Stryker hearing, DMZ-Hawaii statement

Advertiser article and Star-Bulletin article on the Styker case hearing before Judge Ezra yesterday.

Doug also had a post Sunday previewing the hearing with links to an article, and looking at how Inouye's op-ed managed to "weaken his own case in an offhand way."

DMZ-Hawaii also put out this statement, which you can download in PDF, and I'm also posting in the extended entry.

For Immediate Release: December 18, 2006

Contact: Kyle Kajihiro, (808) 988-6266 or (808) 542-3668

DMZ-Hawai‘i / Aloha ‘Aina Statement on Proposed Stryker Training

The DMZ-Hawai‘i / Aloha ‘Aina network has opposed the Stryker Brigade and other military expansion from the start. We applaud the efforts of Earthjustice and the three plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Army Stryker Brigade - ‘Ilio‘ulaokalani, Na Imi Pono and Kipuka - for exposing the Army’s violations of the law and delaying the disastrous Stryker expansion. However we wish to clarify our position on proposed Stryker training activities.

No War! No Strykers!
DMZ-Hawai‘i / Aloha ‘Aina rejects any and all proposed Stryker construction or training activities in Hawai‘i. The Stryker Brigade in Hawai‘i is an illegal and catastrophic project meant for use in an illegal and catastrophic war. The bitter history of the U.S. military in Hawai‘i has demonstrated that if the military gets an inch, it will take a mile, or in this case, 25,000 acres of land. We refuse to allow our sacred ‘aina to be used to perpetuate wars of aggression against other countries and peoples, or to let politicians send our loved ones to kill or be killed in such immoral and illegal wars.

Why Hawai‘i? It’s about the ‘pork’.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said that the Army failed to answer the question “Why Hawai‘i?” and ordered the Army to complete a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) that considered alternatives. But it is unlikely that another EIS will be able to honestly answer such a question that is essentially political. Stryker Brigades are in Hawai‘i and Alaska because of the power of Hawai‘i’s and Alaska’s Senators to secure ‘military pork’. Politicians cannot claim to be against the war while promoting the military expansion that drives wars.

Clearly the timing of Senator Inouye’s pro-Stryker editorial in the Honolulu Advertiser on the eve of an important court hearing was intended to influence the court. But it is also a thinly veiled attempt to deflect attention from Congressional earmarks as the driving impetus for militarization in Hawai‘i. Evoking greatly exaggerated threats – an “unstable, dangerous and well-armed dictator in North Korea” and blood-thirsty terrorists at our doorstep in the Philippines and Indonesia – the Senator’s editorial seeks to stir up fear and reaction while silencing dissent. In mentioning the reduction of U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea the Senator failed to explain that the people of those countries forced the downsizing of U.S. forces through relentless protest. We refuse to be silent. We will continue to protest the dangerously provocative U.S. military realignment in the Pacific, including the Strykers.

Redirect Funds to Develop Human and Environmental Security in Hawai‘i
In order for Hawai‘i to have a healthy economy and true security, we must have healthy communities in a healthy environment and an economy that is not overly dependent on any single source of revenue. The Stryker Brigade expansion threatens community and environmental health and increases Hawai‘i’s addiction to military pork. We call for the reallocation of Stryker appropriations to support human needs such as housing, health care, renewable energy creation, and education and the clean up and restoration of military-contaminated areas of our islands. A preference for hiring should go to those workers who were promised jobs under the halted Stryker projects.

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Posted: Tue - December 19, 2006 at 07:13 AM

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Stryker hearing, DMZ-Hawaii statement

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