Puerto Rico Protesters "Win" Another One!
Do you remember when Puerto Rico was raising heck about the US Navy using
that nothing little island just off the coast of Puerto Rico for bombing
practices, which they had used for the past 75 years? Demonstrations
were held, Hollywood left wingers, Al Sharpton, and his fellow demagogues
went down there to demonstrate to get the Navy out?
I am sure it infuriated you just as it did me at the time. Well, here is
our revenge.
Always be careful what you ask for, you just may get it!
One of the many headaches that the U. S. has had was the Puerto Rican
Island of Vieques . In the waning years of the Clinton Administration,
protesters demanded that the US Navy abandon bombing and naval gun fire
exercises that had taken place on the largely uninhabited island for
nearly seventy years. Liberal icons bumped into one another to fly to
Puerto Rico , boat over to the island, trespass (but never on a day that
there was an exercise scheduled!) and get arrested for the benefit of
photo ops with the New York Times or Newsweek. They included the
standard list of repeat offenders: Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Joan
Baez, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Edward Olmos, Michael Moore and Ramsey
Clark , just to name a few.
In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force bombing
range in central Florida , not far from the Jacksonville and Pensacola
Naval Air Stations. In January, many of the protesters were back in
Puerto Rico, celebrating the final bombing exercise on Vieques and waved
Puerto Rican flags and placards that read:
"U.S. Navy, get out of Puerto Rico !"
The following February, Rumsfeld announced that the U.S. Navy will close
the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico in 2004, eliminating
1200 civilian jobs as well as 700 military positions. This naval
facility is estimated to have put nearly $300 million annually into the
local Puerto Rican economy.
The next day a stunned Governor Sila Calderon held a news conference in
San Juan , protesting the base closure as a serious blow to the
Commonwealth's fragile economy. The governor stated that ". . . the
people of Puerto Rico don't now or never did have an interest in closing
the Vieques bombing range or the Roosevelt Roads naval base. We are
interested in both staying in Puerto Rico ."
When asked, the Commander-in Chief, Western Atlantic Command,
said,"Without Vieques, I see no further need for the facility at
Roosevelt Roads. None."
So: Yankee go home? Fine. But we'll take our dollars with us. Hasta la
vista, baby!
On February 21, 2006 the Secretary of Defense also announced that
starting this year, the U.S. European Command would begin moving most if
not all of its active combat and support units from bases in Germany to
others being established in Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary and
Turkey to ". . . better position them for rapid deployment to likely hot
spots in those parts of the world."
Immediately the business and government leaders in the German states of
Hesse, Rhineland and Wurttemburg, protested the loss of nearly $6 billion
in revenue each year from the bases and manpower to be displaced. A
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry speculated that the move may be ". . .
what the Americans call 'payback' for the actions of this government in
opposing Military action in Iraq ." OK: Maybe.
Does anyone know the German translation for: "Hasta la vista, baby?"
I think "Aufwiedersehen, liebshen" is a good translation. Oh, ain't it
nice to see a government with guts and a long memory.
ATTA BOY, George!
GOD BLESS AMERICA ! 8)
Do you remember when Puerto Rico was raising heck about the US Navy using
that nothing little island just off the coast of Puerto Rico for bombing
practices, which they had used for the past 75 years? Demonstrations
were held, Hollywood left wingers, Al Sharpton, and his fellow demagogues
went down there to demonstrate to get the Navy out?
I am sure it infuriated you just as it did me at the time. Well, here is
our revenge.
Always be careful what you ask for, you just may get it!
One of the many headaches that the U. S. has had was the Puerto Rican
Island of Vieques . In the waning years of the Clinton Administration,
protesters demanded that the US Navy abandon bombing and naval gun fire
exercises that had taken place on the largely uninhabited island for
nearly seventy years. Liberal icons bumped into one another to fly to
Puerto Rico , boat over to the island, trespass (but never on a day that
there was an exercise scheduled!) and get arrested for the benefit of
photo ops with the New York Times or Newsweek. They included the
standard list of repeat offenders: Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Joan
Baez, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Edward Olmos, Michael Moore and Ramsey
Clark , just to name a few.
In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force bombing
range in central Florida , not far from the Jacksonville and Pensacola
Naval Air Stations. In January, many of the protesters were back in
Puerto Rico, celebrating the final bombing exercise on Vieques and waved
Puerto Rican flags and placards that read:
"U.S. Navy, get out of Puerto Rico !"
The following February, Rumsfeld announced that the U.S. Navy will close
the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico in 2004, eliminating
1200 civilian jobs as well as 700 military positions. This naval
facility is estimated to have put nearly $300 million annually into the
local Puerto Rican economy.
The next day a stunned Governor Sila Calderon held a news conference in
San Juan , protesting the base closure as a serious blow to the
Commonwealth's fragile economy. The governor stated that ". . . the
people of Puerto Rico don't now or never did have an interest in closing
the Vieques bombing range or the Roosevelt Roads naval base. We are
interested in both staying in Puerto Rico ."
When asked, the Commander-in Chief, Western Atlantic Command,
said,"Without Vieques, I see no further need for the facility at
Roosevelt Roads. None."
So: Yankee go home? Fine. But we'll take our dollars with us. Hasta la
vista, baby!
On February 21, 2006 the Secretary of Defense also announced that
starting this year, the U.S. European Command would begin moving most if
not all of its active combat and support units from bases in Germany to
others being established in Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary and
Turkey to ". . . better position them for rapid deployment to likely hot
spots in those parts of the world."
Immediately the business and government leaders in the German states of
Hesse, Rhineland and Wurttemburg, protested the loss of nearly $6 billion
in revenue each year from the bases and manpower to be displaced. A
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry speculated that the move may be ". . .
what the Americans call 'payback' for the actions of this government in
opposing Military action in Iraq ." OK: Maybe.
Does anyone know the German translation for: "Hasta la vista, baby?"
I think "Aufwiedersehen, liebshen" is a good translation. Oh, ain't it
nice to see a government with guts and a long memory.
ATTA BOY, George!
GOD BLESS AMERICA ! 8)
