The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports:
A 25-year-old man participating in a “paintball exercise” at Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo collapsed in cardiac arrest Saturday afternoon and later died at a hospital, police said.
There were no apparent signs of foul play, police said.
The case is being handled by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, according to the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office.
http://www.genuinesecurity.org/actions/notosympathybudget.html
Press Statement
Contact: IWNAM Secretariat, genuinesecurity [at] lists.riseup.net
April 11, 2011
Relief and Recovery in Japan: U.S. Should Decline Monies from Japan’s “Sympathy Budget” and End Military Dependence Globally
The International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) demands that the U.S. and Japanese governments stop spending U.S. and Japanese taxpayer monies for the upkeep of U.S. military facilities in Japan and other territories. During these times of natural disasters, funds should directly help the needs of victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation poisoning from damaged nuclear power plants in Japan, and also create alternatives for employment world wide that do not rely on militarism, or further interpersonal and ecological violence.
The IWNAM, formerly named East Asia–US-Puerto Rico Women’s Network Against Militarism, has called for reallocation of global military spending in order to achieve genuine security for people. We call for the cancellation of the “sympathy budget,” a part of the host nation support provided by the Japanese government to maintain the U.S. military stationed in Japan (See Final Statement, International Women’s Summit to Redefine Security, June 2000.) The “sympathy budget” has been criticized for covering much more than Japan’s obligation under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. It covers the salaries of Japanese employees, utilities for U.S. military personnel, and building costs for luxurious leisure facilities on US bases in Japan. In 2010, these expenses totaled 189 billion yen (about $1.6 billion). If the Japanese government kept this money it could be used to help victims of the recent earthquake in the Tohuku region, people near Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants who were forced to evacuate their communities, and farmers and fishers whose products can not be sold because of the risk of radiation contamination. Japan is in need of this money for reconstruction of the vast disaster-stricken areas, and recovery from economic and human losses. It is no longer sustainable for the Japanese government to maintain U.S. military bases in Japan. We believe that if the U.S. government would decline the “sympathy budget,” it could be used to help those people directly and to help create a more sustainable world.
In addition, IWNAM demands that the Japanese government should stop building new military infrastructure at Henoko and Takae in Okinawa, and also in Guam, and use that money for survivors of these natural disasters. Since the earthquake in March, the U.S. military and Japanese Self-Defense Forces have become increasingly visible in Japan. While their rescue efforts are recognized, we should not forget that the primary purpose of the military is not disaster rescue. Their primary training is to destroy the “enemy.” These natural disasters should not be used as opportunities for military forces to justify occupation of a country, as if they are heroes. This obscures current military developments. According to Lisa Natividad of Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice,
“On Guam (Guahan), the Japanese government has incrementally funded roughly $10 billion dollars, totaling 70% of the total cost of the relocation of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The island’s people suffer poor health outcomes largely due to environmental toxicity and degradation from the presence of U.S. military bases and installations since the U.S. assumed colonial rule in 1898. For example, cancer rates are excessively high on the island, with the largest number of cases living near military bases. In addition, the U.S. currently occupies roughly 1/3 of the island, and is in the process of “acquiring” an additional 2,300 acres to construct a live firing range complex on ancient Chamorro sacred ground in the village of Pagat. The acquisition of the additional land will increase U.S. control of the island to nearly 40%, thus leaving only a small portion of the island for its native people.”
Furthermore, after Hurricane Katrina in the Southeast U.S., earthquakes in Haiti, and flooding in the Philippines, corporate and military interests capitalized on these natural disasters to further their own interests in the rebuilding process. Afterward, these places were no longer economically accessible for communities who were previously living there, and they also experienced an increase in military surveillance. We still need disaster troops and recovery plans to help people in times of natural disaster. But, we should also have a critical awareness of the cooperation occurring between militarist and capitalist forces who do not change structures of power when they take advantage of these vulnerable times to advance to geopolitical agendas of neo-liberal interests.
