On Thursday, March 27, 2003, at 03:16 PM, Shahan, Ray wrote:

> I don't recall the name of the base, but there is a U.S. military base
> on an
> island that was used for bombing training, the locals raised enough
> hell
> (along with Jesse Jackson and a few other I-want-to-be-in-any-spotlight
> folks) about the bombing, that then president Clinton agreed to stop
> the
> bombing...that prompted the military to decide to close the base (it
> was,
> after all, a bombing training base)...this closing is also going
> forward
> under the Bush presidency.   Now comes the twist, the locals are now
> crying
> (and raising hell with the U.S. congress) to keep the base open because
> their economic survival depends on the money from the base, but they
> just
> want the money from the base, they still don't want to have the bombing
> training!!  Yup, that's got to be Yankee imperialism at its finest!!
>
> It takes all kinds...huh?

'Vieques' is the name of that island. In 1951, I participated in a
presentation for Navy & Marine staff officers.  As a 1st Lieutenant
leader of a 6-man shore party, I directed the firing of the Cruiser
'Columbus' on to shore targets on Vieques while the staff officers
observed from a station on top of a hill overlooking the bay.

The island was beautiful and the water in the bay was crystal clear.

However, over the last half century (or more) this, and other such,
firing has created a great deal of damage to what was a beautiful
island. It needs to be severely cleaned up.

http://www.afsc.org/lac/strings/vieques.htm

FW

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