Marine convoy gets stuck in the sand in Wai’anae

A Marine convoy took a wide U-turn and got stuck in the sand at Kahe (on the Wai’anae coast) by accident?  Here’s what the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported:

Honolulu police directed the miniconvoy to make a U-turn, and because the vehicles are much bigger than most cars, their wider turning radius took them onto the beach and they got stuck, Crouch said. There was “absolutely” no wrongdoing, he said.

This is absolutely ridiculous. The highway has four lanes with a wide median strip.  These vehicles could have easily made a U-turn.  The driveway into the beach area runs perpendicular to the highway about 30 yards, across an old train track and into a parking area.  Cars would have to go through the parking area to get to the sand. There is no other entrance or exit from the sand.   There is no way the convoy could have missed the turn and ended up on the beach by “accident.”   This was an intentional and illegal act of four-wheel joyriding.

It gets better.  The police have no record of an accident on the highway.   Did the military make up the story to cover their rears?

View the photos here:

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20100702_Marine_convoy_beached.html

Marine convoy beached

Two armored vehicles get stuck in the sand during convoy training on the Waianae Coast

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jul 02, 2010

The Marine Corps found itself explaining yesterday how two of its armored vehicles got stuck on the beach for several hours after some driver training near the Kahe Point power station took a decidedly wrong turn.

“They have no business being on the beach. There is at least one burial in that area. Fortunately, they were away from it,” said Waianae Coast activist William Aila Jr.

Aila said he spotted one of the big vehicles at about 2 p.m. stuck up nearly to its floorboards in the sand, another with its front wheels partly buried, and a third vehicle attempting to pull them out.

The stuck vehicles were a good 50 yards off Farrington Highway, had driven another 50 yards on a dirt road and traveled 75 yards more on the sand before getting stuck about 30 feet from the surf, Aila said.

Adding further embarrassment to the mired misery were the red caution signs on the front of the vehicles that said, “Student Driver.”

READ MORE

Army tries, but fails to pacify Native Hawaiians in Makua, Lihu’e and Pohakuloa

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_army_hawaii_native_ties_062010/

Army seeks better ties with Native Hawaiians

By Audrey McAvoy – The Associated Press

Posted : Sunday Jun 20, 2010 14:14:17 EDT

HONOLULU — The people of Waianae believe the first Hawaiians were created in Makua, a lush valley about 30 miles from downtown Honolulu. The valley is also home to three large heiau, or ancient stone platforms used for worship. So it’s no surprise many Native Hawaiians consider the valley to be sacred.

The Army, though, sees Makua as a prime spot for soldiers to practice firing live ammunition.

These widely divergent perspectives illustrate the gulf between the Army and Hawaiians that have contributed to an often antagonistic and deeply distrustful relationship between the two.

Now the Army is trying to narrow the gap. In a series of firsts, the Army Garrison Hawaii commander hired a liaison for Hawaiian issues, formed a council of Hawaiians to advise him, and brought Army and Hawaiian leaders together to sign a covenant in which both sides vowed to respect and understand one another.

“Instead of going back and rehashing the past, I’m trying to make a fresh start, trying to make that relationship positive, make things better down the line,” said Col. Matthew Margotta.

But the Army did not invite several Hawaiians embroiled in ongoing disputes with the Army to join the council or sign the covenant, prompting critics to question how effective these initiatives will be.

“You want to work together but you only want to work with people who don’t disagree with you. How good is that?” said William Aila, whose uncle was ousted from Makua during World War II and who is fighting for the Army to return the valley.

The military took control of Makua in 1943 when Hawaii was under wartime martial law. Authorities told residents to leave, and the Army and Navy began using the valley for bombing practice.

The explosions damaged homes and the community’s church and cemetery. Interviews for a 1998 oral history commissioned by the Navy showed residents were embittered by the destruction and the takeover that severed their families, who had once fished and farmed in Makua, from the land.

Today the Army still controls Makua under a lease with the state that expires in 2029.

In recent years, the Army and Hawaiians have clashed over the Army’s restrictions on access to sites in the valley. The Army cites safety for the limits, although Hawaiians say they’ve long visited these sites and understand the risks.

Hawaiian anger also mounted in 2003 when the Army’s planned burn of brush raged out of control and scorched more than half of the 7-square-mile valley.

Elsewhere in the islands, Hawaiians and the Army have butted heads over the appropriate use of lands at Schofield Barracks, which is home to several thousand soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division, and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

Last month, several Hawaiians objected when an army contractor leveling land for a new Schofield training ground unearthed an ancient bone fragment. They had opposed the construction of the training ground precisely because they feared human remains would be found if the soil was disturbed.

