the, the um, lien uh not the uh unique we seen uh when i was a little girl as young as 5 years old. my mom took me to all of our families protests to fight for the return of our land called are to be in. and today it's proposed to be used as a buffer zone for a us marine life fire training range complex. it's being built above our islands primary water source that provides our community with 80 to 90 percent of our drinking water. so buffer zone is an area that catches the strip. all it's the park

of shaft at the firing range. usually look on that cliffside on top of that class, that square firing range complex will be located or is proposed to be located. we're still trying to fight it, so trying to put a stop to it. so yeah, the stray bullets from this far range, well dropped into this area and into the ocean. yeah, i just wanted to show you that. and then we're going to go into see some family. our family is one of many families across kwan who's ancestral lands were taken from them after world war 2. around 2 thirds of the island was actually seized by the us after the war. families would peacefully irritate in for many years before it was condemned in the 60s for national defense purposes. and then in the ninety's, when the land was no longer needed,

it was declared excess. it was supposed to be returned back to be original land owners. my family and 3 other families, but instead it was transferred to the federal government to become a fish and wildlife refuge. so in the 90s, lineal descendants of low tax and were told that they endangered species were more important than the land being returned. and now we're being told a firing range complex is more important than protecting the endangered species because it's being built over a conservation area. it's not just the fisherman that are going to lose some of the best pristine waters around the entire island. it's not just our local feelers who won't be able to access forever. this little plants that can be found in this area. it's not just the 15 endangered species that call this place home. the turtles that nest here understands that come back every year that are going to be impacted at the center of this issue. there's an indigenous land rights issue

for tomorrow. people were a peaceful people. we don't want our lands, we don't want our waters to be transformed into the largest to military training area in the world. we just want to live peacefully on our islands. we want to be able to keep our water clean, want to be able to preserve our fresh water officer for future generations. we want to protect our coastal waters from contamination from lead to us and other heavy metals that will fall into the water that will contaminate the sand. winds political status as an unincorporated territory of the us is really at the heart of why the tomorrow people don't have a seat up to table to protect our resources in the midst of this mass military expansion. so we're here at the museum. this is the location of the offices of the commission on the quantization. and what this organization does is they look at the

different political status options for guam independence, free association and statehood. and so that they understand the complex situation that we're in, in regards to our political status as an unincorporated territory of the us. so we're going to speak today with the director more than one pet or high, just excited to pick his brain to understand the ways that our political status impacts us as a colonized people. jesus must say for a meeting with us today. so 1st off, can you explain juan's current political status and our relationship with the united states? we are domestically a part of the united states, right? we, we, we operate within the system of government. but we are not privy to negotiations with other government entities with other government bodies. right. so the military

build up here on guam essentially was a bilateral agreement between the us, federal government and the japanese government and guam. even though we are ultimately going to bear the burden of the build up, we were not a part of any conversation negotiation around how this build up was going to happen . anybody knows the history of the build up is basically that the united or the japanese government, which also colonized ok. now let's not forget, right? that ok now is not japan. those people are not japanese that they also, you know, have been dealing with a long legacy of colonial rule that you know, the, the, after the war, the united states and japan became allies. part of that deal was that the united states would be allowed to have, you know, military presence in japan. but japan decided that they're not going to build the space in japan. they're going to build it in oak, you know. and so of course, you know, the, the base has a long history, the us marines have

a long history of conflict with the local population. and so what we saw is that, you know, it became so problematic that ok now and we're just up in arms and very unified, you know, i mean they march and 90000 people in the street to close for 10 my air base. and so of course, you know, the japanese government had to respond and that was how it all began right. they. they then began conversation negotiation with the united states on relocating the base. that was crazy about it is that the, the japanese government is putting a large part of the bill to not just remove the base from oak, you know, but to relocate that base here, a lot of people don't realize this, but in the draft environmental impact study for the build up, you know, they, they clearly say that there are other alternative locations for the builder. you know, they were planning, they had planned to work with either hawaii,

