War on Terror?--or on the Military?

The Washington Times ^ | 19 Aug 02 | commiefighter

[commiefighter]

It may surprise some that during this period of national emergency and the War on Terror: Army and Marine units can train in California’s Mojave Desert only during the daytime so as not to trample tortoises; or that inland training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina is made almost impossible by a rare species of woodpecker; or Hawaii’s Makua Military Reservation was once shut down by a tree snail; or Navy Seal training is severely restricted on Coronado Island by the snowy plover. It might further be surprising to many that language in the 2003 Defense Appropriations Bill could take the Navy to task for disturbing seals sunning themselves along any given shoreline. Welcome to the new world of eco-extremist clout in the US Congress. Osama might not able to stop us, but look out for the snowy plover.

Environmentalist complaints led to an injunction banning the military from conducting any kind of training on a North Marianas island, according to the Guam Pacific Daily News. The suit claimed that live-fire exercises violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. And, speaking of birds, General John Keane, the Army’s vice chief of staff has testified that at Fort Bragg, home of Special Forces and other airborne units, the Army has been ordered to protect all the trees “in which birds might have, or want to build a nest.” Trees cover the majority of Fort Bragg’s 130,000 acres. “We have a 250-foot buffer around each tree,” General Keane is quoted in the Washington Times, around which any activity is almost totally restricted. By contrast, thousands of migrating birds are killed each year by the gigantic “windmill” generators which are a favorite of environmentalists, but are inefficient and provide pitiful little power for the expense. Will the Center for Biological Diversity bring an injunction to shut down the windmills, as they did Army and Navy training? Let’s put things into perspective and cut the military some slack, just as the environmentalists have done for the giant spinning bird killers.

At the moment, the Navy must have a special permit if their activity might “disturb” any marine life. According to Navy Admiral William J. Fallon, vice chief or naval operations, three ships from the USS Carl Vinson battle group were deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom without crucial anti-ship cruise missile defensive training because such training would “potentially disturb” seals when target drones flew over them, according to the Washington Times. Of course, one could make a case that any activity would disturb some seal, squid or fish--somewhere. One of the primary culprits here is Michigan Democrat John D. Dingell, who is square in the pocket of wacko environmentalists who write these laws so vaguely that their trial lawyer buddies can make a case to hold up any military exercise anywhere at anytime. And the worse news is that the military must prove its activities will cause absolutely no harm to the environment. (?)

A key vote in the House on the National Defense Authorization Bill for 2003 will take place shortly. Proposed language for this bill would exempt the military from the worst of these regulations. Congress should act now to exempt military training from stringent environmental laws; and to prevent designations of critical habitat for rare species in locations of military training. We need to decide what is important. It is nice to have endangered species laws and to protect every every creepy-crawly we can identify. It is essential to have a well-trained military that can be deployed on short notice and do its job under any circumstance. Let your representative in the US House, and your Senators, know that you support military preparedness and whatever exceptions to environmental laws as are necessary to insure that our troops are prepared for the dangers that they will face in conducting the War on Terror.

commiefighter.

[Free the USA]

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[Theyknow]

These environmental wackos will never get it, the humans matter too, who cares about some little bird. We are at WAR.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

The war that's going on inside our own borders is just as dangerous as the terrorists from outside.There are those on the inside which are terrorist sympathizers and destroyers of our BILL OF RIGHTS.