Hawaiian tradition says bones must stay in the ground until they’re dissolved so the deceased can complete his or her journey to the afterlife.

Margotta says the covenant, signed in March, will contribute to better relations by committing future commanders to partner and cooperate with Hawaiians. This should impose some consistency even as leaders rotate posts every two to three years.

“There’s been commanders out there who have embraced the Hawaiian community and partnered with them and worked with them. And there have been others who have been not so inclined,” Margotta said. “We wanted to codify it for successive generations.”

Col. Douglas Mulbury, who took over from Margotta in a change of command ceremony last week, agrees with the initiatives and hopes to build on them, spokesman Loran Doane said.

Neil Hannahs, the director for the land assets division of Kamehameha Schools, said the council and covenant may help ameliorate conflict by spurring dialogue.

“Let’s just get together and talk before we’re at a point of crisis and conflict,” Hannahs said.

Hannahs is on the advisory council. He also signed the covenant, although as an individual and not as representative of Kamehameha Schools, an education institution and trust established by the will of a 19th century Hawaiian princess.

Aila isn’t optimistic. He wasn’t invited to join the advisory council or to sign the covenant even though he has long clashed with the Army over access to Makua and, more recently, the treatment of human remains found at Schofield last month.

“It’s great for PR,” he said, “to give the impression that things are hunky-dory here in Hawaii. But it doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground.”

The Army would do more to improve relations by leaving Makua, Aila said. He argues soldiers can train elsewhere.

Annelle Amaral, the Hawaiian liaison for Army Garrison Hawaii, said she didn’t invite people to join the council who have “site specific” concerns. She instead gathered Hawaiians who represent fields including education, business, and religion.

She denied the council omitted people who disagree with the Army, noting it includes Rev. Kaleo Patterson. The minister has vocally opposed ballistic missile testing on Kauai and pushed for the “decolonization and total independence” of Hawaii.

For some Hawaiians, the covenant fails to address the fundamental problem as they see it: the Army is part of an illegal occupation that began when U.S. businessmen, supported by U.S. Marines, overthrew Hawaii’s queen in 1893.

“Instead of having a covenant that sort of says you know ‘we promise to be really nice and do our best to protect sacred places,’ I’d rather get a timetable for when they’ll actually stop and leave us,” said Jonathan Osorio, a University of Hawaii professor of Hawaiian studies.

14 militaries invade Hawai’i for RIMPAC

The exercises include sinking ships off Kaua’i and amphibious invasion in Waimanalo.

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20100620_war_games_return_to_isle_waters.html

War games return to isle waters

Ships, planes and people from 14 nations will be participating in the biennial RIMPAC

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 20, 2010

Every two years, a unique tide surges into Hawaii. This week, it arrives again, in the form of 14 nations, 34 ships, five submarines and more than 100 aircraft and 20,000 military personnel.

Ships are converging on Pearl Harbor from countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, as well as from the West Coast of the U.S., for biennial “Rim of the Pacific” 2010 war games, the world’s largest international maritime exercise.

Among the U.S. forces taking part are the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan with more than 5,000 crew and airwing members; the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard; the Navy’s first littoral combat ship, the Freedom; three submarines; and Air Force B-52 bombers and F-22 Raptor fighters, officials said.

A Japanese and South Korean submarine already are in port. The first surface ship is due tomorrow, “and then they start pouring in in masses on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Self-Kyler.

The exercise, which takes place Wednesday through Aug. 1, will be held in and around Hawaii waters. Its theme is “Combined Agility, Synergy and Support.”

The upcoming war games, the 22nd in a series since 1971, are multipurpose and have evolved from a Cold War origin and concerns about the Soviet Union to more recent worries about other growing military powers in the Pacific, including China, an expert on the region said.

The Navy said “RIMPAC,” as it’s known, “demonstrates a commitment to working with global partners in guarding the sea lanes of commerce and communication, protecting national interests abroad and ensuring freedom of navigation as a basis for global peace and prosperity.”

The Navy’s Self-Kyler added that familiarity with operations and information sharing among allies is key — particularly in response to tsunami or earthquake disasters.

“We’ve planned major exercises and we’ve operated around one another, and then if you have a real-world situation, all of those experiences and all of those relationships are easier to manage,” she said.

