Target: Pohakuloa

The graphic in the Honolulu Star Advertiser article “Upgrade in Sight” is fitting: Pohakuloa in the crosshairs of a sniper’s scope.
STAR-ADVERTISER / October 2009

Pohakuloa has become the target of massive military expansion since 2001. First the Stryker brigade expansion led to a 23,000 acre land grab by the Army:

In 2006 the Army bought 23,000 acres from Parker Ranch for military maneuver training for $31.5 million, and it has spent $33.6 million for a Stryker armored vehicle “battle area complex” expected to open in 2012 at a separate spot at Pohakuloa. But that facility is mainly for Stryker gunnery, officials said.

Then the Air Force expanded its aerial bombardment training to use 2000 lb dummy bombs dropped from stealth B-2 bombers. Then the Marine Corps expansion. Now the Army “upgrade”of the range and proposed high altitude helicopter training on the slopes of Mauna Kea.  The recent announcement that the Army is abandoning live-fire training in Makua on O’ahu after more than 60 years is hardly cause for celebration in light of the shift of major military training activity to Lihu’e (Schofield range on O’ahu) and Pohakuloa on Hawai’i island.
Pohakuloa has been subjected to intense military activity:

Pohakuloa has 153 ranges, including the 566-acre housing and base operations area, and numerous firing ranges directed at a central 51,000-acre ordnance impact area.

Army soldiers, Hawaii-based and transiting Marines, and the Hawaii National Guard are among the ground forces that regularly train at Pohakuloa, officials said.

Artillery, mortars, rockets and missiles are fired at Pohakuloa, and Air Force bombers drop dummy bombs on the range.

Army expansion plans include helicopter training on Mauna Kea, outside the military base:

The high-altitude helicopter training plan seeks to standardize and make an annual requirement of similar exercises that were held at Pohakuloa in 2003, 2004 and 2006, a change that reflects new Army doctrine, according to documents.

The 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Schofield would use the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa training as it too prepares for deployment to Afghanistan, where operations routinely exceed 10,000 feet.

Six existing landing zones would be used for approach, landings and takeoff at elevations above 8,000 feet under high winds, extreme temperatures and during night operations.

The training was examined in an environmental assessment separate from the infantry plans. A draft finding of “no significant impact” was released in December.

Helicopter training hours at Pohakuloa would be increased by 30 percent to 6,000 total hours based on 300 to 400 aviators receiving the training, the Army said.

People will resist:

The Army faces opposition to the Pohakuloa plan from some Big Island residents, including peace activist Jim Albertini.

Albertini said in a statement following a public meeting held by the Army on the modernization plan that he is concerned about depleted uranium left over from a 1960s weapon system used at Pohakuloa.

“There has been plenty of money over the years for military buildup but very little funding for military cleanup. It’s time to change those priorities,” Albertini said. “The bottom line is this: Hawaii residents don’t want the U.S. military training to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii — overthrow and occupy its government and nation and contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants and animals with military toxins.”

The destruction of Pohakuloa, Makua, Kaho’olawe is not simply a result of “training”. What is happening to Pohakuloa is symptomatic of the wars that have become permanent fixtures of these islands. It exposes the Big Lie of Empire: “Pax Americana” – the American Peace. From the mountains of Afghanistan to the slopes of Mauna Kea, Empire is endless war.

As Ann Wright recently shared about her trip to Afghanistan, Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers have engaged in several global call-in days. People from around the world having conversations with youth from a remote part of Afghanistan. For those who still justify the war in Afghanistan and the military training in Hawai’i in preparation for that war, listen to these youth: http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog/

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Upgrade in sight

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 22, 2011

Schofield Barracks soldiers of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry spent two weeks at the Big Island’s Pohakuloa Training Area preparing for a deployment to Iraq. Army soldiers, Hawaii-based and transiting Marines, and the Hawaii National Guard are among the ground forces that regularly train there.

The Army wants to modernize its vast Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island for the 10,000 to 20,000 U.S. troops who use it each year, and increase high-altitude helicopter training on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa to meet a shift in emphasis to Afghanistan.

An Infantry Platoon Battle Area at 133,000-acre Pohakuloa that also could be used for companies of about 150 soldiers — and replace past live-fire training at Makua Valley — is a priority for the Army, with the service hoping it can begin construction in 2013.

READ FULL ARTICLE

Testifiers oppose Pohakuloa training plans

Source: http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2011/01/19/read/news/news01.txt

Residents to Army: NO

Testifiers oppose Pohakuloa training plans
By Alan D. Mcnarie
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 8:21 AM HST

An army has to train if it wants to avoid unnecessary casualties. And American troops stationed in Hawai’i face a narrowing set of options for training. Kaho’olawe has been returned, much the worse for wear, to the native Hawaiians. And last week, the Army bowed to public pressure and announced that it would no longer pursue live-fire training in O’ahu’s Makua Valley.

That leaves Hawai’i Island’s 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area to absorb much of the burden. Last year, the Army announced that it would shift its artillery heavy weapons practice from Makua to Pohakuloa. And last week, island residents got a glimpse of some of the specifics of that plan, as the Army held two “scoping sessions” for its “Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” on the Army’s proposal to modernize PTA’s aged buildings and firing range. But at the two sessions, it appeared that the Army had no more support for training here than it did at Makua Valley.

Compared to some of its recent projects, such as the purchase of several thousand acres of range land for a Stryker vehicle maneuver area, the plans covered by the Programmatic EIS are relatively modest. All of the improvements would fall “within the current footprint. We’re not buying land to expand,” army spokesperson Mike Egami told BIW.

“The cantonment area and the ranges are so old that they’re not up to modern Army standards. The ranges are really fundamental; we have them (troops) training on these Korea-World War II types of facilities,” Egami said.

