Author: Col. Ann Wright (ret.)

In a remarkable twist, four members of the Legislature of the State of Hawai’i are finally challenging the U.S. military in Hawai’i. No doubt using the US Navy’s massive jet fuel leak at Red Hill that contaminated the drinking water for over 100,000 residents of O’ahu as an inflection point of deteriorating military and Hawai’i citizen relationships, on March 23, 2022, four legislators held a hearing titled "Declaring Over Militarization to Be a Threat to the Security of Hawai’i and the International Community."

Having served 29 years in the US Army and Army Reserves and retiring as a Colonel, also being a US diplomat in the Asia-Pacific, for two years at the US Embassy in the Federated States of Micronesia and at the US Embassy in Mongolia and as a US diplomat with an assignment for two years in the International Affairs office of the Office of the Governor of the State of Hawai’i in 2000-2002, I strongly agree with the characterization of Hawai’i being "over militarized."

Continue reading “Four Hawai’i State Legislators Declare ‘Over-Militarization’ To Be a Threat to the Security of Hawai’i and the International Community”

After stalling for decades in addressing the dangers of the massive Red Hill jet fuel storage facility in Honolulu, in a surprising move on March 7, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the leaking 80-year-old jet fuel tanks to be drained of their 180 million gallons of jet fuel and the facility permanently closed.

The decision comes after years of protest by the community and endless warnings by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply that the continued leaks in the tank system, which includes twenty 20 story tanks and tens of miles of pipes, was headed for a catastrophic leak that could endanger the water supply of Honolulu which is located only 100 feet below the tanks that were built in World War II.

The predicted massive leak occurred in November 2021 and contaminated the drinking water of 93,000 persons, including many of the military’s own families.

Continue reading “Hawai’i Citizen Groups Wary of US Military’s Sudden Decision to Drain and Permanently Close Leaking Red Hill Jet Fuel Tanks”

"Invasion" read the headlines in our newspapers.

19 years ago in March 2002, it was the US invading Iraq.

Today it’s Russia invading Ukraine. The stupidity of it all.

When you heard President Biden today, February 24, 2022, speaking about Russia invading Ukraine, you could’ve substituted the words US and Iraq.

It’s the same stupidity.

Continue reading “Col. Ann Wright: Invasion Is Wrong: Bush in Iraq and Putin in Ukraine”

Two lawsuits filed on February 2, 2022 by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Department of Defense and the Department of Navy challenge the State of Hawaii’s emergency order to shut down and defuel the leaking 80-year-old jet fuel tanks. These lawsuits have created another public relations nightmare for the US Navy and the Department of Defense as residents of O’ahu have expressed their dismay and outrage to the continuing threat of jet fuel to their drinking water aquifer. In November 2021, the Red Hill tank system leaked jet fuel into the drinking water of 93,000 residents in military housing around Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Hickam Air Force base.

DOD lawsuits call Hawaii’s Emergency Order "Erroneous, Arbitrary, Capricious, and an Abuse of Discretion; Clearly Unwarranted"…and Receive Angry Responses From Hawai’i Congressional Delegation and Civic Groups

Calling the State of Hawaii’s emergency order that came about after hundreds of military families ended up in emergency rooms with toxic reactions to the water they were drinking as "clearly erroneous; arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion; clearly unwarranted," the US Department of Justice is as tone-deaf to the anger of residents of Hawai’i as was the Navy’s initial response to their families’ appeals for acknowledgement of their illnesses and help to get safe drinking water.

Continue reading “Navy Sues To Keep Fuel Tanks in Operation After a Massive Leak Poisoned Hawai’ians”

On December 6, after all hell broke loose at each of the five town hall meetings held over several days by the U.S. Navy to try to calm military families who have been drinking and bathing in fuel contaminated water, the Governor of the State of Hawai’i issued an order to the Navy to suspend the operation of the massive jet fuel tanks and within 30 days "defuel" or remove the fuel out of the tanks! Governor Ige said the public had lost confidence in the Navy.

For the past week, rather than providing accurate information about the drinking water contamination, senior military leadership were caught in their own webs of inaccurate information given to the military families affected by fuel in the water…and given to the State of Hawai’i. By the end of the December 5 Town Hall, hundreds irate military community members in-person had peppered senior officers, including the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations, with sharp questions and with over 3,200 comments in the Facebook Live chat.

Carlos del Toro, Secretary of the Navy and Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations had arrived in Honolulu early for the December 7 Pearl Harbor Day commemorations as an indication of the severity of the medical and emotional toll on Navy families from the poor response of the Navy command to the contaminated water crisis.

Continue reading “Governor of Hawai’i Orders Operations of US Navy’s Massive Jet Fuel Tanks Suspended and Fuel Removed from Tanks within 30 Days”

I served my country for 29 years in the U.S. Army/ Army Reserves and retired as a colonel. I also served 16 years in the U.S. diplomatic corps in U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. I resigned from the U.S. government 13 years ago in March 2003 in opposition to President Bush’s regime change war on Iraq.

Since my resignation I have traveled to many countries where the U.S. government did not want me to go – to Cuba, Iran, Gaza, Yemen, Pakistan, North Korea, Russia and back to Afghanistan. I didn’t agree with many of the policies of the governments in power in those countries. But, I wanted to see the effects of policies of our government, in particular the effects of attempts of regime change. I wanted to talk with citizens and government officials about the effects of U.S. sanctions on them and whether those sanctions lessened their support for the government the U.S. was attempting to change or overthrow by non-military means.

Continue reading “Col. Ann Wright: Why I Support Tulsi Gabbard Going to Syria”