Editorials
Friday, May 23, 1997THE Pentagon is calling for a new round of base closings, an issue of special interest to Hawaii in view of the still-huge military establishment here. Because every member of Congress feels compelled to resist the closing of any installation in his or her district, the issue inevitably is a sensitive one. In the past, the solution has been to establish a commission that would make the hard decisions, with Congress barred from tampering with the list of bases to be closed. That's the route the Defense Department wants to take again, and it is the only sensible one. Before the commission system was introduced, no major bases had been closed for 11 years. Commission is the way
to handle base closingsThe Pentagon wants the system revived for two new rounds of base closings, beginning in 1999, which would require congressional approval of a new commission this year. Defense Secretary William Cohen said it comes down to a choice. Cut bases, he said, or there won't be enough money to modernize the armed forces. U.S. forces are down 33 percent, going to 36 percent, from Cold War levels, while bases have been cut about 21 percent. "We're carrying extra weight," Cohen said.
The process has been used four times since 1988, affecting 243 bases, with eventual savings estimated at $5 billion a year, although closings cost money at first. Thus far the biggest casualty of base closing in Hawaii in recent history has been Barbers Point Naval Air Station, scheduled to shut down in 1999. In view of Hawaii's strategic importance, it seems unlikely that any other major facilities here are candidates for closing, but there are no guarantees.
Painful as it is to nearby communities, bases must be closed when their reason for existence disappears. To do otherwise is to waste money and probably short-change military programs that are needed. But members of Congress often find it impossible to go along with closings when they affect their constituents. Cohen understands that. As a Republican senator and House member, he tried unsuccessfully to prevent the shutdown of an Air Force base in Maine.
Hence the creation of a commission. It's a nasty job, but somebody has to do it.
AMERICANS who were horrified at the state of the judicial system after viewing the O.J. Simpson criminal trial on television should be relieved by the trial so far in the Oklahoma City bombing case. Unfortunately, TV cameras are not permitted in the federal courtroom where Timothy McVeigh is standing trial in Denver, so the excellence of those proceedings is less obvious to the public. Oklahoma bomb trial
ALTHOUGH many steps remain to be taken, the Hawaii County Council's preliminary approval of $2 million for the construction of an irradiation facility and the marketing of irradiated fruit was a major victory. It was followed by an announcement that a New Jersey company has decided to build an irradiation plant on the Big Island. Fruit irradiation
Fruit irradiation has been discussed in Hawaii for at least a decade. The disappearance of the sugar industry on the Big Island has dealt a severe blow to the economy and made the development of alternative crops an urgent need. Irradiation would be a major boost for fruit growers. The county is doing the right thing by getting the process started.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
