Occupations!

Signers
Isaac Harp, Kelii “Skippy” Ioane, Hanalei Fergerstrom,
Kihei Soli Niheu, Ali`i Sir Kaliko Kanaele, Calvin Kaleiwahea,
Lloyd Buell, Danny Li, Stephen Paulmier, Ronald Fujiyoshi,
Moanikeala Akaka, Tomas Belsky,
Samuel Kaleleiki, Jim Albertini

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Pearl Harbor has become the X-Band radar’s informal home

The Sea-Based X-band Radar (SBX) pulled into Pearl Harbor again on December 22, 2010.  When the military originally proposed the expansion of its missile defense test range to include most of the north Pacific,  many opposed the project, especially the homeporting of the $1 billion Sea-Based X-band Radar monstrosity in Hawai’i.

We were relieved when Hawai’i was not selected as the site, but soon we saw the terrible eye looming on the horizon as it pulled into Ke Awalau O Pu’uloa for repairs and maintenance, or so we were told.  However, as this Honolulu Star Advertiser article explains, the SBX radar never spent a day in its Adak, Alaska homeport.

When it does head in, Hawaii has become the SBX’s home port by default. Ironically, in 2003, military officials considered but rejected permanently basing the SBX here. A spot three miles south of Kalaeloa was examined along with five other locations before Adak was selected.

Adak got the nod because it is between the “threat ballistic missiles” — presumably in North Korea — and the interceptor missiles in California and Alaska, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering III, then-head of the missile agency, said in a 2006 memo.

Instead it has been a kolea, wintering annually in the islands. The newspaper reports “The 280-foot-tall SBX, as it is called, has “loitered” in the vicinity of Adak several times, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said, but it has returned to Pearl Harbor 11 times and spent a combined total of more than a year and a half in port in Hawaii.”

DAYS SPENT IN ISLES

» 2006: 170 days

» 2007: 63 days

» 2008: 63 days

» 2009: 177 days

» 2010: 51 days

» Dec. 22 to present

Source: Missile Defense Agency

The Honolulu Star Advertiser writes:

Like a loyal tourist, the massive $1 billion Sea-Based X-Band Radar platform keeps returning to Hawaii, becoming an instant focus of public interest every time it moors at Pearl Harbor.

» Size: 240 feet wide and 390 feet long

» Height: 280 feet from keel to top of radar dome

» Displacement: Nearly 50,000 tons

The Missile Defense Agency is tight-lipped about the reasons for never mooring the SBX in Adak as planned in 2006, but the Coast Guard raised concern over operating a 280-foot-tall oil rig ship in the unforgiving Bering Sea, where waves routinely exceed 30 feet and winds top 130 mph.

The SBX radar is part of the massive expansion of the U.S. missile defense system in the Pacific.  On the one hand, the system is anything but defensive.  Russia and China both feel threatened by the ring of missile defense sites encircling them, as these missiles could neutralize retaliatory capabilities in the event of a first strike by the U.S.  So they view the missile defenses as an escalation to be met by expanded offensive capabilities.   The expansion of missile defense systems is causing great political and social unrest in the places where the U.S. wants to station the facilities including Poland, the Czech Republic, Guam and Jeju-do, Korea.   Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands has already been taken over by the U.S. missile defense system, its native islanders crammed into one small squalid slum on Ebeye island.

On the other hand, the missile defense is a massive boondoggle for missile defense aerospace contractors.   As one former engineer from the Pacific Missile Range Facility told me in disgust, the system is not designed to work. It is only supposed to be improved incrementally, thereby keeping the federal dollars flowing. So perhaps the decision to homeport the SBX radar in Adak was only to ensure that Alaska got its fair share of the military pork through construction projects.   The program was initiated during the double reign of Senators Stevens and Inouye on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Meanwhile, the terrible eye is watching…

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Chamber of Commerce chimes in on Makua decision

The Chamber of Commerce of Hawai’i has been a promoter of militarization and the U.S. takeover of Hawai’i for more than 100 years. Their website brags that two of the Chamber’s earliest achievements were:

Worked to secure a treaty of reciprocity with the U.S. to admit Hawaiian export at reduced rates of duty to help the sugar industry to grow and expand

Development of Pearl Harbor.

The two Treaties of Reciprocity can be thought of as early neoliberal trade agreements.   The U.S. demanded access to Ke Awalau o Pu’uloa (Pearl Harbor) in exchange for lowering the import tariff on Hawai’i-grown sugar.  The haole business community pressured King Kalakaua to sign the treaty, which angered Native Hawaiians, many of whom saw the concessions as violations of Hawai’i’s sovereignty.  Ke Awalau o Pu’uloa was a critically important food source for O’ahu island with 36 fishponds and numerous agricultural plots.  The Treaties set up a political crisis that led to the invasion of U.S. marines and the overthrow of the Queen in 1893.

The Chamber has a dedicated Military Affairs Department and maintains a Military Affairs Council to lobby for increased militarization of our islands.  Every year the Chamber organizes a Military Appreciation Month in May, a Hawaii US Military Partnership Conference and an annual lobbying junket to Washington D.C.

So, as would be expected, when the Army announced that live fire training would end in Makua, the Chamber penned its obligatory defense of the military in Hawai’i. It is couched in the language of protection, prosperity and security and subtly plays on fears of economic loss, which in itself has been a carefully conditioned reaction.  It’s the kind of schizophrenic message an abuser might use with his victim: “I love you, but don’t get uppity.  Don’t make me hurt you. Remember who protects and provides for you.”

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/20110124_Military_presence_in_Hawaii_serves_many_goals.html

Military presence in Hawaii serves many goals

By Charlie Ota

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 24, 2011

Some have questioned the viability of the military’s forward presence in Hawaii, reflecting on the negative environmental impacts caused by military training exercises during the 1900s. While the environmental damage is undeniable, it was not foreseen and is most regrettable.

Nonetheless, we must understand that the military’s presence is critical to achieving political and economic stability in the Asian Pacific.

Basing fully trained combat forces in Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific Command is a proven national strategy that has contributed to achieving political stability among Asia-Pacific nations and deterring enemy aggression. Equally important, it has kept the economic sea lanes and airways free and open for global commerce to thrive.

The negative spin posed by the Star-Advertiser’s editorial on the Army’s proposal to end live-fire maneuvers at its training range on Makua Valley (“Army’s Makua move welcome,” Jan. 14) could force the military to relocate to an area where training ranges are more accessible, thus compromising the gains made to restore stability in the region.

READ FULL ARTICLE

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