China, meanwhile, is reaching out in waters beyond Japan and asserting claims in the South China Sea. Carl Baker, director of programs at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu, said RIMPAC is a demonstration of U.S. and allied capabilities and its desire for open sea lanes.

“This (RIMPAC) was designed originally as a more confrontational containment sort of exercise (focused on the Soviet Union), and it’s evolved into a freedom of navigation and sort of what the modern idea of what naval warfare represents to the United States,” Baker said.

This year’s exercise includes units or personnel from Australia, Canada, Chile, Columbia, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S. The Navy also said there will be three observer nations: Brazil, India and New Zealand.

At least 11 foreign vessels and 16 U.S. ships from other ports will swell Pearl Harbor’s usual contingent of 11 surface ships and 17 submarines during RIMPAC.

Self-Kyler said in addition to cat-and-mouse anti-submarine warfare exercises and mine warfare practice, there will be an emphasis on counter piracy with ship-boarding practice and back-to-basics beach assaults for the Marines.

The United States is part of a security group called Combined Maritime Forces that patrols more than 2.5 million square miles of international waters from the Strait of Hormuz to the Suez Canal, and from Pakistan to Kenya, to prevent piracy and other illegal activity.

The U.S. and four other nations will take part in beach landings at Bellows from the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, Self-Kyler said.

The landings will represent a renewed emphasis for the U.S. Marines, who hit the beach in amphibious assault vehicles, big hovercraft and helicopters.

“For the past several years we’ve been focused more on land-based operations,” said Master Sgt. Lesli Coakley, a spokesperson for Marine Forces Pacific. “(RIMPAC) is an opportunity for us to refocus on our amphibious traditions.”

Self-Kyler said three decommissioned ships will be sunk during RIMPAC with torpedoes and Standard and Harpoon missiles, including the New Orleans, an amphibious assault ship, and the Anchorage and Monticello, both docking landing ships.

About 25 ships also will be participating in gunnery exercises. The Navy said it sets afloat inflatable and biodegradable balloons about 15 feet in diameter nicknamed “killer tomatoes” that are used as targets.

The war games are held in the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, which has more than 1,100 square miles of underwater range and more than 42,000 square miles of controlled airspace.

On about July 6 and 7, the 34 ships taking part in the exercise will pull out of Pearl Harbor for the exercise, the Navy said. The ships will pull back into port on July 31.

The in-port time will provide a big economic boost in Waikiki, officials said. According to the Navy, the exercise in 2008 resulted in $43 million in contracts and spending ashore.

Every two years, a unique tide surges into Hawaii. This week, it arrives again, in the form of 14 nations, 34 ships, five submarines and more than 100 aircraft and 20,000 military personnel.

Ships are converging on Pearl Harbor from countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, as well as from the West Coast of the U.S., for biennial “Rim of the Pacific” 2010 war games, the world’s largest international maritime exercise.

Among the U.S. forces taking part are the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan with more than 5,000 crew and airwing members; the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard; the Navy’s first littoral combat ship, the Freedom; three submarines; and Air Force B-52 bombers and F-22 Raptor fighters, officials said.

A Japanese and South Korean submarine already are in port. The first surface ship is due tomorrow, “and then they start pouring in in masses on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Self-Kyler.

The exercise, which takes place Wednesday through Aug. 1, will be held in and around Hawaii waters. Its theme is “Combined Agility, Synergy and Support.”

The upcoming war games, the 22nd in a series since 1971, are multipurpose and have evolved from a Cold War origin and concerns about the Soviet Union to more recent worries about other growing military powers in the Pacific, including China, an expert on the region said.

The Navy said “RIMPAC,” as it’s known, “demonstrates a commitment to working with global partners in guarding the sea lanes of commerce and communication, protecting national interests abroad and ensuring freedom of navigation as a basis for global peace and prosperity.”

The Navy’s Self-Kyler added that familiarity with operations and information sharing among allies is key — particularly in response to tsunami or earthquake disasters.

“We’ve planned major exercises and we’ve operated around one another, and then if you have a real-world situation, all of those experiences and all of those relationships are easier to manage,” she said.

China, meanwhile, is reaching out in waters beyond Japan and asserting claims in the South China Sea. Carl Baker, director of programs at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Ho- nolulu, said RIMPAC is a demonstration of U.S. and allied capabilities and its desire for open sea lanes.

“This (RIMPAC) was designed originally as a more confrontational containment sort of exercise (focused on the Soviet Union), and it’s evolved into a freedom of navigation and sort of what the modern idea of what naval warfare represents to the United States,” Baker said.

