Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and resigned in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She has lived in Honolulu for 17 years and is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
Kyle Kajihiro has researched the militarization of Hawaii for decades. He is the former Hawaii area program director of the American Friends Service Committee.
Jim Albertini has been a social justice activist since the U.S. war on Vietnam. He is the founder of Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education and Action and the author of "The Dark Side of Paradise: Hawai'i in a Nuclear World."
Mitchell’s book is a reminder to all residents of Hawaii, the home of the headquarters of U.S. military operations in Asia and the Pacific, of the military poisoning and pollution that has been happening in our region for decades.
Unexploded ordnance sits on Lanikai Beach after being recovered by Navy salvage personnel last April.
Charles Oki/U.S. Navy
From 1964-1978, 2,189 steel drums of radioactive waste, including clothing, tools and other materials contaminated from radioactive nuclear refueling of nuclear submarines at Pearl Harbor, were dumped 55 miles off Oahu.
The rounds were fired at Schofield Barracks Army base on Oahu and at the Pohakuloa Military Training Area on Hawaii island.
In 1994, two DU rounds were accidentally fired by the USS Lake Erie while the ship was in Pearl Harbor and went up into the Koolau mountains above the Honolulu suburb of Aiea. They were never recovered.
In the 1960s, in the Shipboard Hazard and Defense project, the U.S. military sprayed chemical agents on ships and their crews to determine how quickly the poisons could be detected and how rapidly they would disperse, as well as to test the effectiveness of protective gear and decontamination procedures.
In 1964, a test named Flower Drum Phase I was conducted off the coast of Hawaii. The USS George Eastman, a Navy cargo ship, was sprayed with nerve agent sarin gas that went into the ventilation system while the crew wore various levels of protective gear.
Additionally, in 1965 and 1966, the U.S. military sprayed bacteria over Oahu to simulate a biological attack. In 1969, Deseret Test Center Test 69-32, a U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom jet southwest of Oahu, sprayed five Navy tugboats using two germs.
In 1965, the U.S. Navy detonated three massive explosions on Kahoolawe. This was the first of the three, Shot Bravo.
U.S. NAVY
In one of the most destructive periods of U.S. military history in Hawaii, from 1941 to 1990, a huge quantity of artillery, bombs, missiles and torpedoes was fired into the island of Kahoolawe, including three massive 500-ton TNT explosions intended to simulate nuclear blasts on ships.
The ancient leaking jet fuel tanks are only 100 feet above the drinking water aquifer of Honolulu and have been a source of citizen concern for decades.
Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.
Community Voices aims to encourage broad discussion on many
topics of
community interest. It’s kind of
a cross between Letters to the Editor and op-eds. This is your space to talk about important issues or
interesting people who are making a difference in our world. Column lengths should be no more than 800
words and we need a photo of the author and a bio. We welcome video commentary and other multimedia
formats. Send to news@civilbeat.org. The opinions and
information expressed in Community Voices are solely those of the authors and not Civil Beat.
During a crisis like this, it’s more important than ever to dig beyond the news, to figure out
what
government policies mean for ordinary citizens and how those policies were put together.
This is perhaps the biggest, most consequential story our reporters will ever cover. And at no
other
time in Civil Beat’s history have we relied on your support more. Please consider supporting
Civil Beat
by making a tax-deductible gift.
Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and resigned in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She has lived in Honolulu for 17 years and is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
Kyle Kajihiro has researched the militarization of Hawaii for decades. He is the former Hawaii area program director of the American Friends Service Committee.
Jim Albertini has been a social justice activist since the U.S. war on Vietnam. He is the founder of Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education and Action and the author of "The Dark Side of Paradise: Hawai'i in a Nuclear World."
Now Iâm glad I donÊ»t indulge in consuming seafood/fish!
GoldenRuleUpholder·
1 month ago
We, humans, have systematically been destroying the earth and its environment for many decades now. There are not many innocent parties in this global offense. I believe we need to go Green, and go Green swiftly.
Scotty_Poppins·
1 month ago
Plutonium, chemical weapons, Agent Orange, Sarin gas, Hydrogen cyanide, cyanogen, radioactive waste, depleted uranium, bacteria sprayed, jet fuel in a humongous aged tanks just above an aquifer...???Whoa, all in the name of protecting America and its people?
IDEAS is the place you'll find essays, analysis and opinion on every aspect of life and public affairs in Hawaii. We want to showcase smart ideas about the future of Hawaii, from the state's sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org to submit an idea.