Malu 'Aina

Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760
Phone 808-966-7622
ja@interpac.net  www.malu-aina.org
September 4, 2010

The Honorable Roy Mabus
Secretary of the Navy
1200 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC  20350

Aloha Mr. Secretary:

On August 26, 2010, the Navy held an EIS Scoping Meeting on Navy expansion plans for Hawaii and the Pacific at Hilo High School in Hilo, Hawaii. The public was invited to attend, and I regret to inform you that many of the Naval personnel presenting these plans were arrogant and insulting to the public, and hostile to and contemptuous of the concerns expressed by citizens of East Hawaii. We were repeatedly told that “This is not a public hearing, and no public speaking is allowed.”

Public input was limited to touring “science fair” type exhibits. Persons wishing to comment were told to “put it in writing,” either by writing on forms provided, or typing comments into a laptop computer provided by the Navy for that purpose. I and other members of the public asked the officers present for the opportunity to set up a small sound system, to facilitate a public hearing and discussion of scoping concerns for the pending EIS. Your officers were not pleased by this request, and called the local police to help “maintain order”. Eventually, the final hour of this four-hour meeting became a citizens public hearing, which was, ironically, facilitated by the local police as a compromise.

We had hoped that your officers would participate in this discussion, or at least listen to the public comments. They did not. Community members were very respectful of Navy personnel who did not return our aloha spirit. Your officers blatantly refused to take any notes to be included in the record of this presentation, and indeed rudely engaged in private conversations while community members were expressing concerns that they might have addressed, and asked questions they might have answered.

This was truly conduct unbecoming the Naval officers present, who presented the Navy in a very poor light. By contrast, two days earlier, on August 24, Marine officers conducted a similar public scoping meeting on Marine expansion plans in Hawaii also at Hilo High in the very same cafeteria, and behaved in a very respectful and professional manner. One of our community members, Marine Sergeant Major (retired) Sam Kaleleiki, opened the citizen public hearing portion of the meeting with a pule, and helped set the stage for a productive hearing. The Marines all listen attentively to the public testimony, and took notes unlike the navy’s rude, and possibly in violation of NEPA, behavior for not including a public hearing, and the concerns expressed, as part of the navy scoping meeting.

Mahalo for your consideration of this letter. I would appreciate hearing from you regarding the concerns I have raised.

Very truly yours,

Jim Albertini,
President

An Open letter to Mike Egami of Army Public Affairs

Aloha Mike,  (Army Public Affairs Hawaii)
At the Aug. 31st PTA meeting Army spokesperson Greg Komp said Davy Crockett DU training in Hawaii stopped in 1965 when troops from Hawaii were sent to Vietnam. Thus his lowballing his estimate of the number of DU rounds fired at PTA, instead of the likely figure 2000 plus DU Davy Crockett rounds. This appears to be another Army lie or distortion of the truth.  Let Komp and others know please and that it is not appreciated.
I received a call from an Army vet who said he trained in Hawaii from 65-67 at Schofield and PTA in artillery/atomic demolition and lived in the dorm with guys doing the Davy Crockett training during those years too.   He also talked about all sorts of chemical/biological testing/training that was going on at the same time.  Google “project 112 year 2010” and follow the links to DOD facts sheets on Green Mist, Pine Ridge, Yellow Leaf, Read Oak, Blue Tango, Tall Timber, etc.  where all sorts of chemical and biological stuff ( including deadly Sarin gas) was being tested on Oahu, Hawaii Island and in the air and waters nearby. This was all kept classified and not released until 2002. The deadly Sarin nerve gas and other toxins among other places, were being tested in Hilo’s watershed in the Waiakea and Olaa forest reserves.  The Army lease of state land there said the Army would be doing “weather testing.”  Another Army lie.
The Army vet that contacted me said a lot of nasty stuff was being used at PTA besides DU.
I am withholding the name of the Army vet to protect him.
If the Army wants the confidence of the community on its DU statements, it better come clean, be transparent, and start telling the truth.  Since the Army claims it doesn’t have good records going back to DU use in the 60s, it would have been easy to contact vets of that era who trained and ask for their input.  But the Army didn’t do that.  Why? Instead the vets are contacting peace groups to expose the truth.
Auwe!
—

Jim Albertini

Why it happened and why it matters!