Plans include a new “shoot house” — an indoor firing range with walls that bullets can’t penetrate — an Infantry Battle Complex for training company-sized groups of foot soldiers, and a Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) site where soldiers can practice dismounted urban warfare, all to be built within the confines of the current firing range.

At this stage, there still appear to be major holes in the Army’s assessment of the new facilities’ impact. Egami couldn’t say, for instance, how much the use of the new facilities would increase the amount of ammunition fired at the base, and when, where and how the unexploded ordnance would be cleaned up. He did tell BIW that all the ammunition used at the new facilities would be from small arms.

At the Tuesday Hilo scoping session, not a single resident spoke in favor of the Army’s plans. The Army got a similar verbal shellacking the next night in Waimea. Most of those who spoke wanted Pohakuloa closed down, not expanded. Several residents suggested that the Army should spend its money on rehabilitating the physical and mental casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, instead of on expanding training facilities.

“I can say that I’m a part of a military family, like it or not,” said veteran Hawaiian activist Moanikeala Akaka, after reciting a long list of relatives who’d served in the military or worked on military bases. “But I can say there are some of us who are sick and tired of the military expansion on the island.”

Relatively few of the speakers, in fact, actually addressed the specifics of the Army proposals contained in the PEIS, though one speaker did suggest that new training sites be moved to a different part of the impact area to get them further away from areas of native vegetation. Several residents wanted to talk about still another army training proposal that was not contained within the PEIS: The Army wants to use existing DLNR helicopter landing sites on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea to hold high altitude training for the choppers of its 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, which is due to employ to Afghanistan in late spring of this year. The High Altitude Mountainous Environment Terrain Training (HAMET) is being handled in a separate Environmental Assessment; EAs do not require public hearings, though residents can give written input. A Draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was published last month, and the Army is now accepting public comment on it. The draft is available at larger public libraries and online (Search Army + Hawaii + HAMET).

The Army has, in fact, been using those landing sites for years, and not without incident. According to the Draft Finding of No Significant Impact, a helicopter involved in a HAMET exercise in 2003 missed its landing zone and accidentally landed in the Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Area Reserve. In 2006, another HAMET “incident” occurred when “an aircraft hovered too low over critical habitat.” The “critical habitat” mentioned is home to the palila, an endangered Hawaiian bird found only in the Big Island’s upper-altitude mamane forests, some of which have already been lost to the realignment of the Saddle Road.

Other threatened or endangered species may also be affected by the flights: the ‘io (Hawaiian Hawk); the ope’ape’a (Hawaiian hoary bat); and the nene. One of the helicopter landing sites on Mauna Loa, in fact, lies right on the edge of the Kipuka Ainahou Nene Sanctuary, though a map included in the Draft FONSI shows the border of the actual nene range well to the east of the sanctuary border. The Army plans to mitigate by flying at least 2000 feet over possible habitats, and the FONSI claims that the endangered species are “unlikely to be present at the elevation of any of the LZs [landing zones].”

Paul Neves of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I called the HAMET EA “completely inadequate.” He noted, for instance, that it had “no analysis of people using traditional trails near the landing zones,” and didn’t mention the usage of Mauna Loa Observatory Road by observatory workers, hunters and hikers, even though the military wanted to use landing zones on both sides of that road.

“The helicopters have been landing for seven years now with almost zero public oversight…,” testified the Sierra Club’s Cory Harden. “Helicopters may fly up to 18 hours a day during training, day and night, to within 2,000 vertical feet of the summit. The EA says noise and visual impacts on cultural practices and recreation will not be significant. That’s like saying impacts would not be significant from helicopters at Machu Pichu…. The EA has a cultural overview without one word about the illegal takeover of Hawai’i. That’s like writing a cultural overview of the United States and leaving out the Civil War.”

Harden also brought up another controversy: the furor over depleted uranium ordnance at Pohakuloa and the army’s refusal, so far, to completely remove it, or even to hunt very hard for it. She cited instance after instance of the army documents and spokespeople claiming it was too dangerous to look for DU in Pohakuloa’s impact zone. Yet all of the new battle areas, she noted, were “either in or directly adjacent to the existing impact areas of PTA.”

“Why is it too dangerous to enter the impact area to hunt for DU, but safe to go in and build more military facilities?” she asked.

Egami told BIW that the new live fire training facilities were not in the impact area, but adjacent to it. But one of the displays the army had put up at the scoping session said that the Infantry Platoon Battle Area would be “located at one of three (3) potential locations within the existing impact area”; an adjacent map showed not only the Infantry Platoon Battle area, but the shoot house and MOUT facility all within the impact zone. Army munitions expert Vic Garo explained that there were actually two zones of risk within the impact area. Within the impact area was the Improved Munitions Area, which held unexploded heavy ordnance including Vietnam-era bomblets. The outer zone, where the new facilities would be located, may contain mostly unexploded small arms munitions.

“We had to send our explosive ordnance disposal people in to clear that area [where the new facilities would be]” he said; cultural and natural survey teams could enter the outer zone if accompanied by explosives ordnance demolition teams.

“When projects come up, we go within the impact zone,” confirmed PTA archeologist Julie Toombs. “I keep telling people we haven’t blown any archeologists up yet.”

Toombs said that there had, indeed, been archeological sites found within the Impact Area: “There are platforms, lava tube systems, excavated pits….” Toombs said no one knew for certain what the pits were for, but they may have been carved into the lava to attract nesting sea birds: “Nineteenth Century accounts speak of huge flocks of sea birds in that area.”

Many native Hawaiians, from veteran activists such as Neves to several students who testified in Hawaiian, saw the Army’s plans as a strengthening of an illegal military occupation.

“Pretty soon the Big Island will no longer be the Big Island, because it will be called the United States Military,” predicted Neves.

Others dwelt on the sacredness of the mountain.

