STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The new round of exercises, which include the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, began more than 50 miles off the coast of Vieques on Wednesday with 11 ships and 10,000 sailors practicing attack formations, evading submarines and tracking torpedoes and planes.<A HREF="aol://4344:3167.vieques.21050722.671609094"> AOL News: Bush Decides to End Vieques Bombings </A> Bush Decides to End Vieques Bombings By RON FOURNIER .c The Associated Press GOTEBORG, Sweden (June 13) - President Bush has decided to end controversial Navy bombing exercises on Vieques Island off the coast of Puerto Rico as early as 2003, a White House spokesman said. The decision was to be announced by the Pentagon on Thursday, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. The Pentagon was also expected to announce the establishment of a panel to look for an alternative to what the Navy has called the ''crown jewel'' of its Atlantic training sites. Pulling out of Vieques is a reversal for the Navy, which has used its range on the island for six decades and has said repeatedly that the site is vital to national security. Critics say the bombing poses a health threat to the island's 9,100 residents, which the Navy denies. Earlier, a Defense Department official said on condition of anonymity that Navy Secretary Gordon England recommended to Bush that planning begin for an end to the bombing within two years. He said Navy officials wanted to make the decision public because they felt the situation was growing more volatile. Officials said England can't promise a place will be found within two years, but hopes it can. The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques and its bombing range covers 900 acres - less than 3 percent of the island. It used live bombs until two went astray in a 1999 practice and killed a civilian guard on the bombing range, igniting protests and calls for the military to leave. It since has used dummy bombs. About 75 protesters demonstrated peacefully outside Camp Garcia's gates on Vieques on Wednesday as a fresh round of Navy exercises began offshore. In earlier demonstrations in April and May, 180 people were arrested on trespassing charges during previous bombing exercises. A discussion of the problem, which is a thorny issue with Hispanic and other minority activists, was held in a meeting that senior White House political strategist Karl Rove convened on Wednesday with England, deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a senior White House official said. In seeking to retain the Vieques training range, the Navy has argued that it is the only means of providing the training to ensure that battle groups begin their overseas deployments fully ready for combat. The Navy has said exercises there are vital to national defense because they uniquely combine air, sea and land maneuvers that cannot be done elsewhere. A Navy retreat from Vieques could run into opposition from conservatives in Congress. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., said on CNN's ''Wolf Blitzer Reports'' Wednesday that he would be ''surprised, dismayed'' by such a move ''and would fight it.'' But Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, said he thought the Navy should end the Vieques training and said: ''I don't think we should wait two years either.'' Puerto Rico's governor, Sila Calderon, a strong opponent of the exercises, arrived on the small island Wednesday afternoon to attend a prayer ceremony with residents who want the bombing to stop. It was her first time on Vieques for the maneuvers since she took office in January. ''I wanted to be here to express to the people of Vieques that the Puerto Rican people are with you and that you are not alone,'' she said. The new round of exercises, which include the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, began more than 50 miles off the coast of Vieques on Wednesday with 11 ships and 10,000 sailors practicing attack formations, evading submarines and tracking torpedoes and planes. AP-NY-06-14-01 0843EDT Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
