Good and bad press coverage

James Cave’s May 29, 2015, Huffington Post article The Pentagon Wants to Bomb the Hell out of This Tiny Pacific Island was both good and bad. It was good because it provided press coverage of just how disproportionately destructive proposed American and allied force training would be if conducted on a pristine virgin isle located in the Marianas Islands. The article was bad, however, because it did not do enough to adequately convey the grave concerns that the Chamorros and Carolinians of these Marianas Islands actually have when it comes to matters of the military.

For example, most of James Cave’s article focused on quotes from one person, Michael Hadfield, who works as a biologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It is clear from Hadfield’s remarks that native animals, plants, and birds may face severe declines, damage, and possible extinction should the military use the island for practicing full scale live-fire beach assaults from the sea, air, space, and land. It is also clear from Mr. Cave’s article that Pagan is one of the few places on the planet where there are no invasive species. That in and of itself is remarkable and is cause to preserve Pagan for future generations.

Mr. Cave, however, made several omissions in his article. He did not place focus on just how overwhelming the stress has become for villagers on Tinian Island, driven by the military’s desire to further increase live-fire training and testing that would bring about additional health, noise, and quality of life risks. Mr. Cave omitted to state in his article just how disproportionate the impacts produced by the military would be on Tinian should the Marines utilize even more land on an island that is only 40 square miles. Mr. Cave also omitted to explain just how tightly controlled and monologued the DEIS process has been and how it is being viewed by Chamorros and Carolinians alike as disadvantageous and intentionally complicated and deceptive.

If Pagan and Tinian are used for additional military training, the islands will see irreversible damage that will result in both cultural and environmental injury to the Chamorro and Carolinian peoples who call the Marianas Islands home. This proposal by the military is unacceptable, unreasonable, and disproportionately harmful and should not be supported because the Marines can train in Australia, Japan, Hawaii, and the west coast of the United States.

Rick Perez
Hanover, NH