Danger in Paradise

Oahu, Hawaii

Along Oahu's Waianae coast, it's hard to tell whether the United States is conducting a war against terror or against the district's impoverished Native Hawaiians, the state's poorest, unhealthiest and least-educated citizens. The Army has for decades conducted live-fire training in the majestic valley of Makua, a green cathedral buttressed by ridges, flaring open from the mountains to the sea. During World War II the military evicted the mostly Hawaiian landowners. For decades, Malama ("Care For") Makua, a nonprofit group, has sought to stop the training, which has ignited wildfires in an area rich in endemic species and ancient cultural sites. Waianae residents worry that toxic chemicals are polluting their air, water and fish. "My goal is to get the military out of Makua and help the land to heal," says Manu Kai'ama, whose great-great-grandfather was evicted by the Army.

In early 2001 Malama Makua and Earthjustice won an injunction against live-fire training until the Army filed an environmental impact statement (EIS). After the September 11 attacks the groups agreed to allow limited live-fire training for three years. In February 2006 Federal District Judge Susan Oki Mollway denied the Army's request for an extension, rejecting its claim that it lacked alternative sites to train soldiers who are to be sent in August from Schofield Barracks in Oahu to Iraq.

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