18 June 2015

Pacific islanders try to stop US military's plans for a simulated war zone



the guardian


People of Pagan and Tinian to take their appeal directly to Obama to save islands’ rare ecosystems from ‘irreparable damage’ and residents from forced re.location.

If the Pentagon gets its way, a pair of idyllic Pacific islands have just two years before their tranquillity is pierced by the roar of US B-52 bombers, fighter jets and artillery fire.

Faced with the destruction of their homeland, residents are to take their appeal directly to Barack Obama in an attempt to block US military plans to turn Tinian and Pagan – US territories that form part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – into a simulated theatre of war.

Campaigners say the arrival of thousands of navy seamen and marines on the tiny islands would obliterate rare coral ecosystems and wildlife, and force some residents to relocate.

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