Re: [CPEO-MEF] Guam

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

From:  Donald Zweifel <zweifel@earthlink.net>


To all interested parties:


Wish to set the record straight re the situation on Guam.

Please note: Official records were referred to for statistical data.

Guam is at the bottom of the Northern Mariana Island chain and shares
her littoral waters with historically infamous Saipan and Tinian islands
which are approximately 200 miles to the north. She's 1800 miles south
of Tokyo and about the same distance from Pearl Harbor/Honolulu.

Guam was ceded to the US by Spain in 1898, after the Spanish-American
War. Became a US military outpost sometime in the late 30's. She was
invaded by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941 and consequently
eliminated as a fighting force there in 1944. The detritus of that
combat was significant, with derelict and sunken Japanese and American
ships which are still oozing bunker oil and all manner of contaminants
into the drink.

Japan is just as culpable if not more so in regards to the
responsibility of cleaning up the jetsam and flotsam of that terrible
war. Therefore any concerns re this particular contamination should also
implicate the Japanese government. 

Let's lay some of this on their doorstep too.

Don't you believe placing all the blame and responsibility for
remediation and restoration exclusively on the US is patently unfair and
inequable? Bashing the US has become a favorite past-time for far too
long, n'est-ce pas? 

Guam still happens to be one of the most strategically sensitive bases
in the Pacific. During the VN war our largest B-52 bomber base was at
Anderson AFB, aka: "ArcLight" located on the island. Many of these
aircraft also landed in UKP or Udorn in Thailand or Clark AFB in the
Philippines so the USAF aircrews were exposed to toxic environments
there also.

The official statistics re human life expectancy ostensibly appear to
counteract the claim that the island's population are dying like flies.
Longevity factors for Guamanians are 75 for males and 80 years for females.

The most pressing and serious environmental problem on the island
appears to be the native bird population which is being decimated by the
non-indigenous Brown Tree Snake, not by TCE, Benzene, Arsenic or other
carcinogenic chemicals. Soon there won't be any birds left.... Isn't
this problem far more grave because of the issue regarding immediacy?

In reference to Radon gas. As far as I know it's basically naturally
occurring in our native soils. Some localities particularly near the
eastern seaboard of the US have a significant preponderance and in some
other areas of our country it is a rarity to find much in the way of
detectable quantities.

In regards to military personnel previously stationed on Guam. Would
imagine that if any of those airmen and women spent time in hazmat
clean-up or actually in the toxic waste dumps then we could say they
might possibly need to submit a claim to VA for a service-connected
disability even if it is a bit belated. On the other hand we can assume
that the vast majority of USAF personnel never came anywhere near these areas.

Other items of potential interest:
The current population of Guam is over 149,000.
The island consists of 550 sq. miles of landed area.
The ethnic diversity is: 47% Chamorro, 25% Filipino, 10% White and 18% other
Asian.

Don Zweifel
El Toro & Tustin MCAS RAB
Cons., El Toro LRA and veteran.
Note: Vital statistics source: Official country website via
<www.ecoworld.com>

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