No matter who you think was responsible for 9-11, Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the Bush- Cheney administration and fellow neocons, Israel’s Mossad, or others, one thing is clear.  The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the global war on terrorism have been justified on the basis of 9-11.  And the events of that tragic day 9 years ago have been used to fan the flames of anti-Islamic hatred into a firestorm.

Historians now say that the Tonkin Gulf incident used to launch U.S. bombing of North Vietnam never happened.  It was fabricated to justify U.S. bombing and a massive escalation of the war in Vietnam.  Some historians even say that Washington knew of the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and allowed it to happen to provoke a reluctant U.S. into WW II.

In the late 1990s, the neocon think-tank –Project for a New American Century, comprised of many people who would play key roles in the Bush-Cheney administration put out a position paper.  The paper concluded that the collapse of the Soviet Union gave the U.S. an opportunity to dominate the world .  What was needed was a cover, a rationale, to disguise global domination as a legitimate enterprise.  The neocon position paper also said what was needed was a triggering event — “A New Pearl Harbor.”

Then came 9-11.  Where are we today?  The cold war on communism has been replaced by the hot global war on terrorism.  The McCarthy anti-communism witch hunts have been replaced by threats of Quran book burnings and hatred of Muslim Mosque building.  We have had a litany of steps toward fascism: secret detentions, torture, extraordinary renditions, the loss of habeus corpus, the PATRIOT Act, dramatically increased military spending, secrecy, and presidential authority –including the power to order assassinations, including American citizens. Forget the Bill of Rights and Miranda rights, right to an attorney, trial, innocent till proven guilty.  In essence the neocon agenda of the 90s has become official U.S. policy.  First under Bush.  Now expanded under Obama.

The U.S. is on the fast track to fascism.  Another “catastrophic emergency” and look out!  The wheels of martial law will be in high speed.  That’s why we need to seek the truth about 9-11, why there needs to be a full, independent investigation.  Unless we answer the question –why it happened, we will never realize why it matters.  The U.S. will continue to wage illegal and immoral imperial wars of aggression and occupation abroad and a war against civil liberties, economic and social justice at home.    The path ahead depends on each one of us, and the courage of our convictions.   Let non-violence be our guiding light.

Let us Seek the Truth!

Let us Work for Peace & Justice!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@interpac.net   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (Sept. 10, 2010 – 469th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

See the latest right wing attack by the Hawaii Free Press
Andrew Walden gives me more credit than I’m due.  I’m only a one time convicted felon for peace for jumping into Hilo Bay in a non-violent protest in 1984 to uphold the spirit of Hawaii County’s historic nuclear-free zone law against a visiting nuclear armed warship –the USS Ouellett.   It is true that Fed. Judge Sam King once labeled me a “psychopath” for persistent non-violent resistance against the Vietnam war and nuclear arms. but he took a lot of heat for that label from religious leaders, including Catholic and Episcopal bishops of Hawaii at the time. They likened me to Gandhi, which also gave me far more credit than I’m due.   A few years later the same, Judge Sam King called me “his old friend” in court, so I think he had some regrets for his emotional “psychopath” outburst in earlier court days.
Anyway, as for the Andrew Walden right wing attacks, they are nothing new.  I take it in stride and try to follow my mother’s wise advice: “Let it go like water off a duck’s back.”
Jim

Hawaii DLNR gives 11 acres to 9-11 truther group > Hawaii Free Press > Articles Main

http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2740/Hawaii-DLNR-gives-11-acres-to-911-truther-group.aspx

Read more: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20100901_Radiation_levels_safe_at_Pohakuloa_Army_says.html#ixzz0yMHvuNEa
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Radiation levels safe at Pohakuloa, Army says
Read more: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20100901_Radiation_levels_safe_at_Pohakuloa_Army_says.html#ixzz0yMHvuNEa
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The health study will be available at the website www.garrison.hawaii.army.mil/du, the Army said.

Read more: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/Army_says_radioactive_residue_at_Big_Island_range_not_a_hazard.html#ixzz0yImYgMwi
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