[CPEO-MEF] Setting The Record Straight On Navy Exercises In Vieques

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Dayton Daily News
October 2, 2000
Setting The Record Straight On Navy Exercises In Vieques 

IN A JULY 7 EDITORIAL ("NAVY can defuse Vieques tension") the Dayton Daily
News urged the Navy to set a date for an impending referendum in which the
people of Vieques, a sparsely populated island off Puerto Rico's east
coast, will determine the fate of the Navy's critical training facility
there.  The referendum is scheduled for May 1, 2001, or up to 270 days
earlier or later, per the presidential directives of Jan. 31, 2000,
regarding Navy training on the island. We need to clear up some popular
misconceptions and put the controversy in the proper perspective. The U.S.
Navy serves the American people. Our first obligation in training our
forces is that we do no harm to our neighbors in the process. We must
always consider the effects of training on our neighbors and fellow
citizens, whether they are in Vieques or elsewhere in the United States.
Honesty dictates that we all look objectively and clearly at the effects
visited on Vieques. To date, there is no verifiable scientific study
linking Navy activities with health issues on the island. If credible
evidence appears, we are compelled to look at it, understand what we see
and change our actions accordingly. We also have the obligation to
communicate what we are doing and why we are doing it. The Navy is fully
cooperating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a
public-health assessment for Vieques and looks forward to the results of
the study. Spurious allegations have cast Navy operations at Vieques in a
bad light. Unfortunately, this process has not been a fair one, but one in
which the loudest voice from special-interest groups often carries the day.
 More than 90 percent of those detained and subsequently arrested for
attempting to disrupt Navy training have not even been from Vieques, for
example. Solving real problems requires sobriety, science and straight
answers rather than falling back on convenient scapegoats or politically
motivated excuses. 

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