Image above: Navy boys in their "whites" stand with Senator Inouye and are blessed for desecrating the land around PMRF. From TGI article below.
Deploying the land based Aegis missile experiment to the "jewel of the Pacific" takes Kauai further down the path to being an accessory to the crime of world wide arms proliferation (Aegis coming ashore at PMRF, TGI Aug. 29 see below). Anyone not wishing to take part should speak or act out now.
Senator Dan Inouye's unreal cold war era mentality was on full display as, referencing this multi billion dollar arms industry bonanza, he assured the military brass on the podium with him that the missiles deployed on 85 ships, wth 25 more on the way, are simply "a deterrent for those who would harm us". And since that's not enough firepower, or because they can't get them close enough to Russia, Iran and China, they have to be on land, too.
In Poland, in 2007, the government was ousted and in the Czech Republic citizens took to the streets to keep these missiles out. In South Korea, police and military forces have resorted to violence against their own people on Jeju Island. They are resisting construction of an Aegis missile destroyer base. This is the world's reaction to the US' outworn legacy of far flung military bases and "might makes right" diplomacy.
The Senator and the military, from the Commander in Chief on down, should look over their shoulders at the real threats to national security: poverty, joblessness, debt, and citizens' frustration and anger that the government serves financial donors, in this case the arms industry, and not them.
It was especially distressing to read the words of kupuna Aletha Kaohi who stood her culture on its head by interpreting the "need to be pono for balance" to encompass development of ever more deadly weaponry on Kauai. Surely this is not the interpretation of most cultural practitioners, kumu hulas and kanaka maoli on Kauai.
Aegis coming ashore at PMRF By Dennis Fujimoto on 29 August 2011 for Garden Island News - (http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/military/article_99de5f70-d2e4-11e0-972e-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1WpIZzRVT)
Image above: Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho (purple shirt) and Kauai State Senator Ron Kouchi (green check shirt) represent local political hacks at abominable event. From this TGI article.
Dignitaries on Monday dedicated the site of a new missile testing complex that is expected to be up and running within the next couple years at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. “There are people in the world who would harm and kill us,” U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said. “We are not testing to kill, but to defend. ... I pray the product of testing will not be used, but will be a deterrent for those who would harm us.”
The Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex will be built on two locations at the Westside base as a test and evaluation center in the development of the Phased Adaptive Approach’s second phase.
President Barrack Obama in September 2009 said the plan is to provide flexible, adaptable ballistic missile defense for the nation’s deployed troops, friends and allies, a PMRF news release states.
Dignitaries participating in the event included Inouye; Capt. Nicholas Mongillo, PMRF commander; Rear Admiral Dixon Smith, commander of Navy Region Hawai‘i and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific; and Rear Admiral Joseph Horn, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program executive.
Horn, in congratulating PMRF for being a first-rate range and being considered the “Jewel of the Pacific,” said Aegis Ashore, simply put, is cutting the deckhouse off a ship and moving it on land.
He alluded to Rear Admiral Wayne Meyer, regarded as the “Father of Aegis,” who often said, “Build a little, test a little and learn a lot.”
Tom Clements, PMRF public affairs officer, and Ralph Scott, public affairs for the Missile Defense Agency, said a contractor should be selected by the end of 2011 and the test complex should be ready some time in 2013.
Following initial certification, the AAMDTC will remain at PMRF as a Missile Defense Agency test asset and will be operated by the Missile Defense Agency, the PMRF release states.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, named after the legendary shield of Zeus, is deployed on 81 serving naval ships around the globe with more than 25 additional Aegis-equipped ships planned or under contract, states an article on the Defense Industry Daily website.
Smith said there are six naval Aegis-equipped ships home-ported at Pearl Harbor on O‘ahu.
The sea-based element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System under development by the Missile Defense Agency integrates with submarines, surface ships as well as the U.S. Army and Air Force.
Smith said there are plans to install the BMDS in Romania in 2015 and in Poland in 2018, those systems having gone through testing at PMRF.
The test complex at PMRF is critical to the development of the Aegis Ashore capability, the PMRF release states. The complex is essential for verifying requirements and validating design capability.
Deployment of Aegis Ashore to Europe will greatly enhance coverage of defense of Europe as part of the overall BMDS, officials said.
Tracing the history of the U.S. Navy on Kaua‘i, Smith said the Navy has a deep respect for the history of the island with a face to the future.
“Barking Sands has been on the edge of history since it became a runway in 1921,” Smith said. “In 1941, the Navy expanded it to become an airstrip and in 1956, the first missile launch started the legacy of testing.”
Shielded from the sun by tent canopies, kupuna Aletha Kaohi melded the Hawaiian culture and her background of growing up “just a couple of ridges down” into a solemn ceremony.
Kaohi said the landscape of Hawai‘i changed after the landing of Capt. James Cook and people are still arriving.
“If we are to be one with unity, we need to bridge the differences,” Kaohi said. “There is a need to be pono for balance.”
In calling to the “one god by many different names (from the different cultures),” the ancestral spirits, Kaohi offered thanksgiving to honor and respect.
An umeke or ipu, bowl or calabash, a dried gourd painted in a style unique to West Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, would be the ho‘okupu to the contractor when selected.
Kaohi said the gourd had the shape of Kaua‘i and the paintings showed a clear melding of PMRF into the landscape of Kaua‘i, the cover representing the sky, the gourd contents before being removed, the cosmos with its countless stars.
“The umeke will be the container of mana, or spirit,” Kaohi said. “Look to within and get rid of the ‘opala, or rubbish.”
.
No comments :
Post a Comment