This year’s exercise includes units or personnel from Australia, Canada, Chile, Columbia, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S. The Navy also said there will be three observer nations: Brazil, India and New Zealand.

At least 11 foreign vessels and 16 U.S. ships from other ports will swell Pearl Harbor’s usual contingent of 11 surface ships and 17 submarines during RIMPAC.

Self-Kyler said in addition to cat-and-mouse anti-submarine warfare exercises and mine warfare practice, there will be an emphasis on counter piracy with ship-boarding practice and back-to-basics beach assaults for the Marines.

The United States is part of a security group called Combined Maritime Forces that patrols more than 2.5 million square miles of international waters from the Strait of Hormuz to the Suez Canal, and from Pakistan to Kenya, to prevent piracy and other illegal activity.

The U.S. and four other nations will take part in beach landings at Bellows from the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, Self-Kyler said.

The landings will represent a renewed emphasis for the U.S. Marines, who hit the beach in amphibious assault vehicles, big hovercraft and helicopters.

“For the past several years we’ve been focused more on land-based operations,” said Master Sgt. Lesli Coakley, a spokesperson for Marine Forces Pacific. “(RIMPAC) is an opportunity for us to refocus on our amphibious traditions.”

Self-Kyler said three decommissioned ships will be sunk during RIMPAC with torpedoes and Standard and Harpoon missiles, including the New Orleans, an amphibious assault ship, and the Anchorage and Monticello, both docking landing ships.

About 25 ships also will be participating in gunnery exercises. The Navy said it sets afloat inflatable and biodegradable balloons about 15 feet in diameter nicknamed “killer tomatoes” that are used as targets.

The war games are held in the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, which has more than 1,100 square miles of underwater range and more than 42,000 square miles of controlled airspace.

On about July 6 and 7, the 34 ships taking part in the exercise will pull out of Pearl Harbor for the exercise, the Navy said. The ships will pull back into port on July 31.

The in-port time will provide a big economic boost in Waikiki, officials said. According to the Navy, the exercise in 2008 resulted in $43 million in contracts and spending ashore.

Fishermen caught mustard gas off NY

Fishermen off New York recently “caught” discarded chemical weapons injuring one crew member.  The military dumped thousands of tons of chemical weapons in the ocean off O’ahu.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Officials say it’s impossible to know exactly how much and what type of weapons have been dumped in the ocean because of incomplete records. A 2001 Army report found 74 past instances of ocean disposal — 32 off U.S. shores and 42 off foreign coasts. For example, in 1967 the Army dumped 4,577 one-ton containers of a mustard agent and 7,380 sarin rockets off the New Jersey shore, according to Army records.

Only some of the ocean dumps were mapped, and chemical munitions have been found in areas they weren’t supposed to have been dumped, such as just a few miles off Hawaii, said Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based organization.

In 1976, a fisherman in Hawaii was burned after bringing up a mortar round filled with mustard gas. A mustard gas-filled artillery shell was found in Delaware in 2004 after it was dredged up by a clam boat off New Jersey and remained intact after being sent through a crusher that was making clamshell driveway fill. Three bomb disposal experts were injured dismantling it.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipu9BfrkcNVfAW_wtkfqmLOHi7gAD9G7C1I80

Officials: Fishermen caught mustard gas off NY

By JAY LINDSAY (AP)

BOSTON — State and federal officials worked Tuesday to decontaminate a clam boat anchored in isolation off Massachusetts after it dredged up old munitions containing mustard gas, severely sickening a crewman.

The Coast Guard was trying to locate the two military shells, which the crew tossed overboard in about 60 feet of water about 45 miles south of Long Island, said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Rhodes. He acknowledged finding the shells will be difficult.

READ MORE…

Honouliuli forest now a state reserve

The Honouliuli forest in the Wai’anae mountains is a treasure trove for native species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.  This is also an area where the Army condemned about 2000 acres as part of its Stryker brigade expansion.   The Army has out planted endangered native plants in Honouliuli as part of its endangered species mitigation plan for Makua valley.  Since Army training in Makua has destroyed most of the forest in Makua and endangered the remaining stands of native forest, the Army collected, grew and out planted specimens of endangered plants into the Honouliuli forest reserve several miles away on the other side of the Wai’anae mountains as insurance against extinction in Makua.  Now Stryker expansion into the Honouliuli reserve may threaten the out plantings of endangered species.