“I don’t know how many of you have seen Avatar, but Mauna Kea is like our home tree,” said another. “Your training of our youth is appreciated, but not here on Mauna Kea, not at Pohakuloa.”

Army's Makua move welcome

The editorial from the Honolulu Star Advertiser about the Army’s decision to end live-fire training in Makua is surprisingly favorable to the community groups.    It ends with an acknowledgment that the move of major training activities to Pohakuloa will incite other resistance:  “The decision to move live-fire training from Oahu to the Big Island will not quickly dissolve reasonable resistance and scrutiny — nor should it.”

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Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110113_Army_ends_live-fire_training_at_Makua.html

Army’s Makua move welcome

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 14, 2011

After some two decades battling environmental and cultural advocates, the Army has agreed to remove heavy firepower exercises from Makua Valley. The decision is not the full surrender that some had wanted and the Army needs to provide an analysis of the environmental effects created by the decision to alter its training grounds — but the move is a step in the right direction.

The decision comes five years after a federal judge ruled that the Army had failed to show that 25th Infantry Division soldiers would be “inadequately trained” if denied use of live ammunition in field exercises in the leeward valley, an Army training area since the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Four years have passed since the Army reported to Congress that the training in Makua was “absolutely necessary,” although no live-fire training has been permitted there since 2004.

Just over the Waianae ridge from Schofield Barracks, the 25th Infantry’s headquarters, the valley is regarded by some as a sacred place and is home to a multitude of endangered species.

Little more than two months ago, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway found that the Army had failed to adequately show how the live-fire training would affect cultural sites in the valley and Makua Beach limu, a seaweed consumed by families that fish in the area.

A trial on unresolved issues had been scheduled to begin next month.

The Malama Makua community group, which challenged the Army in court in 1998, and David Henkin, its Earthjustice attorney, welcomed the Army’s new stance. Waianae physician Fred Dodge, a Malama Makua board member, is understandably cautious about what the Army intends to do with the valley, remarking that he “would like to know more” about the Army’s plans.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. “Randy” Mixon, former commander of the 25th Infantry and now head of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, says the artillery and other heavy weapons training will move from the 4,190-acre Makua Valley to the 133,000-acre Big Island Pohakuloa Training Area, Schofield and mainland sites.

The Army is now eyeing Makua for a roadside-bomb and counterinsurgency training center, with conditions replicating those in Afghanistan. The potential effects of that new plan should be cautiously vetted.

The Army already faces opposition at Pohakuloa over depleted uranium contamination, but asserts that the radiological doses are “well within limits” considered safe.

Pohakuloa now is being used as an Army training area for 19-ton Stryker tracked vehicles.

The live-fire training move to Pohakuloa will provide ammunition for the opposition Malu Aina Center for Nonviolent Education & Action, headed by longtime peace activist Jim Albertini.

Mixon says the plan for Pohakuloa will be described in a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement now being prepared.

The decision to move live-fire training from Oahu to the Big Island will not quickly dissolve reasonable resistance and scrutiny — nor should it.

Military trained at Kulani for more than 10 years

The Honolulu Star Advertiser published an article about the Board of Land and Natural Resources decision to transfer land to the State of Hawai’i Department of Defense for an Army National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Academy. The article is mostly a puff piece for the Youth ChallenNGe Academy. However, what the article reported about the military training is interesting:

The National Guard had proposed using a former boys school at Kulani for urban warfare training, building a pistol range, conducting company-size and lower-level training along roadways and in a pasture area, and developing helicopter landing zones in the pasture and near the camp, according to state documents.

However, some residents opposed what was termed the “militarization” of the land.

Hilo resident Cory Harden was among those who opposed the military training at Kulani.

“They are going to expand that natural area, the reserve, and military use is not compatible with trying to preserve these endangered animals,” Harden said.

The Guard’s Anthony said Hawaii Guard soldiers already had been using the Kulani grounds for more than a decade for urban training, but that will cease.

The land at Kulani was set aside by an executive order for the exclusive purpose of operating a prison. The admission that military training had gone on for more than ten years is evidence of violations of the executive order.

Three parties requested contested case hearings to challenge the BNLR’s decision, including DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina.

Military use of Kulani nixed

Last Thursday,  DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina and allies testified at the Hawai’i State Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting against the transfer of the former Kulani prison land to the Hawaii National Guard for a Youth ChalleNGe Academy (YCA) and military training.

Testimony was overwhelmingly against the militarization of Kulani.

We scored two wins that day and had one setback.

First, the board approved protection for 6600 acres of pristine rain forest with the Natural Areas Reserve System designation, the highest level of protection for the environment.

Second, we  stopped the proposed military training in the 600 acre Kulani site.

The setback: the board still approved 600 acres of the Kulani site to be transferred to the Hawaii National Guard to establish a military school. There was no community participation in determining the best and highest use for the area.  Three people requested a contested case hearing.  Senator Kokubun also said he opposed the closing of Kulani prison and was going to seek legislative remedies to either reopen the prison or reject the set aside of the land to the military.

The state erroneously stated that there were no other users for the land.  But there are numerous programs that could utilize the facility and complement the conservation of the surrounding forest area in the culturally appropriate way.  For example ‘Ohana Ho’opakele has requested to use areas in Kulani for a pu’uhonua ( a cultural-based healing center for substance abusers as an alternative to incarceration).  Also, Native Hawaiian charter schools could align their curriculum with conservation efforts at a site in Kulani.  But these options were precluded when the governor unilaterally decided to close Kulani prison and hand the land over to the military.

The Youth ChalleNGe project would be required to obtain a conditional use permit for using conservation land and an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, since it is federally funded.