the philippines, or california to include one. but when they assess those other 3 locations, they'll, those were all answered with a no end of the no comes from the leadership. i think most important part of it, right. is that for california in hawaii as states, you know, they have the right to say no, we don't want this. you know, we have connie all, and marine corps base and hawaii we have 10 pallets and in california we don't want another base. we're good. and then you have the philippines, it's cyber nation. they said, yeah, yeah, we'll, we'll pass on that too because, you know, we're not going to do city bay all over again. that table on the build up where they had the conversation happened around the terms that was negotiated between 2 parties with guam is an after thought they even said in their d, i s that because the philippines, california, and what you all were no go that guam was the ideal location

and it was because, and they said pretty bluntly like painfully blindly that they, they think why is the ideal location? because guam is what they consider sovereign us soil and we're a territory. and because we don't have the same level of autonomy over our affairs as a state, they can basically do whatever they want here with little to no interference from the local governments tell us exactly what they got. center sabina pears with a 36 palm legislature, shared similar sentiments about the us and japan. slotskum consultation with quam about their military build up plans to transfer transfer the marines from ok now to bomb was made without on being at the table. and the militarization of guam, i think, is the dominant driving force and how development is occurring on our island. so a lot of the federal laws for us environmental federal laws have to be followed,

but the problem is in its implementation, it involves the interaction between federal agencies which develop the regulations without the consent of the indigenous people. and the military definitely has dismissed a lot of the concerns and, you know, seeing our, our cultural sites being a race before i is no c r for us being raised, concerned about qualms, water resources, sen perez recently introduced legislation to recognize the sacred relationship between the tomorrow people and our water resolution 55 dash 36 highlights the very real threat of contamination to our primary uncle for from 6700000, but bullets proposed to be shot. the department of defense is by fire training range complex. yes, so 55 dash of these 36 was created mainly because

my my concern about the, the live fire training range it's or it was meant to to reaffirm our, our, our rights to, to clean drinking water. and then how this range would it be impact would impact our drinking water as well as our resources are coastal water resources. this is a time where, you know, i did not want to accept the fact that this range, but you know, there's still what effect fired range as is that was not constructed or is still in the process of being constructed. and it was so important for me to protect this area because it houses very unique. a native flora and fauna. and one of them is a habitat to critically endangered species called the sir. yeah, it's no sony i which is the husband longer training. there's only one reproductive trees on island, and this is higher range would be

a 100 feet away from that mother tree which has lasted, which is what started typing, such as sharon, in typhon pamela, which were super type those. in addition, it would stood one or 2. this tree has been standing, you know, a form or 2. and so imagine now we're putting a firing range, a 100 feet from this tree that was said, all of that. and where they're going to shoot 6700000 bullets yearly in perpetuity. and so, um, and this for us is critical because it protects this tree. it's a, it's a habitat for the stream in addition to other critically endangered species such as are on a spot butterfly. and so to me it's, it's a cultural symbol. and it's, it's really unfortunate that the endangered species act which protected the national single b u. s. the body and go from becoming extinct. here it is. it's,

it's being used to jeopardize a cultural simple for our island. and to me that's, you know, it's a breaches. and it's important that we protect this for us. many to as president of the guam fisherman's cooperative association sewer presents more than a 100 fishermen with boats has consistently spoken out against the firing range complex over the years. because of it impacts to water quality. you're going to have a foreign range on top of a water land. and you got a us, uh, a cave down there with fresh water pool underneath. you guys didn't know that. you have a containment area for you are i think that's why it was built on the 5 you how oh, over 10 nice thing. journals on uh, hit option under concerned about a 3rd or you don't. tomorrow's going total so so we need to protect it. but they're

gonna do 50 caliber machine guns above their nesting area and they're going to shoot up 0 euro line. one famous guy and one told me a many bomb down because they're shooting at tar. yes. there's a 50 caliber machine gun shooting a target. that last time i remember talking to an outlets in the army. we were shooting, ad cardboard. and a 50 caliber machine gun bows anywhere from 4 to 6 miles in distance as it stands out of the one bullet inside of coconut tree and a half the

