After years of sustained international protests against live-fire training exercises on
the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, the U.S. Navy is looking elsewhere to play its war
games. President Bush has said he would order the Navy out of Vieques in 2003, avoiding
the embarrassment of a referendum scheduled for January 2002 that would have let residents
choose between saying "adios" to the Navy or getting $50 million in public works
projects, along with continued live bombing.
Among the alternate sites being considered are Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where
analysts speculate that the Navy will reconsider the battle-scale exercises performed on
Vieques in favor of smaller simulations using quieter "smurf" bombs. Local
residents, including many former Marines, oppose any plans to bomb in their backyard
because of the threat of stray shells and the impact bombing likely would have on tourism.
Discontent is spreading to other testing sites. The Navy nixed exercises in Texas after
the Sierra Club threatened protests. Maryland and Virginia residents near a Potomac River
testing range are raising an outcry about damage to homes from blast vibrations and the
ecological and safety hazards posed by unexploded shells—which are showing up in
fishing nets.
Read other articles by:
Berger, Rose Marie
Hochstedler, Jodi
|
Subscribe to Sojourners today at a special introductory price and save $10 off the basic rate! Click here for details.
WE WANT TO HEAR from you! Click here to share your views. Or write to "Letters," Sojourners, 3333 14th St. NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20010; fax (202) 328-8757. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.
|
|
 |
Read other articles by:
Berger, Rose Marie
Hochstedler, Jodi
|