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http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/09/11/local_news/local01.txt

Military use of Kulani nixed

by Jason Armstrong
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, September 11, 2010 7:38 AM HST

State panel approves youth camp but not National Guard training

Military training should be prohibited on the former Kulani prison property, but a quasi-military program for at-risk teens and an expanded conservation area allowed.

Those are the recommendations the state Board of Land and Natural Resources made at its meeting Thursday in Honolulu.

The Hawaii Department of Defense had sought approval to operate a pistol range, conduct explosives and building-entry training, and perform helicopter evacuations involving up to 170 soldiers at one time. Those activities were to occur on approximately 600 acres of the old Kulani Correctional Facility site located about 20 miles south of Hilo.

The land board, however, amended the request to -explicitly prohibit military uses and training, said secretary Adaline Cummings.

READ MORE

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In another Hawaii Tribune Herald article, State Representative Faye Hanohano shares her opposition to the closing of Kulani prison and transfer to the military:

A retired corrections officer, Hanohano heads the House Public Safety Committee. Her bill to audit the Department of Public Safety — emphasizing the closure of Kulani correctional facility and the state’s contracts that send local inmates to privately-run mainland facilities — was vetoed by Gov. Lingle. That spurred the majority leadership of both the House and Senate to send a letter to Legislative Auditor Marion Higa directing her audit DPS, anyway.

“The closing of Kulani should never have happened, with the military trying to take it over under the guise of the Youth ChalleNGe program,” she said. “… Now, you look at the (Tribune-Herald), you see a story that they want to do a training base center. That’s really unacceptable, because the military has lands that they’ve leased from the state, and at Pohakuloa.”

The state Land Board on Thursday denied the National Guard’s proposal for military training at Kulani by a 6-1 vote.

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.

Army Makua study opposed

Army Makua study opposed

Wai’anae group asks court to order new one, delay live-fire training

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Wai’anae community group yesterday asked the federal court here to reject an environmental study prepared by the Army and require it to do a new one before soldiers are allowed to resume live-fire training at Makua Military Reservation.

Malama Makua, represented by Earthjustice attorney David Hen-kin, said the Army failed to adequately prepare contamination studies and archaeological surveys that are part of a settlement agreement between the group and the Army.

Malama Makua made its request to the U.S. District Court in Honolulu. The group is asking the court to set aside, or annul, an environmental impact statement prepared by the Army for training at Makua.

The military has not conducted live-munitions training in the 4,190-acre valley since 2004 while the Army addressed community demands that the training not harm archaeological and cultural sites, and the environment. The Army has been hoping to return to combined-arms, live-fire exercises involving helicopters, artillery and mortars.

The Army yesterday issued a statement saying it “has satisfied its obligations required in the previous settlement agreements.” The statement, issued by U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said the public has the right to challenge the process and that “it is standard Army policy not to comment on potential or ongoing litigation, and to allow the courts to reach a decision before responding.”

U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii spokesman Loran Doane said the Army has not set a date to resume live-fire training at Makua. He said any such training would not begin until the appropriate mitigation measures and conditions identified in the final environmental impact statement have been implemented.

Last month, Col. Matthew Margotta, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said he was confident that the Army would be able to balance cultural and biological resource protection in Makua with its training needs for soldiers.

Henkin said the Army has not complied with its end of the settlement agreement, even as Malama Makua agreed to permit limited Army training in Makua while the environmental impact statement was being prepared.

“We put on the table that we wanted to make sure that the Army would tell people if the food they put on the table is being poisoned by the military training,” Henkin said. “And we wanted complete information about the archaeological and cultural resources that could be lost forever if the Army returned to training at Makua.

“The Army promised to give those to us as part of the bargain. We didn’t get it. We’re back in court.”

Henkin said the Army was required to indicate the likelihood of past military training in the valley contaminating fish, shellfish, limu and other sea life area residents gather and eat.

Instead, he said, the Army conducted two questionable studies on fish and shellfish, only studied limu (seaweeds) that are not eaten by people, and did not study other sea life in the area at all.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090813/NEWS01/908130335/Army+Makua+study+opposed

Mākua range re-opening cause for legal conflict and military outreach

NŪHOU / NEWS
Story photo

Since World War II, soldiers, marines, reservists and members of the National Guard have trained for combat at Mākua. KWO archive photo.

Mākua range re-opening cause for legal conflict and military outreach

By Liza Simon / Ka Wai Ola Loa

The U.S. Army is set to resume live-ammunition training in O’ahu’s Mākua Valley under a plan that military officials say scales back operations and decreases the risk of hazardous impacts. The claim is being disputed by community opponents who vow to continue their legal challenge that resulted in a 2001 court ban on combat exercises in the valley pending a complete environmental examination of the 4,190-acre Wai’anae Coast site.

Eight years after the ban was put in place as part of the Army’s legal settlement with community group Mālama Mākua, the Army in June released the court-ordered final environmental impact study. In a subsequent “record of decision” made public on July 24, Army officials said the EIS provides information that shows the military can effectively balance training needs with stewardship at Mākua by following a plan that it says rolls back the scale of an earlier “preferred alternative,” which called for an annual 200 Convoy Live Fire Exercises (LFX) and 50 Combined Arms Live Fire Exercises (CALFEXES).

“Rather, the Army has decided on a greatly reduced option to 32 CALFEXs and 150 convoy-live fire exercises per year without the use of tracer ammunition, anti-aircraft Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided- or TWO missiles, 2.75-caliber rockets, or illumination munitions of any kind,” said Loran Doane of the Army Garrison Media Relations in an email response to Ka Wai Ola Loa. “The elimination of these weapons systems greatly reduces the risk of range fires and environmental threats to endangered species and cultural sites, yet allows small units to train locally without the costly burden of additional deployments to Pōhakuloa (Hawai’i Island) or elsewhere,” Doane added.

