Report says
Hawaii vulnerable
to missiles

Arms experts conclude
the threat is 'evolving more
rapidly' than was told

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- A high-level report has confirmed for the first time that hostile, rogue nations are within a few years of being able to reach U.S. soil with ballistic missiles, and Hawaii and Alaska are especially vulnerable.

The missile threat is "broader, more mature and evolving more rapidly than has been reported" by the nation's intelligence community, according to the report released last week by a commission of arms experts headed by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Moreover, the commission concluded, the United States might have little or no warning that missiles are on the way.

North Korea, for example, is developing the Taepo Dong 2 ballistic missile that "could be deployed rapidly" without the United States knowing and "could reach major cities and military bases in Alaska and the smaller, western islands in the Hawaiian chain."

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who for years has pushed for missile defense strategies that cover more than just the lower 48 states, called the report the first official, post-Cold War acknowledgment that Hawaii is almost within the range of countries working on missile programs.

"Until this point, they kind of pooh-poohed the idea. Alaska and Hawaii were almost treated like orphans," he said.

"The people of Hawaii should not be alarmed," added Inouye. "But they should be aware that if the diplomats fail ... this is a possibility."

As a senior member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, Inouye was given a top-secret briefing on the report, as well as a lengthier, classified version. A briefer, unclassified version was released to the press last week.

The report mentioned North Korea, Iran and Iraq as nations about which the United States should be especially concerned. The first two in particular, the report concluded, are devoting "an extraordinary level of resources to developing their own ballistic missile capabilities."

The report tends to support anti-missile proponents, who have argued that the United States is more vulnerable than many think, and Clinton administration defense strategies are inadequate.

The report was also discussed at a meeting of the House National Security Committee, of which U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie is a member.

Abercrombie said the report "points up the difficulties of trying to build up and achieve a credible missile defense program."

The report confirms the wisdom of theater-wide defense systems, said Abercrombie, and he suggested Kauai's Barking Sands could be transformed into a training range to develop such a system.

"If someone is demented enough to send a missile to Hawaii, it would be hard to stop them," added Abercrombie. The key, he said, is good intelligence and satellite work, and a military defense that emphasizes massive retaliation against such strikes.

Inouye agreed that massive retaliation is a strong deterrent, but he also said the report underscores the need for a missile defense system that protects all 50 states.

Asked if the current defenses were enough, Inouye said that was "a matter of debate," but suggested that "on the research level, maybe a few more dollars are needed.

"I'm not talking about billions of dollars, but it just makes good sense to have a defense for theater missiles."

---

Filipino vets fight for benefits

They fought alongside American soldiers
in WWII but did not get what
was once promised

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- As a teen-ager, Ed Mina served side-by-side with American soldiers, fighting the Japanese in the Neuva Vizcaya Province of his native Philippine Islands.

Now, 55 years later, he is fighting for the benefits and recognition the U.S. government once promised those Filipino allies but never delivered.

"We were American nationals, fighting a war of America and for America," said Mina, 68, president of the Hawaii Filipino-American Veterans chapter. "The Americans who fought with us are receiving benefits, but we are not. It is a question of equity and honor."

Mina, who became a U.S. citizen in January 1993, shortly after moving to Hawaii, was one of five Filipino-American veterans from Hawaii in Washington this week to rally for their cause.

Yesterday, they joined scores of other veterans to stage protests at the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Today, they crowded into a long-awaited congressional hearing on a proposal to provide full veterans benefits to Filipinos who fought for the Allies during World War II.

With about 3,000 of the estimated 23,000 Filipino veterans living in the United States, Hawaii is a hotbed of support for the legislation. Both Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Patsy Mink testified in person at the House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, and Sen. Daniel Inouye submitted written testimony.

Gov. Ben Cayetano also submitted a statement, and Hawaii Rep. David Pendleton, R-Maunawili, flew in to tell the panel that Hawaii's Legislature overwhelmingly favors the legislation.

blrb The veterans say that scaled-down alternatives fall short.

"Perhaps what happened is technically legal," said Pendleton, referring to the 1946 decision by Congress to rescind promised benefits. "But it falls far short of our American ideals."

In Congress, however, support for extending benefits is harder to find. Many lawmakers say the proposal is too costly and some veterans' groups worry that the money would come from other veterans' programs.

Republicans, including Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Stump of Arizona, have suggested scaled-down alternatives, such as asking the Philippine government to help or extending Medicare coverage to the veterans.

But to the veterans, whose numbers are thinning with each passing year, such measures fall short.

"It would not be equity," said Mina. "And we will not accept anything less than equity."

No vote has been scheduled on the proposal.