Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2004 — Military expansion puts Hawaiʻi in harm's way [ARTICLE]

Military expansion puts Hawaiʻi in harm's way

This is my reply to David Moku III of 'Ewa Beach whose letter appeared last month in Ka Wai Ola. I did not intend on getting involved in the controversy, but I must satisfy my conscience in giving my views on the matter. I am a Hawaiian World War II veteran who participated in the Korean and Vietnam wars as a crew member on ships that supplied the military installations around the world. I feel it is unconscionable on the part of the U.S. military to promote further build-up of the missile program here in the Hawaiian islands. The military has already destroyed and rendered Kaho'olawe and other areas of our islands, plus several South Pacific islands unfit for human habitation, not to mention the environment and the marine and animal life that has suffered. When will this madness stop? We must be warned of the worst case scenario and the double-talk that puts a smokescreen on what we in Hawai'i face. "Remember Pearl Harbor" — when 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 earth. Hawai'i is a peaceful loving country. Why must the U.S. make our beloved islands a threatening fortress when we have no enemies? The military, through modern warfare, is putting us civilians in harm's way. Their short-sightedness scares me. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Marshall Islands, Kaho'olawe, Mākua, Pōhakuloa and other places — these are a few are reasons I am so concerned. I oppose more bombing and missile launches to be performed on sovereign Hawaiian lands whieh the U.S. military has not paid a dime to use, while my Hawaiian brothers suffer homelessness and abuse, and denied sovereignty over our lands. I oppose any escalation of the military presence here. Enough is enough. This hunger for more Hawaiian lands is of grave eoneem to our Hawaiian nationalists and all Hawaiians and Hawaiians at heart. Aloha 'āina. Paul D. Lemke Kapa'a

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