Stop Bombing Pohakuloa! Where’s the Outrage?

According to military documents up to 14.8 million live rounds are fired annually at the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), the largest military training area outside the U.S. PTA is located at 6,500 feet elevation in the center of the Hawaii Island. All branches of the U.S. military train at PTA and all sorts of weapon systems are fired there, from small arms to heavy bombers. PTA is contaminated with Depleted Uranium (DU) and other military toxins. Continued live-fire training, frequent high winds, flash flooding, increasing traffic through the area, all risk spreading the contamination.

On Sunday, April 28th a cross section and mix of all ages of Big Island residents stood for 2 hours opposite the PTA main gate on Saddle Rd holding signs with a variety of messages –“Stop the Bombing,” “Shut Down PTA,” “Ground the Drones,” “Void the PTA Lease,” etc. Messages also called for more testing for Depleted Uranium contamination.

The protest began with an opening Pule (prayer) and Oli (chant) ceremony of Ti-leaf blessing of the land and people. We were blessed to have Kupuna “Uncle Sam” Kaleleiki, a 30-year Marine, retired Sergeant Major, join us. Uncle Sam is now with the Reinstated Lawful Government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He had a large plywood sign in front of him that read “End U.S. occupation.” We stood in solidarity with protests taking place globally against U.S. drone bombings in several countries –Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc. Shadow and Raven drones, and possibly others, train at PTA.

There is a drone airfield which can be viewed from Google Earth located close to Mauna Kea State Park –about 1/2 mile south and east of the park between the old and new Saddle Rd. It should also be noted that the military is attempting to renegotiate a long-term lease with the State of Hawaii for it’s live-fire training base at Pohakuloa. We need to oppose this illegal lease and the continuing desecration and contamination of Hawaiian Kingdom Crown and Government land. The State Board of Land & Natural Resources will be addressing the PTA lease in the next few months and we need to speak out in protest.

Kaho’olawe is a case study of the mess the military makes. It bombed the island for 50 years before protest forced it to be stopped. Over $400 million dollars was spent to clean up the island but it’s still a mess. There are lots of unexploded bombs on the island. Pohakuloa is nearly 5 times larger than Kaho’olawe plus it is contaminated with Depleted Uranium.

Following the protest we had a pot luck lunch at Mauna Kea Park. Our radiation monitor, which we had operating throughout the entire protest picked up 2 spike readings at the park of over 30 counts per minute. Normal background readings are between 5-20cpm. The winds were coming from the south — from the direction of the training ranges known to be contaminated with DU. We have plenty of work to do to return Pohakuloa to a place of peace and healing. Please join in this effort. We need you. We owe it to future generations and the earth itself. As we have said, “We pray that the U.S. not do to others what the U.S. has already done and continues to do to Hawaii: unlawfully occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.”

Return Pohakuloa to a Place of Peace and Healing!

Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org