Story photo

At Mākua, a series of brushfires started by munitions explosions has spurred legal action to stop the Army from training in the valley. KWO archive photo

Doane also stressed that the Army followed guidelines of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in involving the local community in finalizing the Mākua Environment Impact Statement, or EIS. He said Native Hawaiians and their organizations participated in eight public meetings and gave oral and written comments, which were incorporated into the EIS. “(This) allowed for a full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts. By providing means for open communication between the Army and the public, the procedural aspects of NEPA promote better decision-making,” Doane wrote.

But Wai’anae Harbor Master William Ailā Jr., a member of Hui Mālama O Mākua – an organization for cultural stewardship of Mākua Valley (and a supporter of Mālama Mākua, the group that filed the Mākua lawsuit) – said the EIS and decision to restart live-fire operations at the Mākua Military Reservation are flawed. “Based on my observations, the (soldiers) overshoot mortars beyond target areas. (Mistakes) are the nature of training exercises, but these adjacent areas have not been surveyed for either cultural sites or endangered species, so the EIS has no directions for mitigating those occurrences or any associated damage,” said Ailā.

As one of four Army training areas in Hawai’i, the military says Mākua offers unique topographical features and a perfect size that is strategically important for coordinated maneuvers of all military branches in Hawai’i.

Ailā argues that the fact that military has functioned efficiently for the last several years without Mākua is the “best indicator” that the Mākua Military Reservation is not so strategic. Ailā said the military should fulfill a promise it made to withdraw from the valley. The military facility is comprised of ceded lands classified by the state as a conservation district, and was set aside in World War II by the then-territorial government for military training purposes until 2025.

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Once a thriving agricultural boon for Native Hawaiians, Mākua Valley is now littered with unexploded munitions. KWO archives photo

Terms of the 2001 legal settlement required the Army to cease firing mortars and artillery in Mākua until completing surveys of more than 50 endangered plant and animal species and 100 archeological sites in the valley. A history of accidental wildfires sparked by the combat training was one of the main drivers in keeping the court decision in place. A 2003 brush fire destroyed several thousand acres of valley vegetation. A fire associated with Mākua Army training in 1994 got out of control and jumped Farrington Highway, burning down makeshift beach encampments that were home to several Wai’anae families.

The final EIS evaluated fire and other hazards of military training pertaining to four alternative plans, each one varying in intensity and scope of proposed weaponry uses and number of exercises. Along with an assessment of impacts, each alternative was appraised for the capacity to provide the most realistic training and preparation for the types of threats that soldiers in Hawai’i would expect to encounter in combat situations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Three of the four alternatives describe different training levels based in Mākua; the fourth is situated in Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai’i Island. The EIS also analyzes the cost and logistics of mitigating impacts of training that violate state and federal laws protecting endangered species, archeological sites and human health.

But the EIS information does not satisfy Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who has represented Mālama Mākua in the nine-year-old lawsuit against the Army at Mākua. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been allowed access to the training area and has concluded that there will be destruction to the native forest (with the resumption of training), but it is their kuleana to make sure there is no extinction and they have concluded they have proper measures to achieve this, but this is not the same thing as avoiding damage to irreplaceable cultural and environmental treasures, which is too high a price to pay for military training at Mākua,” said Henkin, who also disputes that the Army’s newly announced plan for Mākua marks a decrease in training. “The proposal is to use the same company level of training that existed when litigation started up in 1998.” Henkin said the Army played a “common trick” on the public by first selecting an alternative using weapons systems banned for decades. “Then they ratcheted back from the horrendous to the awful and expected the public to see this as responsive.”

Henkin called the Army’s “record of decision” a violation of the 2001 legal settlement and said he will represent Mālama Mākua in federal district court as early as this month in asking Judge Susan Oki Mollway to set aside the EIS and continue the injunction against live-fire training in the valley on O’ahu’s Leeward Coast. He says that the Army did not give serious consideration to alternative plan four, which would have moved the training maneuvers to the roomier and more remote Pōhakuloa Training Area. Army claims that this would incur cost and impose the hardship of extended separation on military families are exaggerated, Henkin said.

The Army said it would not comment on the proposed litigation. Army spokesperson Doane said that the lead expert in mitigation measures at Mākua could not be reached for comment in time for Ka Wai Ola Loa publication. The final Mākua EIS summarizes regulatory and administrative steps for mitigating risks associated with the live-fire activities; this includes the conservation recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has authority to enforce regulations under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, Army officials have said they have plans to spend $6 million in Mākua on cultural and environmental site management.

The fact is that the Army is dedicating resources to staying at Mākua stems from fear of giving up property in Hawai’i, according to Ailā. “That was their foregone conclusion going into the EIS and that has swayed the results,” said Ailā, who traces his Native Hawaiian roots back several generations in the valley.

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A live fire training area since World War II, Mākua is the preferred site for simulated combat maneuvers before deployment to the Middle East. KWO archive photo

“It has concerned me that the largest pieces of land were taken from and/or are near the largest population centers of Native Hawaiians,” said Ailā, referring to the demographic makeup of O’ahu’s Leeward Coast. “The ongoing conflict over Mākua is an environmental justice issue,” Ailā added.

Ailā said he agrees with a conclusion shared by the Earthjustice attorney Henkin that the EIS does not contain adequate information on below-ground testing for archeological sites and did not finish a marine resources study to meet the community’s satisfaction. Ailā said the question of whether the military activities are resulting in harm to limu and fish from watershed runoff from Mākua Valley was never determined, because the EIS investigators “gathered the wrong species of limu from near beaches.” In addition, he said the EIS study identified arsenic and an estimated 40 other contaminants in fish from the Wai’anae Coast but did not determine if the elements were from a natural source or associated with the live-fire exercises.

