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Anti-War Up - Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorial on Stryker
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Editorials http://starbulletin.com/2003/12/20/e...ditorials.html Saturday, December 20, 2003 [ OUR OPINION ] Changes should alter Stryker appraisals THE ISSUE The Stryker brigade approved for Hawaii may be equipped with helicopters and cannons not included in the Army's environmental report. ADDITIONS could alter the effects the Stryker brigade that's to be based here will have on the state and should be included in environmental appraisals. If not, the Army stands vulnerable to protracted battles over the brigade that has already attracted opposition. The announcement this week that a Stryker Brigade Combat Team will be stationed in Hawaii indicates the "enhanced" force will contain Comanche helicopters and 155 mm howitzers in addition to the 300 19-ton, eight-wheeled armored vehicles around which the unit is designed. The heightened aviation squadron and heavier fire support forces may not have significant effects, but could bring into question the validity of the Army's draft environmental impact statement. Congressman Neil Abercrombie jubilantly proclaimed the Pentagon's approval of the brigade, touting the hundreds of millions of dollars the Army plans to spend on Oahu and the Big Island to accommodate the unit that will require acquisition of 1,400 acres to augment the 27,000 acres Schofield Barracks now occupies in Wahiawa and another 23,000 acres at the 108,890-acre Pohakuloa Training Area. A spokeswoman told the Star-Bulletin's Gregg Kakesako that officials were still trying to sort out details the Pentagon did not provide, but that the Army would ensure environmental compliance. The Army's newest Comanche attack helicopters apparently will replace Kiowas assigned to other Stryker brigades, so significant changes in effects aren't expected. The larger howitzers likely will be restricted to certain firing zones as would have the 105 mm cannons with which brigades generally are equipped. Nonetheless, the draft assessment does not include the new equipment and with conflict already heightened after hearings on the environmental statement resulted in the arrests of seven people earlier in the year, the alterations could become a sticking point. Coupled with the continuing discord over the Army's training exercises in Makua Valley and the history of confrontation over Kahoolawe with the Navy, community dissent could expand. The Army should do what it can to mitigate further contention, even if it means further hearings and an extension of its public comment period. © 2003 Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- http://starbulletin.com |
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Re: Anti-War Up - Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorial on Stryker
In article
"redvet" > Honolulu Star-Bulletin > Editorials > http://starbulletin.com/2003/12/20/e...ditorials.html - - - - - [snip] - - - - - > > A spokeswoman told the Star-Bulletin's Gregg > Kakesako that officials were still trying to sort > out details the Pentagon did not provide, but > that the Army would ensure environmental > compliance. > > The Army's newest Comanche attack helicopters > apparently will replace Kiowas assigned to other > Stryker brigades, so significant changes in > effects aren't expected. The larger howitzers > likely will be restricted to certain firing zones > as would have the 105 mm cannons with which > brigades generally are equipped. - - - - - [snip] - - - - - Aloha Scotty, Your suggested editorial raises a few questions. If, as you indicate, there will be "NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES" and "THE ARMY WOULD ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE," why should it be necessary to hold additional hearings? Explain how one can compare the small band of aging Revolutionary Communist Party radical crackpots protesting Makua training and the Stryker brigade to the Protect Kahoolawe movement of the seventies, which was supported by the overwhelming majority of the state's population. -- |
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