it goes without saying the binding foreign policy has been in fun. mitigated failure on this edition of the program, we come to many ways how the world is more on stable and dangerous. call fun forced errors every minute. that's 50 caliber machine gun fires. if bush $45.00, you know, appreciate all the $1000000.00 conversion. 40 pounds, a projectile in the water is the most power steering water in the world. and there

is no real concern for a lot of quality. national grill concerned for noise pollution regarding the amount of bullets has been material. but know what to me is as a way to a cross, the t's and way dotted dies. there's no real concern for water quality to 900 football fields of land have been cleared for military build up projects. and activists are concerned about the ways this will affect both the prefers the ability to recharge, as well as adversely affect the coastal waters. i spoke of johnny ker, an activist environmental list and science instructor who shared her thoughts on the mass clearings. and if we get rid of those for us, as it's possible that what we're doing is we're also getting rid of a way that water has been entering and recharging the arc with for, for thousands of years. so inside the substrate, we have these premises whole spaces,

pathways for the water to move downward. and in search of that water we have the trees following with the routes. and so we have this very complex root system that enables a pathway for water to get down to the aquifer or easily. and then if we couple that with, with pay the putting a building such as what's going to happen with the base and with the firing range, that actually leaves the surface and impermeable surface. my concern is that there is not going to be as much recharging of the august 1st with the removal of the forest and that, and also that we might have contaminants making their way into the local marina environment. either through um, are there a, a heavy metal transportation,

the rain or wind eventually getting into the limestone substrate and then making its way out into the ocean because we are, our aquifer is connected to the ocean. that's why we have these fresh water streams of bobo, this kind that leach out into the ocean. i sat down with 2022 nobel peace prize, dominy hope christabel, who, for more than 35 years is organized across qualms and to use local government boards and commissions. working to protect forms resources and promote the trying peoples in a label right to self determination. crystal, the study of the effects of military contamination in qualms, lands and waters for decades. but i haven't seen or heard of anything in 20 years. where the people of why are asked to participate in any discussion off our our state of being on our homeland. nothing that addresses colonialism,

nothing that addresses, all right, in the ability to drive in this environment that for 4000 years sustained our ancestors and, and our parents. nothing that addresses that nothing that addresses a way forward for a people to attain their highest purpose in life is so cool. us as a colonial people, you know, the united states has never really acknowledge the fact that we are a colonial people. they use other words to make us feel good. we are a no territory, excuse me. how could we be

a territory? you know, the meaning of the word territory. use a sense of belonging. if we truly belong, then why do they not care about the environment that has sustained us for 40000 years? you know, why do they not care for human lives? one has all 5 branches of the military were represented here and our basis to judge west and a s. yeah. what we call anderson air force space. now you have another base, you know, they're not really telling us the needs are based, but it, so no marine based that they're building when they start talking about controlling when they start talking about all these. and so high parts of a base. well, they're building a base, but they never, they always told us that it was for live fire range and the outs,

and they basically lied to us. what the purpose is for cheering. 12 over 1200 acres of forest. there is just, you know, you have this big military industry. is this the only industry on this island? the only industry that one house is the military industry. and the military is famous for contaminating the grounds, the air for contaminating the food that we bro. solely own by which we plant in the, you know, eat, we shouldn't be wondering why counter is our 2nd highest kimler on this i am we know it has come from this industry in looking at the prefer.

today we know that most of the developments occurring up north. we know there's at least a $122.00 municipal wells. and some of those are monitoring wells and northern guam lend soccer for. is the soul of prefer for this island. but in the northern part of the island from loop all the way to pongo. and on the way to live tech gen and you know, the northern parts of our island. you fine. the uncle for that is not that deep down in there. because the soil, which filters the any, any water intrusion into the, the ground is so been said the water that we end up with has to be kept clean. we have to prevent any other being filtering

into the water lands. and then i was informed about the dangers of the fine range complex, the how it would have heard of them are people not only the visitors, but also the military, them military and then their families think today we're having a educational barriers. we're going to go down north, and then we're going to see refiners complex. our main is leave with the fox. the toxins from the bullets is less let in larger portions pay me honestly, i just want the lifetime lane the other people. even if i have kids, my future generation just to be safe for a queen drinking water water to co squid water to be then funded richard cheese and barely. and since we use 8585 percent of our island uses as water the it would not be such