Meanwhile, Nānākuli resident Bill Punini Prescott, a retired sergeant first class, said the legal challenge and opposition to Mākua military presence does not have widespread support from Native Hawaiians, including himself. “My main concern is that our soldiers are adequately trained so that they are not in harm’s way when they are fighting for our country,” said Prescott. “My neighbor just spent one year away from his family in Iraq. Now he is being sent to Fort Hood for training, when he could have gone right down the road to Mākua,” said Prescott.

Prescott said he is also has concerns about the taxpayers money that Congress is giving to rebuild and make accessible Mākua cultural or environment sites. Heiau, stone terraces and water springs are found elsewhere on the Leeward coast, he said. “Practitioners are giving many different opinions on what is sacred. It does not sound like Mākua is the only place that they can observe their traditions,” he said.

Prescott said he believes a majority of Native Hawaiians are more concerned about loved ones who have gone on active duty deployment in the Middle East wars than with the task of making Mākua safe for public use again. “The cost is prohibitive. During World War II, the valley was the central training area for troops landing on (O’ahu’s) beaches. In support of these operations, there were preparatory landings from ships, and bombing by air and land artillery. As a consequence, there are unexploded munitions not only in the valley but on the mountain sides, as evidenced after heavy rains. Additional live firings during the Korean and Vietnam wars also added more unexploded weaponry, thereby adding to the cost for clean-up,” he said.

The 2001 court settlement has allowed for 26 non low intensity training events in five years on the condition that the Army would continue to work on the EIS, but last December’s heavy rains wrecked valley roads that function as legally required firebreaks. No training has taken place since then. This prompts Earthjustice attorney Henkin to suggest that the lack of effective fire suppression coupled with current dry weather conditions raises the risk for brushfires and will prevent the Army from immediately implementing its “record of decision.”

But Army spokesperson Doane said road repairs will move along quickly with a recent infusion of $6 million in federal aid. While acknowledging that firebreak road repairs must be done before live fire training starts up again, Doane said other types of combat-readiness exercises may begin immediately.

The resumption of flying bullets and exploding ordnance at Mākua coincides with a major Army outreach campaign to Native Hawaiians. The Army has briefed the Council on Native Hawaiian Advancement and Alu Like Inc. on the military in local economic development and employment issues, said Doane.

Earlier this year, Army Col. Matthew Margotta hired Annelle Amaral as the Army’s new Native Hawaiian liaison. Amaral, who said she has served as a mediator at oft-times contentious public meetings on the military’s plan for the Stryker Brigade in Hawai’i, said that Margotta epitomizes a new generation of military leaders who value cultural sensitivity. “He has said many times that ‘this is not your father’s Army,'” said Amaral, a former member of the Honolulu Police Department and a former elected official. She added that the new command this year has poured $1 million into ensuring that Mākua valley’s Hawaiian cultural sites are accessible

At the Army’s request, Amaral last month organized a helicopter tour of the Mākua range for Hawaiian leaders. “The idea was to invite those with large constituencies so they can inform others about the work that has been going on in the valley,” said Amaral, adding that the invitees asked many probing questions. “I was proud that they took this tack.”

Those who made the trip included Hawaiian business executive Chris Dawson and Hawaiian Civic Club leader Leimomi Khan.

Mākua Military Reservation critic William Ailā was not invited on the tour and neither were any other members of Hui Mālama O Mākua or Mālama Mākua. “I am disappointed that the people in the trenches working on the restoration of the valley were not there to give some historical context,” said Ailā. “As cultural practitioners, our access to the valley has been limited to about 20 percent of what it used to be,” he added, explaining that a new Pentagon policy prevents people from going anywhere in the valley where ground has been checked to a depth of 12 inches for unexploded ordnance. “They say it is about liability, but I am willing to sign a waiver. There’s an ongoing problem of access and just another reason to look forward to the promised return of Mākua to the community.”

The training site that is bordered by the ridge of the Wai’anae Coast mountains and continuous white sand beaches was once renowned as Hawai’i’s breadbasket, Ailā said, adding that “more than 100 years ago, Mākua had a reputation on the U.S. continent for supplying the sweetest melons, abundant sweet potatoes and mountain apple.”

Kahu Kaleo Patterson, who took the Chinook helicopter ride into the valley last month, said the Army guides had “a lot of good things to say about wanting to reach out the community. “I would say it’s important to take the military up on its offer and reach back. Request the education (about their environmental work) they say they want to offer. Go see for yourself and don’t just jump on one side, based on what you hear second-hand.”

Patterson said that at the end of the tour he found himself standing next to Col. Margotta at on a high ridge overlooking the expansive ocean bay. “I told him that so many of our island families have buried loved ones or scattered their ashes out there. We’ve honored our loved ones by floating leis on the waves out there,” he said. “This is a reminder that this valley is not just filled with cultural resources and endangered species. It is very sacred and activity that takes place here should take this into consideration. If this place is eventually restored as an ahupua’a, it could have importance to all the world.”

“It’s too bad there is no section in that EIS that talks about spiritual impacts,” Patterson said.

German peace movement victory – "Bombodrom" to be shut down

The German peace movement won an major victory. After 17 years of struggle to close down a former Russian Air Force bombing and shooting range, the German minister of defense announced that the government was abandoning its plans to conduct military training in the area.  A victory celebration is planned for August 23rd.   They welcome messages of solidarity from allies around the world to be shared at this event.  Here’s a  message from a leader of the movement Hans-Peter Laubenthal <A-HPR@t-online.de>:

Big success for the German peace movement against the “bombodrom”

The “bombodrom” is a 120 square kilometers big area in Germany, 80 km north of Berlin. This area was used by the Russian Air Force as bombing and shooting training area (therefore named with the Russian word “bombodrom”). The people in this area suffered for the noise and the poisoning of the environment for more than 30 years. After the unification of Germany. they had hoped that this will stop. But since 1992 the German government wanted to use this area for the German Air Force. Since that time the people resisted to this plan, we have been resisting now for 17 years, and now we have won!! The German minister of defense declared, that the government gives up their plans to use the area as bombing and shooting training area.