Dependence on militarism occurs when institutions that perpetrate violence provide employment for people. Interpersonal and ecological violence that manifests in military-dependent societies is not often seen as a product of the larger militarized society. A recent case in Ohio, where a former U.S. Air Force member beat his Okinawan-born wife to death, illustrates interpersonal violence in militarized societies. The two met in Nago, Okinawa, while the man was stationed in Okinawa. They were married and moved to Cleveland, Ohio. On March 11, 2011, the wife was severely beaten by the husband and taken to the hospital where she was treated, but died from the injury. The local paper reported that this man had a history of violence with a former partner, but she was able to leave the relationship. This example highlights the recurring pattern of interpersonal violence perpetrated by service members.
In Hawai’i, there is a proposal for an increase in helicopters at Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station (Oahu). A squadron of Ospreys (a hybrid helicopter and plane that transports troops), Cobra attack helicopters, and a squadron of Hueys are planned to be housed on Mokapu, Oahu, and deployed for practice on the Big Island. On March 30, 2011, a helicopter crashed killing one Marine, and injuring 3 others. The push for increased housing and training areas for of military aircraft in Hawai’i is a product of the U.S. military strategy in the Asia-Pacific, moving bases and troops from one island to another. Yet these decisions disregard the impact this has on local communities and environments in Hawai’i, Okinawa, and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region where military developments increase everyday violence and insecurity.
In 2009, global military spending was estimated at $1,531 billion, an increase of 6% from 2008 and 49% from 2000. On April 12, 2011, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will release its calculations of global military spending for 2010. We estimate that this figure could reach $1.6 trillion. We join peace groups, budget priority activists, arms control advocates, and concerned citizens the world over in public demonstrations, solidarity actions and awareness raising events to call attention to the disparity between bountiful global investments in war-making and the worldwide neglect of social priorities. Please visit the website for Global Day of Action on Military Spending at http://demilitarize.org/.
The IWNAM demands that U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration
1) Decline the Japanese “Sympathy Budget.”
2) End the military build up in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii and other territories.
3) Stop the justification of militarism in times of natural disasters
4) Fund alternative jobs that end dependence on militarism
Signed, on behalf of the IWNAM:
Kozue Akibayashi, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Japan
Ellen-Rae Cachola, Women for Genuine Security/Women’s Voices Women Speak, U.S. & Hawai’i
Lotlot de la Cruz, KAISAKA, Philippines
Cora Valdez Fabros, SCRAP VFA Movement, Philippines
Terri Keko’olani, DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina/Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i
Gwyn Kirk, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.
María Reinat Pumarejo, Ilé Conciencia-en-Acción, Puerto Rico
Aida Santos-Maranan, Women’s Education, Development, Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO), Philippines
Kim Tae-jung, SAFE Korea, South Korea
Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, Okinawa
Lisa Natividad, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, Guahan (Guam)
The International Women’s Network Against Militarism was formed in 1997 when forty women activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students from South Korea, Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines and the continental United States gathered in Okinawa to strategize together about the negative effects of the US military in each of our countries. In 2000, women from Puerto Rico who opposed the US Navy bombing training on the island of Vieques also joined; followed in 2004 by women from Hawai’i and in 2007 women from Guam. The Network is not a membership organization, but a collaboration among women active in our own communities, who share a common mission to demilitarize their lands and communities. For more information, visit www.genuinesecurity.org.
The parents of Luke Monahan, a 19-year-old Marine who fell from a Waikiki hotel and died shortly afterward, spoke to the Honolulu Star Advertiser about the incident:
“He was quiet,” his mother said. “He wasn’t a bad kid. He just didn’t like to do homework. He said that if he went into the Marines he would get an education for free and get anything he wanted.”
[…]
“He did not like the Marines, but he seemed to be OK with Hawaii,” Eileen said.
But his mother refuses to come to Hawai’i to claim her son’s body:
“I hate that place. That place killed my son,” Eileen said. “I’m never going back there, ever. The Marines will ship his body to us.”
A 19-year-old Marine stationed at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneʻohe Bay fell from a Waikiki hotel Saturday morning and died from his injuries. The Honolulu Star Advertiser identified the man as Private 1st Class Luke Monahan, 19, of Palos Verdes, California. The newspaper reports “Monahan joined the Marines at the age of 18 and was sent to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in January.”
Police said there were no signs of foul play.
But could this have been a suicide?
The Marine Corps’ helicopter that crashed in Kaneohe Bay in March killing a crew member was Sea Stallion. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that the Sea Stallions will be retired from service:
After a start that came during the Vietnam War, the Marine Corps’ aging CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters — the type that crashed in Kaneohe Bay in March, killing a crew member — are expected to be completely retired from service in the next year and a half, officials said.
