Posted on 05/16/2005 11:36:57 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
Remember when Puerto Rico was raising hell about the US Navy using that nothing little island just off the coast of Puerto Rico for bombing practices which they had used for the past 75 years? Demonstrations were held, Hollywood left wingers, Al Sharpton, and his fellow demagogues went down there to demonstrate to get the Navy out? Were you infuriated? Wellllllllllllllll, here is the revenge. Always be careful what you ask for, you just might get it!
One of the many headaches that the U. S. has had was the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques. In the waning years of the Clinton Administration, Protesters demanded that the US Navy abandon bombing and naval gun fire exercises that had taken place on the largely uninhabited island for nearly 70 years. Liberal icons bumped into one another to fly to Puerto Rico, boat over to the island, trespass (but never on a day that there was an exercise scheduled) and get arrested for the benefit of the New York Times or Newsweek.
They included (but were not limited to):
Reverend Al Sharpton, Mrs. Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Edward Olmos, Michael Moore Ramsey Clark, just to name a few.
In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force bombing range in central Florida, not far from the Jacksonville and Pensacola Naval Air Stations.
In January, many of the protesters were back in Puerto Rico, celebrating the final bombing exercise on Vieques and waved Puerto Rican flags and placards that read: "U.S. Navy, get out of Puerto Rico."
The following Feb, Rumsfeld announced that the U.S. Navy will close the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico in 2004, eliminating 1200 civilian jobs as well as 700 military positions. This naval facility is estimated to have put nearly $300 million annually into the local economy.
The next day a stunned Governor Sila Calderon, held a news conference in San Juan, protesting the base closure as a serious blow to the Commonwealth's fragile economy. The governor stated that "The people of Puerto Rico don't now or never did have an interest in closing the Vieques bombing range or the Roosevelt Roads naval base. We are interested in both staying in Puerto Rico."
When asked, the Commander-in Chief, Western Atlantic Command, said, "Without Vieques, I see no further need for the facility at Roosevelt Roads. None."
So, Yanqui go home? Fine. But we'll take our dollars with us. Hasta la vista, baby!
Related story on the Puerto Rico Herald http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues2/2005/vol09n19/CBDefenseFed.shtml
“Puerto Rico,
My heart’s devotion,
Let it sink back in the ocean!”
Yummy! Hooray for Rummy!
WAHWAHWAH! YOU TOOK US SERIOUSLY!!! WAH!
how dare we give them what they ask for!
Now Hillary is up in NY fighting talking the talk to keep a couple of our NY bases around. Tell Hillary that there is a strategy to locations of bases. Frankly, I don't want the bases in areas that are target areas and Niagara is one of them.
(here we go with another slam the Ricans thread....)
"Viva Puerto Rico libre!"
Reverend Al Sharpton, Mrs. Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Edward Olmos, Michael Moore Ramsey Clark, just to name a few.
The Gov of Pureto Rico should contact these people and request they contribute to the aide for displaced workers!
Why the hell are they even part of us? We don't need these federal funds vampires who don't pay a penny back to the system. Either become a state or get out and be dirt poor like the rest.
Not to slam "Ricans", but remind me--just what do we get from those 4,000,000 AMERICANS? I was under the impression that what we got were just bills to pay for their subsistance.
No slam intended at Puerto Ricans in general. However, those who drove the Navy from Vieques can cry on someone else's shoulder about the economic hit.
Reverend Al Sharpton, Mrs. Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Edward Olmos, Michael Moore Ramsey Clark, just to name a few...
How could you forget Cong. Luiz Guittierez d-Chicago? His district has a large PR populace.
It was mostly the mainland and island left that was campaigning to close Vieques. For the people living on Vieques, the navy facility was their primary source of employment, obviously they didn't want it closed. But since when does a leftist from New York care what a Puerto Rican from Vieques thinks?
Sila Calderon was trying to have her cake and eat it. She came out against the navy on Vieques as a way of pandering to her left, not believing that the navy would actually close it. I think she was shocked when they agreed to stop training there, and she was especially shocked when they decided to close Roosevelt Roads as a result.
Its a shame, the people didn't deserve this, but their political leadership and the media both pandered to the left and the damage is done. And, to be clear, Rumsfeld is looking for bases to close, so why not this one?
I personally think its a mistake to be closing down so many bases, because once they are closed, you can't get them back should the situation change. But this is the political reality, and when they are in a base-closure mode, don't agitate for a base to close unless you are serious.
FYI, amigo.
Isn't it getting to be about time to round these Anti-Americans up? Investigate there connections with Organizations that may want to overthrow the US Government and undermine the US Constitution??
Too funny....without US Military $$$'s...looks like island will suffer...US $$$'s prove once again to be the really important bottom line factor here...ask germany 'bout it...
This is old news.
But you're right: The Clintons et al pandering to a small, fringe minority.
When Bush was elected we expected him to roll back the Vieques fiasco, but being as honorable and naive that he sometimes can be, he followed up on Clintons' policies on this one.
However, Rosey is far from gone. The Navy might have packed out of there, but othe military services and federal agencies have first dibs on the facilities and they're quietly moving in.
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