The Army contributed $2.7 million from the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program toward the purchase of the land.   The Army Compatible USe Buffer Program was established to support conservation zones near military training areas as a buffer against “encroachment” by human activity or residences. While the conservation sounds like a good idea, it helps the Army to continue its destructive training activities in adjacent lands.  In the case of the Honouliuli reserve, the conservation land now “buffers” the severely impacted training areas in Lihu’e (Schofield Range), where important Native Hawaiian cultural complexes have been damaged, including the Haleauau Heiau, and where iwi kupuna (human remains) were recently desecrated by Army construction activities.

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http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100603/NEWS01/6030321/Oahu+s+Honouliuli+Forest+Reserve+now+state-protected

Posted on: Thursday, June 3, 2010

Oahu’s Honouliuli Forest Reserve now state-protected

Slopes above Kunia provide water, wildlife haven

By Eloise Aguiar

Advertiser Staff Writer

KUNIA — More than 3,500 acres of lowland forest in the Wai’anae Range that are a prime source of O’ahu’s drinking water and home to dozens of endangered species are now protected thanks to a purchase involving a federal, state and private partnership.

The Honouliuli Forest Reserve was purchased by the Trust For Public Land from the James Campbell Co. LLC and added to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ forest reserve for watershed and habitat protection.

The reserve served as a backdrop to a gathering in the Kunia foothills of the mountain range yesterday as about 200 people celebrated the completion of the five-year effort.

Dignitaries, staff of state and federal agencies, private organizations and volunteers attended, including U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, state Rep. Marcus Oshiro and Tad Davis, the Army deputy assistant secretary for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health.

‘Singing’ snails

The Trust For Public Land raised $4.3 million for the property: $2.7 million from the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program, $627,000 from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Recovery Land Acquisition Program and $980,000 from the Hawai’i Legacy Land Conservation Fund. The fund gets 10 percent of Hawai’i’s real estate conveyance tax.

“The most important reason why it’s worth preserving is because it feeds O’ahu’s largest drinking water aquifer ,” said Lea Hong, Hawaiian Islands program director for the Trust For Public Land. “The water we drink and use to water our plants and grow our crops comes from the Pearl Harbor aquifer, which is fed by this watershed at the Honouliuli Forest Reserve.”

The reserve is also home to 35 threatened and endangered species, including 16 found nowhere else in the world, Hong said. The O’ahu ‘elepaio, a bird that is a symbol of Hawaiian canoe making, lives there, along with the endangered “singing” kahuli tree snail, she said.

The goal of the Trust For Public Land is to conserve land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens and other natural places.

More expenses

In Hawai’i, it has helped preserve such places as Moanalua Valley, Pūpūkea-Paumalu and Ma’o Organic Farm. The Honouliuli purchase is among the organization’s largest on O’ahu.

Speakers at the event thanked the many people who worked to bring about the sale and preservation.

But Laura Thielen, who heads the DLNR, also challenged the policymakers to find ways to fund the management of the land.

The reserve will open new demands for trails, gathering places and cultural site access, Thielen said.

“We’re going to need your help,” she said. “You did such a wonderful job on the acquisition and I’d like to challenge all of you to spend the next 10 years on focusing on the management of these places.”

The Army spends about $500,000 a year on management of the land, and an endowment will be established at the Hawai’i Community Foundation to support the state’s management there. Pledges to the fund are $295,000 from The Nature Conservancy, $25,000 from the Gill Family Trusts and $25,000 from the Edmund C. Olson Trust.

Forest reviving

Tony Gill, of Gill Ewa Lands LLC, spoke for his family about a two-centuries-long journey for the reserve.

Some 200 years ago, the area was a thriving native forest, Gill said. By 150 years ago, with no eye toward conservation, the trees had been taken and the forest devastated. By the time the Campbells took over 130 to 140 years ago, most of the area was grass, he said.

The Campbells began to reforest the area and got help from the government and the Civilian Conservation Corps, he said. Today the mountain range is covered with forest, and water is returning, but the land isn’t as it once was, Gill said.

“Starting today and for the next 150 years, the Gill family and the Olson family, working with the state and DOFAW (DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife), will do what we can to replenish the mountainside as it once was with native species,” he said, “because that is where our heart is.”

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Protest Israel’s killing of peace activists

The following action alert was sent by World Can’t Wait:

Protest! Tuesday, June 1
Federal Building, 3-6pm
Condemn the Killing of Unarmed Peace Activists!
End All U.S. Support for Israel!