A replacement program could begin as early as September, when the first of 12 newer and more capable CH-53E Super Stallions is expected to take up residence with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463, a unit now in southern Afghanistan.
A squadron of 12 MV-22 tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft, meanwhile, is tentatively scheduled to arrive in Hawaii in 2014, the Corps said.
The article also mentioned that this is the same type of helicopter that crashed into a building of the Okinawa International University in 2004:
One of the Hawaii-based choppers crashed on Aug. 13, 2004, on the grounds of Okinawa International University in Japan. The helicopter maintenance crew’s lack of sleep was cited in the investigation as possibly contributing to the failure to reinstall a cotter pin that led to the destruction of the $14.5 million aircraft, the Stars and Stripes newspaper had reported.
The accident intensified calls for the closure of Futenma air base. Reporters were not allowed to videotape or photograph the crash site by Marine personnel. The helicopters contain depleted uranium as weights on the rotors which could have been released in the crash and fire. Was there any releases of depleted uranium in Kaneohe?
The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that:
The Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of F-22 Raptors, including those in Hawaii, because of concerns about the system that delivers oxygen to pilots aboard the fighter jets, a military spokeswoman said yesterday.
[…]
The Hawaii Air National Guard began flying F-22 Raptors last summer in partnership with the Air Force and has nine of the stealth fighters at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
[…]
The fleet of 158 fighter jets nationwide is on stand-down because of “hypoxia-like” events reported by some pilots, Anderson said. Hypoxia is when the body receives too little oxygen.
Last November an F-22 pilot was killed in Alaska when he lost control of his jet during a training exercise. Since January the Raptor fleet has been restricted from flying above 25,000 feet because of concerns with the plane’s oxygen supply system.
Capt. Jeffrey Haney was killed when his F-22 crashed 100 miles north of Anchorage. Haney was on a training run with another F-22 to practice “intercepts” when his plane disappeared from ground radar tracking and from communications with the other stealth fighter. The married father of two from Clarklake, Mich., did not eject from the plane.
According to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, a motorcyclist who was killed in a head-on collision in Waiaula was a former Navy personnel, whose husband is in the military:
Meanwhile, the Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the woman killed in Saturday’s head-on collision between a motorcycle and a Jeep on Kaukonahua Road as 26-year-old Brenda Anderson of Honolulu.
According to police, Anderson was riding northward at a high rate of speed when she lost control of her Harley-Davidson motorcycle and collided with the Jeep. Anderson was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead. The two occupants of the Jeep were not seriously uninjured.
In a message posted on a local Harley-Davidson online forum last month, Anderson, a native of Wisconsin, identified herself as former Navy personnel.
“Husband still serves while I’m out enjoying the freedom of the road,” she wrote.
This is the second military spouse killed in a motorcycle accident in seven months. In October 2010, a woman who lost control of her motorcycle was run over and killed by another cyclist on the Pali Highway.
The recent explosion and death of five workers in the Waikele tunnels involved activities that violated City zoning laws.
On his recent radio program Carroll Cox discussed a Notice of Violation of preservation land issued by the City and County of Honolulu against Ford Island Ventures:
The second hour Carroll talks about Waikele Caves with Pam Davis, a retired planner with the city Department of Planning and Permitting. She had involvement in the issue when the DPP issued a Notice of Violation at Waikele Caves. She was shocked when the Notice of Violation was withdrawn by the city after a letter from the Navy, to Corporation Counsel, claimed federal land cannot be regulated by local governments and the city had no jurisdiction on anything on federal land. The Navy argued ” it did not intend to waive sovereign immunity since it [the lease] was entered into for the express purpose of furthing a federal interest”. However, the withdrawal was strictly political. Since the Navy is not directly using the area, it is no longer under federal jurisdiction. The NOV was issued because the area was converted to commercial use for storage and manufacturing. Now it is not subject to any city or state regulations. The Waikele Caves are lawless, and five people have died.
LISTEN TO THE CARROLL COX SHOW EPISODE.
Here is more background information about the Waikele storage area and the violations of City zoning ordinances.