Our success concerns not only Germany, but also the NATO and the military force of the European Union.

We resisted by three means:
1) Legal processes
2) Demonstrations and other legal protest
3) actions of civil disobedience (e.g. occupying the territory)

The concerned villages and enterprises went to the court. Altogether there were 27 verdicts. The German government lost them all, because they had not fulfilled the basic needs of a zoning procedure. Because of old laws from Nazi times our army thought they are especially privileged to choose any ground for military purposes. But in the end all courts decided that this old Nazi-law is no longer valid and they must investigate what influence the “bombodrom” would have to the citizens and their enterprises. The area is beautiful and can become a tourist attraction. During these 17 years several movements were able to build up wide spread resistance. In the last 8 years there was always the biggest Easter March of the peace movement in this area. Many actions took place to get photos into our media. See the homepage www.freieheide.de. Even if you cannot read German see the photos under “Fotogalerie”, so you can get an impression of some actions. I think the story of this resistance must be told to learn for similar situations.

The “bombodrom” is not only a German case, because not only the German Air Force and the Army were foreseen to train there but also all our allies. This was to be the central training ground also for the NATO Reaction Force and the European Battle Groups, which are formed now and are to be ready between 2011 and 2013. This was mentioned in the operation plan of the German ministry for defense for the air-ground-bombing-area Wittstock from 2008, August 28th.

In this operation plan also the “nuclear sharing” is mentioned. Germany is by no means a nuclear free zone. In the German airbase in Büchel, near the city of Cochem on the river Mosel the USA still have deployed 20 nuclear bombs of the types B-61-3 and B-61-4 in subterranean bunkers. And this 20 years after the Cold War has ended. The bombs have a variable power between 45 and 170 kilotons and therefore up to 13 times higher power for destruction than the bomb of Hiroshima. The nuclear bombs which have also been in Ramstein and Nörvenich have been removed.

The nuclear bombs are ready for use, when the US president gives the order and after the special code for the security systems has arrived on a separated way of commands. The USA claim to have the right to use their nuclear bombs, deployed in Europe, outside the NATO area for the support of their regional headquarter GENICOM which is “responsible” for the Middle East. Experts estimate, that there are still 240 nuclear bombs in Europe. On the German airbase Büchel US special forces with 50 soldiers guard the nuclear bombs. In case the order comes from Washington they would release the safety catch and fix them under the German Tornado-plane, which the German pilot then has to fly to the designated target. Even by military standards this makes no sense at all, for the Tornado jet s have a range of 1853 km. In this range there are only NATO allies.

The German government sticks to the nuclear bombs in Germany. On 2008, June 25th the speaker of the government Kossendystated that the people, who demand the withdrawal they “challenge the status of the Atlantic Alliance”, and “hinder the right of determination” and have in mind “to weaken the relationship between North America and Europe durably”.

It was planned, that the German Tornados coming with the nuclear bombs from Büchel should exercise at the “bombodrom”, how to drop the nuclear bombs. They were supposed to train the “loft-procedure”. According to the operation plan from 2003 the Tornados would come from south and at the training area go down to a low flight level and accelerate up to 1000 km/h. at a short distance to the goal they would go up steeply and release their training bombs. By this loft-procedure the bomb has a longer way, so that the pilot has enough time to escape with his plane from the explosion, that otherwise could destroy his own plane. They did these exercises mainly in the USA. Many experts thought that this training is no longer possible, because in the next years the Tornados will be replaced by Eurofighters, which cannot drop nuclear bombs. But in the latest operation plan you can read, that for the “nuclear sharing” 85 Tornados will be kept for this task, even after the year 2017.

All this plans cannot work, because of 17 years of resistance.

There will be a big “victory party” of the peace movement at August 23rd.

I ask you to send messages to us, so we can read them to the activists.

I hope you all also feel encouraged. It is possible to get rid of military bases, if you have enough energy to fight for years. Of course I know that it is not a final victory, because our Air Force will now try to get other training facilities in our neighbour country Poland. So the fight goes on.

Sign the petition to oppose U.S. assistance to Indonesian special forces

Hawai’i is one of the places implicated deeply with the abuses of the Indonesian military.  Indonesia’s human rights abuses were so bad that Congress banned all military aid to Indonesia.  After the 9/11 attacks, Senator Inouye openned the door to renewed military aid, adding a clause to a Defense bill that would allow the U.S. to train Indonesian military leaders at the Pacific Command’s Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, right in the heart of Waikiki.   Since then, PACOM has trained with Indonesian troops at the biannual RIMPAC exercises, and the State of Hawai’i National Guard has now formed a partnership with the Indonesian military.   People of Hawai’i should be outraged that we have become unwitting accomplices in the human rights abuses of Indonesia’s military.   For many years, activists from Hawai’i who participated with the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement supported the movement for a Free East Timor, which won its independence in 2002.

>><<

** Sign the petition opposing U.S. assistance or cooperation with Kopassus **

U.S. Groups Oppose Training of Indonesia’s Notorious Kopassus Special Forces

Contact: John M. Miller, ETAN, +1-718-596-7668

July 23 – More than 50 U.S. organizations today urged the U.S. government to “strictly prohibit any U.S. cooperation with or assistance to the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus)’ in a letter sent today to President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of Congress. The letter was coordinated by the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN).

“Restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia are needed to support democracy and human rights in Indonesia. Supporting Kopassus, which has a long history of terrorizing civilians, would send the worst possible signal to those fighting for justice and accountability in Indonesia and East Timor,” said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN.

The letter, signed by human rights, religious, peace and other groups, states, “The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere.”