As many as 19 activists in a flotilla carrying 700 activists and tons of emergency supplies to Gaza have been murdered by Israeli commandos! (ABC and US news reports 9; Al Jazeera reports “as many as 19”.) The flotilla was in international waters. Netenyahu as announced he supports Israel’s action; he says he’ s spoken with Obama since it happened. Protests are happening around the world.

As many of you know, Ann Wright was on the flotilla. It has been reported that she was not on the ship that was boarded, and where people were killed. All communication with people on the flotilla has been cut off. The satellite beaming Al-Jazeera news (which was on board) has been blocked. Activists have been taken into Israeli custody; some are being deported and others are remaining in Israeli prisons. News is breaking fast.

There will be a protest in front of the Federal Building tomorrow afternoon from 3-6pm. We urge everyone to be there! Spread the word and organize your friends. If you can’t make it at 3pm, come as soon as you can. We’ll have some signs, along with blank cardboard and pens, but bring your own if you can.

Because it is a holiday, the Federal Building will be shut down today. However, there’s lots you can do. Send letters to the editors. Send message to politicians (Djou is an outspoken Israel supporter!).

Following is a national press release from World Can’t Wait. It provides news links for the latest information.

We condemn the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters last evening. Al Jazeera’s most recent report says 19 international solidarity activists were killed, and dozens injured on 6 ships attempting to deliver humanitarian aid, and to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. There were 700 activists in the six ship flotilla, withmany journalists and Arab and European members of parliaments on board. All were unarmed, part of a non-violent effort to awaken world public opinion to the desperate state of the people of Gaza.

Find reports at witness. Adam Shapiro of the Free Gaza Movement, speaking at 3:30 am EST, told Democracy Now from New York what he had learned. The FGM supporters rep orted live to Adam during the attack that the IDF forces came about the ship firing. CNN and the Israeli government are reporting that activists came after the heavily armed IDF commandos with “axes.”

Our friend, and advisor to War Criminals Watch, Ann Wright had been on the largest ship attacked, but moved to another ship in the flotilla before 1,000 Israeli commandos boarded the ships, and began shooting, according to news sources. The AP reports that 9 were killed in the IDF’s “botched raid” and that Israel had taken all 700 activists — presumbly including the injured — into custody, jailing some and preparing to deport others from Beersheba.

The attack has already brought protests and condemnation in Turkey and across the globe. The world condemns the killing of unarmed peace activists, and knows that the number one supporter, financially and politically, of Israel is the United States.

World Can’t Wait calls on you to join protests wh erever you are!”

Who Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan?

South Korea and the U.S. have blamed North Korea for the sinking of the South Korean ship Cheonan.  But the circumstances surrounding the sinking are very murky.  This article by a Japanese independent journalist hypothesizes that the ship may have been sunk by friendly fire.  He also discusses a story that was quickly suppressed in South Korea about salvage operations near another sunken object that appears to be a U.S. submarine.  He speculates that this sunken ship may be the USS Columbia, a nuclear powered and nuclear weapon capable submarine that visited South Korea but never returned to its homeport at Pearl Harbor.   There seems to be more to this story than meets the eye. Below is the introduction to the translated article from Japan Focus and a link to the full article.

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http://www.japanfocus.org/-Tanaka-Sakai/3361

Who Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan? A New Stage in the US-Korean War and US-China Relations

Tanaka Sakai

Translated by Kyoko Selden

Introduction

At 9:22 on the night of March 26, the 1,200 ton ROK Navy corvette Cheonan was severed in two and sank in the waters off Baengnyeong Island, a contested area that is the closest point of South Korean territory to North Korea. Forty-six crew members died and 58 of the 104 member crew were rescued. It was the worst ROK naval disaster since 1974 when a navy landing ship capsized killing 159 sailors.

Nearly two months later, the elaborate political choreography of explanation and blame for the disaster continues on the part of North and South Korea, China and the United States. The stakes are high: ranging from an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula to a new stage of fighting in the Korean War. With polls showing that 80 percent of ROK citizens believe that the sinking was caused by North Korean attack, tensions remain high. While segments of the US, European and Japanese mainstream press have exercised caution in jumping to the conclusion that a DPRK ship had attacked the Cheonan, the international media have shown no interest in following the leads opened by South Korean media and citizen researchers.