The City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting issued a Notice of Violation October 4, 2010 to Ford Island Ventures. The Notice stated:
I have inspected the above-described premises and have found the following violations of City and County of Honolulu’s laws and regulations governing same:
Specific Address of Violation: 94-990 Pakela Street
Preservation District–Purpose and intent
The above-referenced property is being used for open storage, self storage, construction base yards and manufacturing facilities which are not permitted uses on this P-2 General Preservation regulated lot.
REMEDIAL ACTION NECESSARY
Please discontinue the above-mentioned uses.
You are hereby ordered to obtain permit(s) and/or correct violation by November 3, 2010.
Restore the area immediately and complete all work within 30 days from the date of this notice.
Please call the undersigned after the corrections have been made.
You are reminded that if no action is taken within the specified time:
1. A Notice of Order will be issued by the Department of Planning and Permitting imposing CIVIL FINES for the specified violations; and/or
2. This matter may be referred to the Prosecuting Attorney and/or Corporation Counsel for appropriate action.
On November 8, 2010, the Navy issued a Letter to City and County of Honolulu Corporate Counsel claiming that as the ‘owner’ of the land, the Navy has sovereignty immunity from City and County laws and regulations. The letter states in part:
Congress enacted special legislation for the specific purpose of enabling the development of Ford Island. 10. U.S.C. 2814, “Special authority for the development of Ford Island, Hawaii” provided,
“…(T)he Secretary of the Navy may exercise any authority or combination of authorities in this section for the purpose of developing or facilitating the development of Ford Island, Hawaii, to the extent that the Secretary determines the development is compatible with the mission of the Navy.” (Emphasis added.)
The statute gave the Secretary broad power to use Navy real property anywhere in Hawaii as part of the plan for such development, including the express authority to convey or lease such property “…to any public or private person or entity any real property or personal property under the jurisdiction of the Secretary in the State of Hawaii that the Secretary determines
“(A) is not needed for current operations of the Navy and all of the other armed forces; and
“(B) will promote the purpose of this section.”
You have a copy of the relevant provisions of the Interim Ground Lease dated June 30, 2003 (as amended), by which the land was leased to Flour Hawaii, LLC, FIV’s predecessor in interest. Since the lease of the Waikele Gulch property was entered into pursuant to the plan of development set forth in the Ford Island Master Development Agreement, in furtherance of the above statutory authority, there can be no question that the property is not subject to land use regulation by local government, and the NOV is of no force or effect and should be withdrawn.
In a letter dated December 3, 2010, the City withdrew its Notice of Violation, stating:
The City has taken the position that a private lessee of federal property is subject to zoning ordinances where the use of the land is purely propietary. However, in view of the Navy’s clear statement that the FIV’s lease of the subject property is “for the express purpose of furthering a federal interest” and is specifically authorized u nder U.S.C. 2814, DPP is willing to withdraw the NOV under these specific circumstances.
I have been authorized by Director Tanoue to withdraw the above referenced NOV, and the same is hereby withdrawn, without prejudice. The withdrawal of this NOV shall not constitute a waiver by the City of its zoning jurisdiction over lands or land uses by operation of law. The City expressly reserves any and all rights and remedies available to the City in the proper exercise of i ts zoning jurisdiction.
So the land is under Navy jurisdiction, but leased to a private developer who is using the land to make money. But the land is in violation of City zoning laws and regulations, except that the City cannot enforce its laws because the Navy is blocking it. So who is liable for the explosion and death of five workers in one of these tunnels? Who is regulating the activities in these tunnels? Was it only fireworks in the tunnels? Or were there other explosives?
The “special legislation” allowing the Navy to engage in real estate transactions in order to develop Ford Island has created a number of cases where the privatization and government purposes are being confused. Was this latest tragedy a result of the legal gray area created by these private ventures on public lands? Stay tuned.
With the world watching the Japanese nuclear catastrophe spiral out of control, the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) inadvertently released secret information about the vulnerabilities of British and US nuclear submarines according to news reports. The Daily Star reports:
A classified government report into the subs’ vulnerabilities has been published online with key parts blacked out to prevent sensitive material getting into the wrong hands.
But a massive blunder has meant anyone with basic computer knowledge could reverse the censorship – and read every word of the previously “restricted” report.
It reveals how easy it would be to cause a Fukushima-style reactor meltdown in a sub and details the capabilities of US vessels.
