LIHU‘E — U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai‘i, said Wednesday the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands near Kekaha played a pivotal role in preparing U.S. troops for battle during Desert Storm more than a decade ago,
LIHU‘E — U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai‘i, said Wednesday the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands near Kekaha played a pivotal role in preparing U.S. troops for battle during Desert Storm more than a decade ago, and in the ongoing Iraq War.
Inouye, who visited Kaua‘i Tuesday and Wednesday, said Navy submarines trained in shallow waters off the Mana base to prepare for combat in the shallow waters found in the Persian Gulf.
“We are the only place in the United States where submarines can train in shallow waters, test weaponry,” Inouye said at the Kauai Economic Development Board’s annual luncheon at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club here.
More than 60 people attended.
With the passage of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq, and the rising death and injury toll of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen, Inouye offered his assessments of America’s role in the world:
- People in the “world community” are uncomfortable with the superpower status of the United States. One would think that citizens in foreign countries would be pleased, as the United States is a democracy, the leader of the free world, Inouye said. While foreign nations may admire “our democracy,” they resent it being forced upon them, alluding to ongoing attempts to plant the political system in Iraq, Inouye said. Living in a democracy provided his family with opportunity, Inouye said. His grandparents landed at Port Allen Harbor in 1899, and three generations later, “a grandson became a United States senator. You can’t write a book about that, it is so unbelievable,” Inouye said;
- Citizens in foreign countries become nervous whenever U.S. political leaders talk about “regime changes. Imagine if you are Syrian, Korean or Iranian. If you listen to the discussion of debates in Washington D.C., you begin to ask yourself, ‘Are we next?'” Inouye said;
- People from foreign countries are uncomfortable around countries with power and might, because they feel “unequal;”
- U.S. leaders should respect the decision by the French government not to get involved in the Iraq War. French leaders didn’t commit their nation to the conflict because they felt the war was not in their nation’s best interest, a sentiment U.S. leaders and other Americans should respect, Inouye said.
During World War II, U.S. leaders knew about the Nazi concentration camps and heard pleas from French leaders to join the fight against wartime Germany, Inouye said.
U.S. leaders didn’t join the fight initially because they felt the war “was not in the best interest” of the United States, Inouye said.
The U.S. military only entered the war because of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, first declaring war on Japan and then Germany and its allies, Inouye said.
“We should respect the interest of these countries. Some of my colleagues have forgotten that France is in Afghanistan. Their soldiers are serving and dying for us,” Inouye said.
Discussing other matters, Inouye complimented Capt. Jeff Connelly, PMRF commanding officer, for resolving beach-access issues around the Mana base.
Stricter access rules were instituted around PMRF and other military bases following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“A problem that could have been explosive now has been calmed down,” Inouye said. Audience members applauded Connelly for his help in resolving the access issue.
A little more than a decade ago, leaders in the U.S. Congress looked at shutting down PMRF and other bases in cost-cutting moves.
But after an investigation by the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee of the operations at PMRF and other bases, a decision, fortunately, was made to postpone the closure of the Kaua‘i base, Inouye said.
“PMRF is important, and with the support of the public, it has become a treasure, an asset to the United States,” Inouye said.
The base is the site of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) installation, a component of the nation’s Ballistic Missile Defense System.
Rockets will be fired from PMRF and Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to test the system. Interceptor missiles would then be fired from sites on land or from aircraft or ships.
The goal of the missile-defense system is to protect troops in combat by destroying enemy missiles while they are in space.
On matters unrelated to PMRF, Inouye praised Republican Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste for having helped to set up a program in five months to battle crystal methamphetamine (ice) use on Kaua‘i.
“I am a politician, but when it comes to our constituents and economy, I put aside partisan politics,” Inouye said. “Our chief partner on the island is the mayor.”
Baptiste also helped push through an innovative program that allows for training public-school custodians to make minor repairs at school facilities on Kaua‘i, Inouye said. Their work has helped saved $50,000 in taxpayer money so far.
Kaua‘i County officials got the program off the ground with Inouye’s help, and now other counties in Hawai‘i want to set up similar programs.
Inouye said Kaua‘i has a special spiritual energy to get the impossible done.
Islanders pulled together after Hurricane ‘Iniki devastated Kaua‘i in 1992, he said.
With the help of $1.2 billion in federal funds, reconstruction of public structures began, said Inouye, who played a key role in bringing emergency-assistance funds to the island.
The legacy of the hurricane remains today, as the U.S. Congress has appropriated $80,000 to upgrade the county bus system, Inouye said.
The bus system was the brainchild of Kaua‘i County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, mayor of Kaua‘i at the time.
Inouye also said he was pleasantly surprised to hear that residents and companies that operate at PMRF recently raised more than $100,000 for a program to help island students.
“This island community, and I must tell you, as a member of the United States Senate, and I served for 42 years, has impressed me as being something very special,” Inouye said. “I can’t quite explain it. It must be the spirit here.”
Also attending the meeting were Kaua‘i County Council Chairman Kaipo Asing; Laurie Yoshida, Gov. Linda Lingle’s Kaua‘i liaison; David Pratt, the president of Grove Farm, the largest developer in East Kaua‘i; Alton Miyamoto, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative president and chief executive officer; Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau; Abigail Santos, Kaua‘i County Planning Commission member; Beth Tokioka, head of the county Office of Economic Development; Daniel Hamada, Kaua‘i district superintendent for the state Department of Education; Mamo Cummings, president of the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce; and county public information officer Cyndi Ozaki.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