An ROK-sponsored investigation, with technical support from the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, Canada and Australia, has been underway. On 18 May, The Korea Times reported that investigators have found pieces of the torpedo screw that sunk the Cheonan, and that it is of a type manufactured exclusively by China and Russia. On May 20, the ROK government released its findings, charging that the submarine was sunk by a DPRK torpedo. Case closed. What is evident, however, is that important issues have been ignored or suppressed by the US and South Korean authorities.

In the article that follows, independent journalist Tanaka Sakai hypothesizes about what may have happened on the night of March 26 and after. Drawing on ROK TV and press reports and photographs, some of which were subsequently suppressed, Tanaka places at center stage a range of factors, some fully documented, others speculative, that have been missing, distorted, or silenced in US and ROK narratives: they include the fact and location of the US-ROK military exercise that was in progress at the time of the incident and the possibility that the Cheonan was sunk by friendly fire. Tanaka also presents evidence suggesting the secret presence of a US nuclear submarine stationed off Byaengnyong Island, the possible sinking of a US vessel during the incident, the role of US ships in the salvage and rescue operations that followed, the failure of the submarine USS Columbia to return from South Korea to its home port in Hawaii, and the death of an ROK diver in the attempt to recover that vessel.

At stake are issues that could rock the ROK government on the eve of elections, and could impinge on the US-ROK military relationship as the US moves to transfer authority over command to ROK forces by 2012, and to expand the role of China in the geopolitics of the region. There are implications for tensions between North Korea and the US/ROK on the one hand, and for the permanent stationing of US nuclear, and nuclear-armed, submarines in South Korean waters. Above all, there is the possibility that renewed war may be imminent in the Korean peninsula.   Mark Selden

Read more…

Wai’anae Environmental Justice summer youth program accepting applications for 2010

Applications are now closed.  Download application forms here.

Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai‘anae

A Summer Youth Environmental Justice Training Institute

kamakani

Aloha Kakou

We are Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae. We are learning how to promote environmental justice in Wai’anae.

We know there is a problem – environmental racism.

We swim and play in these waters. We eat food from the land and sea here. We all have family members who are sick with asthma or cancer.

We want environmental justice.

1. Stop or reduce all harmful impacts, not just the streams, but the sources of contamination: landfills, military and industry.

2. We want the clean up of all the contaminated sites.

3. We demand a healthy environment for our community.

A healthy environment is a human right!

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Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae is a summer youth environmental justice organizing training institute for youth from the Wai’anae coast to learn cenvironmental justice and ommunity organizing skills.

The program is geared to youth (age 15 – 19) from Wai’anae who care about the health and well being of their families, communities and the ‘aina.  Applicants must be committed to learning community empowerment skills and using those new skills to help their community and the environment become healthier.

We will learn about issues affecting the Wai’anae community, social justice movements in Hawai’i and around the world, the basics of making  positive social change, and digital story telling as a medium for shaping the vision and plan for the future of our community.

The Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae Institute runs four weeks – June 21 through July 16, 2010, weekdays from 9am to 2pm.

Most activities will take place at the Leeward Community College Wai’anae office (86-088 Farrington Hwy, Suite 201, Wai‘anae, HI 96792, Phone: 696-6378). The class will take field trips to help students better understand the issues affecting Hawai’i and the depth and scope of doing this work.

Why should you join other students this summer in this life changing experience? Wai’anae is under attack. It is an assault against the community and against the ‘aina, with military bombs and toxic chemicals, contaminated landfills, water pollution, chemical weapons, destruction of cultural sites, rising costs of living and growing numbers of houseless families. The Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae Institute will give the selected candidates a way to learn skills for making grassroots community change and a forum to present their ideas on how to improve conditions for peace and justice and environmental sustainability.

Program eligibility

  • Must be between the ages of 15-19.
  • Must be self-motivated and able to work well in a team towards a common goal.
  • Must have the desire to protect the environment and the health and well being of the Wai’anae community.

Participants who successfully complete the program will receive a $200 stipend.

Program Sponsor

AFSC is a non-profit international human rights organization focusing on peace and social justice. We have worked in Hawai’i since 1941 and have been active in the Wai’anae community since the 1970s. We promote human rights and justice for Native Hawaiians, non-military career alternatives for youth and the restoration and clean up of lands that have been damaged by the military, such as Kaho’olawe and Makua.

American Friends Service Committee – Hawai’i Area Program
Attn: Kyle Kajihiro
Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae
2426 O’ahu Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96822

Fax: 808-988-4876

Email: kkajihiro@afsc.org

Mahalo to the Ka Papa o Kakuhihewa Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Hawaii Peoples Fund and the Kim Coco Iwamoto Fund for Social Justice for their generous support of AFSC’s youth programs.

