Diversionary mental fatigue strategy

The military is determined to secure its land needs through condemnation action and not through equitable and compensable means. How else can one reasonably explain the time frame given to the people of the Commonwealth to read, digest, and completely comprehend thousands and thousands of pages contained in the Environmental Impact Study EIS within the 90-day allotted time period?

The EIS documents contained technical terms and a barrage of military jargons and they expect the people of the Commonwealth to literally internalize all of the information in 90 days. It just defies practicality. Having us go through this reading exercise is just a camouflage and a pretext to their designed strategy. Very likely, the United States will assert its authority through the Covenant by way of condemnation. While Section 806 of the Covenant allows for the United States to execuite the power of eminent domain for those purposes that specifically serves the public good, condemning NMD’s property solely to establish military training facility to sharpen killing skills, I say is not serving the public good.

People of the Commonwealth, this is the audacity of the Environmental Impact Study EIS that the military has presented. The true intent of the military is not for us to thoroughly understand what the study is all about but to own our will and confuse our judgments. It took the military years and a host of their own experts to compile these voluminous applied and environmental sciences and now they are imposing a time frame on us to make an informed decision on their own assessments. I consider this a deliberate “diversionary mental fatigue” (DMF) strategy employed by our infamous military war wizards.

Am I highly critical of the military as a defender of our democracy? The real truth is I am not. As a matter of fact, three of my children are serving in the military and all of them have been deployed to risky places like Iraqi, Afghanistan, and South Korea. My vocal objection to the military is their intent to occupy, use, destroy, and contaminate our islands. If you don’t believe that this will happen, just look at how the military treats its own veterans and all the places they occupied. There are more than enough evidences on the subject of military land destructions and social upheavals on occupied territories and regions.

My other concern is affecting empathy toward those of our Chamorros and Carolinians who have fallen victims of the dreaded disease call cancer. I am not a health expert and neither am I a trained professional but the unusually high rate of cancer related deaths in the Commonwealth is exceedingly alarming. Comparatively speaking, a community the size of ours when reference to a similar rural areas in the United States in a per capita basis, our cancer rate victims are disproportionately high.

The most alarming part of this observation is that the victims are predominantly post war born. There is creditable correlation between those toxic and hazardous chemicals the military used and did not properly disposed during and after the war, and concealed from us seeping through our water lenses that are causing this upsurge in our cancer rate victims. Here in the Commonwealth we almost exclusively dependent on underground water for our potable water supply. How else can one explain the high rates of ovarian, colon, breast, kidney, liver, and other forms of cancer in the CNMI? The victims are 99.99 percent Chamorros and Carolinians.

In the pre-war populations of Chamorros and Carolinians this terrifying and deadly disease is almost unheard of. This is the reason why our elders are bewildered by the wide spread of cancer in the CNMI victimizing relatively young middle-age group. There is empirical evidence to suggest that the military’s gross negligence in its handlings of its hazardous and toxic chemicals on the islands is an accomplice to this debilitating disease in the CNMI.

The military must be held accountable and liable for its egregious action, and by inflicting this harm upon our unsuspecting population of Chamorros and Carolinians. I strongly suggest to our leaders that any further discussion about military land need in the CNMI must and should be predicated first on cancer victims and their families’ compensation and future victims as well. The CNMI government should file a cause of action against the military for its gross and intentional negligence in its handling of hazardous and toxic chemicals and for concealing its presence from us.

People of the CNMI, especially Chamorros and Carolinians we have every reason to be fearful and distrustful of the military practices and their cavalier attitudes. The secretiveness of the military is worrisome but worst of they can easily make things and people disappear without a trace.

Daniel O. Quitugua
Kanat Tabla