Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
Sea, Sand, and Depleted Uranium at Vieques
by Mickey Z. For nearly sixty years, Vieques, a tiny island off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico, was used as a heavy weapons target range for the U.S. Navy.
In addition, says columnist Juan Gonzalez: "The U.S. government (was) not content to simply use Vieques for its own military. It (had) the audacity to rent out the island to the armed forces of Latin America and Europe." This deal earned Washington $80 million in 1998 alone but the roughly 9000 residents of Vieques faced socio-economic disaster. The fishing and tourism industries were wrecked and 50% of residents were unemployed while 72% lived in poverty.
The situation attained international prominence when, on April
19, 1999, two F-18 fighter jets getting in some last-minute target
practice before heading off to radiate the Balkans dropped two
500-pounds bombs on an observation post and killed David Sanes
Rodriguez, a 35-year-old civilian worker. The incident sparked massive,
sustained demonstrations and by 2003, the navy packed up and left.
Fast forward to 2007 and you'll find travel articles extolling
Vieques as an "untapped environment" with "pristine beaches" and "chic
restaurants" perfect for the "upscale city dweller," the "nature
lover," and the "spring breaker." And the radiation comes at no extra
charge.
Among the tons of ordnance dropped on Vieques, the U.S.
Navy admits to using depleted uranium (DU) armor-piercing shells. "When
fired," writes journalist James Ridgeway, "the uranium bursts into
flame and all but liquifies, searing through steel armor like a white
hot phosphorescent flare." The effects of DU go far beyond the
immediate explosion. "The uranium-238 used to make the weapons can
cause cancer and genetic defects when inhaled," says former U.S.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
"Depleted uranium burns on
contact," adds Dr. Helen Caldicott, "creating tiny aerosolized
particles less than five microns in diameter, small enough to be
inhaled." These particles can travel long distances when airborne-and
don't be comforted by their size. "There is no safe dose or dose rate
below which dangers disappear. No threshold-dose,'" explains John
Gofman, former associate director of Livermore National Laboratory, one
of the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb, and co-discoverer of
uranium-233. "Serious, lethal effects from minimal radiation doses are
not 'hypothetical,' 'just theoretical,' or 'imaginary.' They are real."
Also real: Vieques, the new tourist hot spot, registers a 73
percent higher incidence of cancer than Puerto Rico as a whole. As
Johnny Rotten howled: "A cheap holiday in other people's misery."
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net
Writings 
For nearly sixty years, Vieques, a tiny island off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico, was used as a heavy weapons target range for the U.S. Navy. 
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