Army museum fortified in Waikiki

The Army is fortifying its narrative in the heart of Waikiki.   Even memory is militarized.   This narrative makes a fetish of the weapons and machinery of war. It reminds me of the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan, a controversial Shinto shrine for the war dead.  Yasukuni tells the story of why Japan was justified in its imperialist expansion that led to World War II.   In many ways, the U.S. war memorials in Hawai’i tell a story that is a mirror image of the Yasukuni story, only from the victors perspective.  We have to ask why war memorials such as the Arizona Memorial or the Army Museum in Waikiki are not peace memorials instead.  How would they be different if their conclusion was that war is horror that we must work to avoid?

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http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100517/NEWS01/5170318/Army+recreating+history+at+DeRussy

Posted on: Monday, May 17, 2010

Army recreating history at DeRussy

Battery Randolph’s parapets returning in $725,000 project

By William Cole

Advertiser Military Writer

WAIKĪKĪ — By 1914, the two big guns at Fort DeRussy’s Battery Randolph at what is now the U.S. Army Museum of Hawai’i could hurl 1,556-pound shells 12 miles out to sea.

Their installation followed a time when the British, French, Russians, Germans and Japanese all had ships in the Pacific — and interest in Hawai’i.

The twin, 14-inch guns were the largest in the Pacific from California to the Philippines, according to the museum. Battery Randolph also had reinforced concrete parapets, or walls — behind which the guns were placed.

“If we were shooting at an enemy ship, we expected them to shoot back, so we were well protected,” said museum curator Dorian Travers.

The parapets were razed in 1969 along with an adjacent gun emplacement called Battery Dudley.

Under a $725,000 project, the Battery Randolph barricades are returning, but with a dual purpose: recreating a bit of history and a lot of additional museum space.

Rather than use solid concrete, the Army is rebuilding the parapets with a stucco-type exterior and enough room inside for offices, an education center and other uses, officials said.

“The interior of the replica gun parapets will create an additional 7,400 square feet of desperately needed space to collect, preserve, interpret and display the U.S. Army’s collection of historical property,” said museum director Judith Bowman.

U.S. Army Reserve soldiers with the 980th Engineer Battalion headquartered in Texas are using the 63-day project as their annual training mission by rotating through Hawai’i three sets of engineering companies.

“This is a great training opportunity regardless of where it’s located,” said Maj. Rusty Rhoads, the battalion’s operations officer. “The fact that it’s on Waikīkī Beach is a bonus.”

The Reserve soldiers started work on May 8 and the exterior is expected to be finished on the up to 22-foot-wide rooms by about July 6. The museum, which draws about 100,000 visitors a year, has remained open during the construction.

About $250,000 of the total cost is coming from membership and donations made through the Hawai’i Army Museum Society, a nonprofit organization that supports the museum, said Executive Director Vicki Olson.

Olson said the largest contribution was made by local philanthropist Dr. Lawrence K.W. Tseu. The remainder of the funding was obtained from the U.S. Army Center of Military History, she said.

According to the museum, Battery Randolph’s big guns were designed with “disappearing” carriages that, when fired, rocked backward and locked in place behind the safety of the parapet.

When the guns were scheduled to be practice fired, advance notice was run in the newspaper advising anyone within a half mile’s distance of the battery to open their windows and doors and secure loose objects.

By 1946, Battery Randolph had outlived its usefulness and the 14-inch guns and their carriages were dismantled and sold for scrap. Two 7-inch naval guns are now installed on the “gun deck.”

In 1969, batteries Dudley and Randolph were scheduled for demolition to make way for the Hale Koa Hotel. A contractor semi-successfully demolished Battery Dudley, which had two 6-inch guns, and the parapets on Randolph, but the rest of the reinforced concrete turned out to be too much of a challenge.

“They went bankrupt. Legend has it that the wrecking ball broke first,” Travers said.

The conversion of Battery Randolph into an Army museum began in the mid-1970s.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Hunter finds body at Camp Smith (PACOM HQ)

Camp Smith is the headquarters of the Pacific Command.

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http://www.starbulletin.com/news/breaking/93899709.html

Hunter finds body at Camp Smith

POSTED: 01:55 p.m. HST, May 16, 2010

A hunter discovered the body of a man this morning at Camp Smith near the helipad.

The Honolulu Fire Department said the call came in a 12:48 p.m., with the hunter saying his dog led him to the body.

The incident is being investigated by police and federal officials.