The report was published on Parliament’s website after a Freedom Of Information request by anti-nuclear campaigners.
The MOD document states:
Loss of (reactor) Coolant Accident (LOCA). All pressurised water reactors are potentially vulnerable to a structural failure in the primary circuit, causing a rapid depressurisation and boiling off of most of the cooling water. This results in failure of the fuel cladding, and a release of highly radioactive fission products outside the reactor core. While the further containment provided by the submarine’s pressure hull may contain the majority of this material inside the submarine, some leakage is likely to occur and in any event the radioactive “shine” from the submarine poses a significant risk to life to those in close proximity, and a public safety hazard out to 1.5km from the submarine. Current designs of UK and global civil power plants have systems for safety injection of coolant into the reactor pressure vessel head and passive core cooling systems. US nuclear submarines have similar systems suitably engineered for the submarine environment. UK submarines compare poorly with these benchmarks, with the ability to tolerate only a structural failure equivalent to a 15mm diameter hole, and an assessed higher likelihood of this occurring due to the materials used, the complexity of systems and the number of welds. It is assessed that in the current UK PWR2 plant the initiating structural failure causing a LOCA is twice as likely to occur as in equivalent civil and submarine reactor good practice.
READ THE FULL MOD DOCUMENT HERE
Although the memo rates US subs as safer than UK subs, the possibility of a Fukushima-style meltdown could still contaminate a wide area. In 1960, Hawai’i had a close call with a nuclear submarine accident when an explosion and fire rocked the USS Sargo while in port:
USS SARGO suffers an explosion and fire in her aft end while docked at Pearl Harbor. The fire starts from a leak in a high-pressure line that was pumping oxygen aboard. The explosion occurs a few moments later. When dock units and boats are unable to bring the fire under control quickly, officers take the SARGO a short distance from the dock and submerge it with the stern hatch open to put out the blaze. The Navy says the ship’s nuclear reactors were sealed off. and there was “absolutely no danger of an explosion from the reactor compartment.” The submarine is extensively damaged and is drydocked taking three months to repair. The SARGO is the first nuclear ship in the Pacific Fleet and was scheduled to take the visiting King and Queen of Thailand on a cruise the next day.
Hawai’i is the homeport for most of the submarines in the Pacific Fleet:
Commander, Submarine Squadron 1 (COMSUBRON One)
USS Bremerton (SSN 698)
USS La Jolla (SSN 701)
USS Charlotte (SSN 766)
USS Greeneville (SSN 772)
USS Texas (SSN 775)
USS Hawaii (SSN 776)
Commander, Submarine Squadron 3 (COMSUBRON Three)
USS Jacksonville (SSN 699)
USS Olympia (SSN 717)
USS Chicago (SSN 721)
USS Key West (SSN 722)
USS Louisville (SSN 724)
USS North Carolina (SSN 777)
Commander, Submarine Squadron 7 (COMSUBRON Seven)
USS Pasadena (SSN 752)
USS Columbus (SSN 762)
USS Santa Fe (SSN 763)
USS Tucson (SSN 770)
USS Columbia (SSN 771)
USS Cheyenne (SSN 773)
The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that there was a terrible fireworks explosion in a storage tunnel in Waikele gulch that killed five workers of Donaldson Enterprises, Inc.
The Waikele gulch was used by the military as a munitions storage facility for many years until the 1980s. Peace activists staked out the facility to document the comings and goings of transport vehicles and identified the site as a nuclear weapons storage facility. The unwanted attention on a nuclear facility so near to the residential areas of Waipahu probably contributed to the closure of the site. The munitions, including the nuclear weapons were eventually moved to the West Loch facility.
After years of neglect, the Navy transferred the Waikele gulch to a private developer who built homes on some of the land on the ridge and turned the munitions storage tunnels into commercial storage facilities. How the Navy was able to engage in real estate deals in Hawaiʻi is another story. Read more about Waikele here. Hereʻs a link to another giveaway of public lands to private entities.
It was in one of these storage tunnels that Donaldson Enterprises stored confiscated illegal fireworks before disposing of them. The folks at Donaldson were always very helpful in giving advice to the activists who were pushing for the military to clean up its mess in Makua, Waiʻanae and elsewhere. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the workers who lost their lives.