a small thing to get rid of. i feel like hiding the fact that from the bullets that would be left behind, which they said that they were clean up, which is a funny opening statement. really. i just want everyone to be impacted by many others. and without impact, i just want all of us to collect together hopefully stop that filled up. these chemicals can travel the surface or ground water and contaminate ground water, along with coastal and marine resources. jim cheney a former director of environmental science associates referencing the 2012 us epa study says this. there is a wide range of chemicals that are left in the soil, many of which can be mobilized by rain and travel to ground water mobilized by rain and travel to the ground water study is like the us paper call into

question, the navy. suppose the conclusion that there will be no significant direct or indirect impacts to our uncle for we cannot afford as a people to move on without more data. the facts are clear, the risk is imminent. it is not to be debated. the facts are there. so what then is the cost that we're debating today? what is the cost then of 170000 lives? what is the cost of 4000 years of history because we are not strangers to climate refugees here in my crenisha. we are not so far removed from the horrors of a post world war 2 posts atomic region to know what it's like for islands around us to become uninhabitable due to military activities. so what is the cause, and are you as our leaders or us people prepared to bear, bear the weight of it one way the military says it will mitigate,

herm. so the aquifer is by installing monitoring wells with in the firing range complex, the monitoring miles being place. um, i think that's an essential part of, of ensuring that there's no contaminants coming out. but at the same time, we're not we're dealing with dealing with it after the fact and we may, we need to ensure that it's, we need to prevent it from happening. first of all, the other issue that i'm seeing is that a lot of this monitoring is done by federal contractors. so we don't necessarily have access to the information in a real time basis. and that's one of the issues i'm seeing between the local and the federal side is does the public really know what's going on until it's much later? you know, as you know, guam has been the side of a lot of tax, a legacy contaminants. and we're only finding out now if at all that they're there and that perhaps they were

impacting or helps. and so with those monitoring those, you know, whereas is information going to be is going to be provided to the public on, on a, in a regular basis. and, and that's one of the issues is how transparent can the military be with our community. and in regards to this, considering cancer is one of the leading cause of death. ellen. so many of these contaminants are carcinogenic. all military operations have in some way, shape or form had an adverse impact on the environment that they do their business . it for guam, it's, you know, being a to, for wanting a warrant of the federal government for lack of a better term. you know, we, we just don't, we don't have the chief necessary in order to protect our resources and none of our

resources, you know, we've asserted that we have, we have identified as r, e z, our exclusive economic zone. 6 not recognized by the united states. you know, there's a lot of things that happen around our waters around our borders that we have 0 control over. it doesn't matter whether you come from a 1st world, 3rd world, 5th world country. we all deserve clean water. basic human right. what about self determination? isn't that also a basic, inalienable human, right? an inherent human, right? an inalienable human, right? you know, isn't that also something that we shouldn't have taken from us fund? who can, that will not be in the, the, to not fun. who do we have to go? not fun. who room see her as look them

done on to the know, look forward to talking to you all that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings, except we're so shorter is it conflict with the 1st law show you alignment as a patient. we should be very careful about our personal intelligence at the point, obviously is to create a trust rather than fit the various jobs. i mean, with the artificial intelligence we'll summoning the theme in the, of most protection, this phone existence was only exist. the

russian states never as one of the most sense communities all sense enough in the system to progress be the one else calls question about this, even though we will then in the european union, the kremlin machine, the state on the russians putting as quickly ortiz spoke neck, keeping our video agency roughly all the band on youtube tv services for the question, did you say steven twist, which is the

hello and welcome to cross stock? were all things are considered? i'm peter lavelle. it goes without saying the bite and foreign policy has been an unmitigated failure. on this edition of the program, we come to many ways how the world is more on stable and dangerous all on forest errors, the cross section biden's legacy. i'm joined by my guess, larry johnson in tampa. he is a managing partner for burg associates, a former c i, a analyst, and us state department counterterrorism official in columbus. we have missed the winston.