A recent Human Rights Watch report documents how Kopassus soldiers “arrest Papuans without legal authority, and beat and mistreat those they take back to their barracks.”

In 2008, the Bush administration proposed to restart U.S. training of Kopassus. the State Department legal counsel reportedly ruled that the ban on training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole.

“The previous administration was forced to conclude that training Kopassus was both illegal and bad policy. The Obama administration should maintain this restriction,” said Miller.

+++

We the undersigned organizations call upon the U.S. government to strictly prohibit any U.S. cooperation with or assistance to the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus). This force, more than any other in the Indonesian military, stands accused by the Indonesian people of some of the most egregious human rights violations. The annual human rights report of the U.S. Department of State, the East Timor’s (Timor-Leste) truth commission (CAVR), United Nations human rights monitors, and the full range of Indonesian and international human rights have reported in detail the many crimes of Kopassus. Those responsible for these violations continue to enjoy broad impunity for their actions, even in a democratizing Indonesia.

The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere. In 1998, a program — organized and led by then Kopassus commander (and recent vice- presidential candidate) General Prabowo Subianto — kidnapped, tortured and killed pro-democracy activists. Prabowo told reporters he is unrepentant over these crimes saying, “we could say it was preventative detention.” Other well-documented Kopassus crimes include organizing anti-Chinese rioting in Jakarta in 1998 and the 1984 massacre at Tanjung Priok in Java.

Throughout 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation of East Timor, Kopassus personnel, tortured and killed civilians in an attempt to intimidate and terrorize the population. Kopassus personnel played a key role, including organizing militia proxies, in the violence and destruction during 1999, the occupation’s final year.

The crimes of Kopassus are not only in the past. A recently published Human Rights Watch report details ongoing Kopassus human right violations in West Papua. The report documents how Kopassus soldiers “arrest Papuans without legal authority, and beat and mistreat those they take back to their barracks.”

Those who favor engagement argue that U.S. training could lead to reform of Kopassus. This argument is clearly refuted by history. For decades, the U.S. trained and gave other assistance to Kopassus personnel, including General Prabowo and other leading officers. This relationship had no ameliorative affect, rather, it provided the equipment and skills used for repression.

U.S. law prohibits the training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations. This provision has been long been interpreted as narrowly as possible. However, in 2008, the State Department ruled that the ban, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole. We believe that this ruling should apply and the U.S. must continue to refuse to train Kopassus.

Sincerely,

John M. Miller, National Coordinator
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network

Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D., Executive Director The Fellowship of Reconciliation

Dave Robinson, Executive Director Pax Christi USA

Mubarak Awad, President Nonviolence International

Jim Winkler, General Secretary United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

Kevin Martin, Executive Director Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund

Land is Life

SOA Watch

West Papua Advocacy Team

Marie Dennis, Director (Rev.) James Kofski, M.M., Asia/Pacific and Middle East Issues Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Mary Anne Mercer, DrPH, Deputy Director Director of Timor-Leste Operations Health Alliance International

Marie Lucey, OSF, Associate Director, Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Sharon Silber, Chair, U.S. Section Society for Threatened Peoples

Carol Jahnkow, Executive Director Peace Resource Center of San Diego

Rosemarie Pace, Director Pax Christi Metro New York

Mary Beaudoin, Director Women Against Military Madness

Eileen B. Weiss, Co-Founder Jews Against Genocide

Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC

Elaine Donovan Concerned Citizens for Peace, Honeoye, NY

Jeffrey Ballinger, Executive Director Press for Change

Diana Bohn Nicaragua Center for Community Action (NICCA) Berkeley, CA

Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace Olympia, WA

Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service Oakland, CA

Mary T. Whittlinger, Treasurer GOMA ( Ecumenical Moluccan Church).

Ben Manski, Executive Director Liberty Tree

Blase Bonpane, Ph.D., Director Office of the Americas

Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee

David Swanson After Downing Street

Joanne Landy and Thomas Harrison, Co-Directors Campaign for Peace and Democracy New York City

Diane Farsetta, Coordinator Madison (Wis.)-Ainaro (East Timor) Sister-City Alliance
Joan Kirby, UN Representative Temple of Understanding

Rev. John Chamberlin, National Coordinator East Timor Religious Outreach

Zelia Cordeiro and Felix Jones, Executive Team Members VIVAT International

The Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace Coalition

Michael Eisenscher, Coordinator Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice (LC4PJ)

Mass Peace Action

Daniel LeBlanc, DPI/NGO Representative at the UN Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

Roger S. Clark Board of Trustees International League for Human Rights.

Alan Muller, Executive Director Green Delaware

WESPAC Foundation

Mariza Costa Cabral ETAN/Seattle

Bill Ramsey Human Rights Action Service, St. Louis, MO

Peaceful Response Coalition Portland, OR

East Timor Action Network/Portland (OR)

Seattle International Human Rights Coalition

John J. Witeck, Coordinator Philippine Workers Support Committee Honolulu, Hawaii

Ben Gordon Pax Christi New Orleans

Jim Haber War Resisters League/West

Ellen E Barfield former national Vice-President, co-founder Baltimore Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter Veterans for Peace

David McReynolds, former chair War Resisters International

Leslie Cagan Former co-chair United for Peace and Justice*

Sam Diener, Co-Editor Peacework Magazine, AFSC*

Robert Hanson, Past Chair, Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center* Walnut Creek, CA

Dr. Brad Simpson Asst. Professor of History and International Affairs, Princeton University Director, Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project*

S. Eben Kirksey, Ph.D. Center for Cultural Studies, University of California, WPAT

Peter Bohmer, faculty in economics and political economy The Evergreen State College. Olympia, WA

* organization for identification purposes only

Source: http://www.etan.org/news/2009/07kopassus.htm

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