Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 6, 1 June 1998 — MILITARY BUILDUP [ARTICLE]

MILITARY BUILDUP

It is unconscionable on the part of the U.S. Military to promote further buildup of the missile program here in the Hawaiian islands. The militaiy has destroyed and rendered Kaho'olawe and other areas of the Hawaiian islands, plus several South Pacific islands unfit for human habitation, not mentioning the environment, the maiine and animal life that has suffered. When will this madness stop? We must be wamed of the worst case scenario and the double talk that puts a smoke screen on what we in Hawai'i face. "Remember Pearl Harbor." We in Hawai'i were the victims of that debacle wholly due

to the military buildup here. It certainly is not our duty to support such a program that would jeopardize our very existence on planet earth. Hawai'i is a peace-loving country. Why must the U.S. Make the Hawaiian islands a threatening fortress when we have no enemies? The military through modem warfare is putting us in harm's way. Their short-sight-edness scares me. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Marshall Islands, Kaho'olawe, Mākua and other places to menūon a few are reasons for me to be concemed. Paul Lemke Kapa'a