The record includes one reference to Project 4.1 prior to March 1 [the government says someone put it there after the fact]. More troubling is the undisputed evidence that the U.S. was aware that the weather had changed, that the wind was blowing toward populated areas, but they went ahead with the test anyway. After the radiation came down like "snow" on Rongelap and other islands, the Navy evacuated American personnel quickly, but left the "happy, amenable savages" to absorb more radiation for another two days.
As early as 1956, the Atomic Energy Commission had characterized the Marshall Islands as "by far the most contaminated place in the world."
For the victor, justice is only optional, not enforceable
In 1979, the U.S. allowed the Marshall Islands to become "self-governing," while the U.S. reserved the sole control of military use and defense of the territory. In 1986 the U.S. granted the Republic of the Marshall Islands "sovereignty" under the Orwellian-named Compact of Free Association, which left the U.S. in military control and free to use Kwajalein Atoll as a missile testing range. Four years later the U.N. ended the "nation's" Trusteeship status. The CIA estimates that the Marshall Islands' GDP is $182 million, of which the U.S. provides $70 million in aid payments, according to the State Department . Both the CIA and State Department omit unpaid compensation from their public summaries of the Marshall Islands.
"Nuclear Savage" includes U.S. Ambassador Greta Morris making a wooden public statement of "deep regrets" for the "hardships" the Marshallese have suffered "as a result of the testing program, as well as the accidental downwind injuries caused by one test, Bravo" -- which is the official version of the 1954 H-bomb Castle Bravo. Later Greta Morris is asked at a public event to discuss U.S. "government policy" -- the ambassador refuses to talk on camera.
In March 2012, at an event commemorating the anniversary of the H-bomb test, Marshall Islands foreign minister Phillip Muller called on the U.S. to pay more than $2 billion in awards already made by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, which was created and underwritten by the U.S. The U.S. moral and financial obligation continues to grow, as the Marshall Islands are reportedly seeing a continually rising cancer rate more than half a century later. An the same event, according to Overseas Territories Review :
"U.S. Ambassador to the Marshall Islands Martha Campbell told the event in Majuro Thursday evening that "the United States has provided nearly $600 million in compensation and assistance to the Republic of the Marshall Islands to help the affected communities overcome the effects of nuclear testing,' and noted that the U.S. and Marshall Islands governments had agreed to "a full and final settlement of all nuclear-related claims' in 1983" [an apparent reference to the Compact of Free Association and its side agreements].
In 1998, staff from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made a comparison study to compare the amount of radioactive Iodine-131 at four different radiation-polluted sites, measured in curies (1,000 curies of Cesium-137, as found in a radiation therapy machine, could produce serious health effects in a direct exposure of just a few minutes). The CDC team reported its finding that the atmospheric release of curies of Iodine-137 at the Hanford nuclear processing plant was 739,000 curies; at Chernobyl the release was 40 million curies; at the Nevada bomb test site, 150 million curies; and in the Marshall Islands, 6.3 billion curies (more that 30 times as much radiation as the other three sites combined).
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
2
