And now Canada, France, Denmark, Germany, Britain? Hmmm... ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 2:47 PM Subject: [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] NATO Stages Mock Attack On Vieques STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK + + + [Story starts after this introductory preamble. BEST BET: use the top URL for all the links. -- Peace, prayers, Kev.] + + + ================ + ================ NATO Stages Mock Attack On Vieques http://cbsnews.cbs.com/now/story/0,1597,242285-412,00.shtml ================ + ================ "The goal is to fire as much as we can to gain as much proficiency as we can. That's the stress, that's the reality of real combat." -- Col. Paul Lefebvre, USMC complaining about the ban on using live ammunition + + + 32 New Arrests On Vieques No Peace On Vieques 162 Arrests At Vieques Bombs Raining Again On Vieques RFK Jr.: Navy Harming Vieques Vieques To Vote For Bombing Range? U.S. Navy: Vieques All about the island of Vieques Vieques Libre, a group opposed to the military exercises Vieques Island Travel Guide NATO NATO Stages Mock Attack On Vieques Ships Fire Shells, Amphibious Vehicles Land In Mock Attack U.S., Canada, France, Denmark, Germany, Britain Take Part Navy Detains Nine Protesters, Says They Did Not Disrupt Drill -- [photo: VIEQUES, Puerto Rico, Oct. 18, 2000 -- APA Navy hovercraft speeds toward the beach for a landing.] +++ ================ + ================ STORY STARTS HERE: (CBS) With helicopters swooping overhead, 2,000 U.S. troops staged an amphibious practice invasion of this contested Puerto Rican island-and the U.S. Navy arrested nine protesters on a bombing range Wednesday as they tried to interrupt the NATO exercises. The protesters were detained early Wednesday morning about three hours before ships began firing shells at the range, Navy spokesman Jeff Gordon said. They had used a small boat to slip past Coast Guard boats patrolling the range. Gordon said the exercises were not affected. Hovercraft roared onto Vieques island's Red Beach on Tuesday, disgorging troops and vehicles that disappeared into a pine forest in an operation lasting 20 minutes. The two-week exercises, which began Monday, simulate a NATO-led U.N. peacekeeping operation dubbed "Unified Spirit." They include 50 vessels, 31,000 U.S. soldiers and an unspecified number of troops from Canada, France, Denmark, Germany and Britain. "This exercise is critical for putting all those people together," Marine commander Col. Paul Lefebvre said after the landing by troops from the USS Nassau, USS Nashville and USS Portland. Lefebvre complained of the ban on using live ammunition during the exercise. "The goal is to fire as much as we can to gain as much proficiency as we can," he said. "That's the stress, that's the reality of real combat." The restriction on live fire is part of a 10-month-old directive by President Clinton to calm mounting Puerto Rican opposition to the military's use of Vieques, where 9,400 people live. The directive also limits training to 90 days a year. The Navy expropriated two-thirds of the 20-by-4-mile island for exercises in the 1940s. It says troops have trained here for every major conflict since World War II. Opponents say such exercises over six decades have stunted economic growth, scared away tourism and-despite a dispute over medical evidence - endangered the health of residents. They also say the bombing threatens sea turtles and brown pelicans and is wiping out several plant species. Resentment became widespread after a U.S. Marine Corps jet mistakenly dropped two 500-pound bombs off target in April 1999, killing a civilian guard on the range. Protesters invaded the training ground and thwarted exercises for more than a year until U.S. Marshals forcibly removed them in May. Earlier Tuesday, Vieques activist Ismael Guadalupe said an unspecified number of people again entered restricted Navy land Monday night hoping to disrupt exercises. But there was no sign of the protesters during the landing, and the Navy said it detained no trespassers. Organizers said the protesters had entered near the bombing range on Vieques' eastern end and had supplies for three days-long enough to disrupt planned exercises that include firing dummy shells from ships onto the bombing range. The Navy says the Vieques training is vital to national defense and that the island is uniquely suited because of its topography, location near wide expanses of open sea and the nearby deep-water port in Puerto Rico. Still, on Tuesday the White House confirmed the government was looking at other sites because of a promise by Clinton that the Navy will leave Vieques by 2003 if islanders vote against it in a referendum. U.S. Marshals arrested scores of protesters on the island when it resumed bombing in June and several more when a second set of drills began in August. . Copyright 2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report. �2000, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved. ========== + + + + + + =========== Please help support Antiwar.com at http://Antiwar.com; and 'Spirit FM' Catholic Christian radio (90.5-FM, Tampa, Fla. USA and 88.3-FM Lecanto, Fla.) at http://www.spiritfm905.com; and the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space at http://www.space4peace.org + Blessed are the nonviolent peacemakers. Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Help me speak truth to power. Please pray for one another. Be merciful. Love your enemies. Forgive those who've hurt you. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Come quickly, Lord Jesus Christ, son of God and Prince of Peace. Deo Gratias. + ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tired of meeting in conference rooms? Lead a meeting from your browser with CentraNow! Our voice-enabled virtual meeting rooms enable you to share and review project plans, give presentations, and hold focus groups online. Try it for FREE! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/Centra_Software
