 The
people of Rongelap and the Marshall Islands have a shared
history with the people of America. The United States
governed the Marshall Islands for almost half a century. We
have been associated republics under a compact with the
closest possible alliance for the past 17 years.
This shared history began during the Second World War. But
war did not end for the Marshall Islands in 1945 as it did
for most of the world. A different kind of war continued for
the people of the Marshall Islands. Then it was called the
Cold War.
The testing program in the
Marshall Islands was equivalent to several Hiroshima bombs
every week for 12 years. Our islands were ground zero in the
Cold War, and we were on the front line in the fight to win
the Cold War.
The US was able to save itself and the world from nuclear
war, and the US tells us that was made possible by the
nuclear testing at Bikini and Enewetak. The US beat the
Soviet Union in the arms race, and the US tells us that was
made possible by long range ballistic missile testing at
Kwajalein.
The US needed the Marshall
Islands to win the Cold War. That is what the US Congress
and US Presidents told us over and over again.
The testing program that
produced the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was too
dangerous for the US mainland. So in the Cold War it was
relocated to the Marshall Islands.
We understood that the
stakes were high for all mankind. We understood better than
most people because we were victims of radiation poisoning
in our bodies and in our homeland. We understood that it was
a struggle between good and evil, and that sometimes
sacrifices have to be made in the pursuit of the good.
We understood, but that
does not change the reality. We were not protected from
danger when we could have been taken to safety. The US
failed to meet its legal responsibility under the U.N.
trusteeship to protect our people. Our sacrifices were not
recognized by measures that respected our humanity.
The record we now have from documents obtained in recent
years tell us that there were people in the US who knew we
were in danger, that we should have been moved not only from
Rongelap but from other islands as well. After that our
people were essentially treated like guinea pigs. Instead of
caring for us when we were victims and giving us medical
care as human beings, our medical care was secondary to
studies of the effects of radiation.
That was legally and
morally wrong. We were harmed by the United States even as
the United States acted for the greater good of humanity.
That wrong came out of the
struggle between evil and good in the Cold War. We
understand that US was the leader of the world in the cause
liberty and peace. And because of that, we adopted the
American model of democracy. Because we understood America
and the dangers of weapons of mass destruction better than
most people in the world, we were America’s allies in the
Cold War.
It was easy to be an ally
of the US when the Cold War ended. A lot of nations have
become friendly to the US since the collapse of the Soviet
Union. It is easy to be an ally of the US when it means
safety and security and prosperity. Many nations like to
receive US foreign aid.
But the Marshall Islands
became the ally of the US when it meant hardship and
suffering. We became a US ally even though it meant losing
our ability to return to our way of life before the world
intruded. We were not a developed society, but we were
self-reliant before the war brought the 20th Century to us.
We became dependent on the
US because the US claimed the power to govern us. We did not
ask for it, but when that happened we came to understand the
choices we had. After decades of living with the good and
the bad under American rule we decided the greater good
would be to cast our lot with the US under the Compact of
Free Association.
Today we are America’s
allies in the War on Terrorism. We are America’s allies in
the development of missile defense systems. We are allies in
the U.N. and sometimes the RMI votes with the U.S. when all
its other allies abandon the US on issues of great
importance. We do that of our own free will, without the
exercise of extraordinary US powers under the Compact.
For all these reasons, I
can say we appreciate and understand America. We understand
what Fourth of July means to Americans. We understand what
Ford’s Theatre and December 7, 1941, mean to America. We
understand what November 22, 1963, means to America. We
understand what September 11 will always mean to America.
What we are here today to
ask is that America understand us as well as we understand
it. For our people, for Marshall Islands, March 1, 1954, is
the defining moment in world history. That is the Fourth of
July, Pearl Harbor and 9/11 all combined.
That is the day the world
stood still and also changed forever. That is the day that
we went from being an occupied nation to becoming a
dependent nation. That is the day we went from being
survivors of World War to victims of the Cold War.
Today we gather to observe
the 50th anniversary of the day our destinies became
inextricably interdependent and interwoven under the rule
and within the framework of social, political and economic
relationships established in our homelands by operation of
US and international law.
The nuclear testing program
began in 1946 and ended in 1958, but March 1, 1954, is the
day that defined the new reality created by the nuclear
testing program. Far more than any other test, it is the
ultimate metaphor for the legacy of the testing program as a
whole. March 1, 1954, is the day that defines a legacy that
would not end when the testing ended.
The on-going legacy is
recognized under Section 177 of the Compact of Free
Association. The “full and final settlement” under Section
177 is not limited to the number of dollars deposited in the
Nuclear Claims Trust Fund. The full and final settlement
includes the on-going political and legal processes
recognized under the Section 177 Agreement as the path to
reach truth and justice. The Section 177 settlement was not
a scheme to cash out the sacrifices of our people at a
bargain basement price of one penny on the dollar compared
to U.S. nuclear test victims.
The terms of the “full and
final settlement” in Section 177 includes the Article IX
Changed Circumstances process to be resolved by the US
Congress. It also includes the adjudication of additional
claims under law by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal. It includes
a U.S. responsibility to determine when fair and adequate
compensation has been provided.
So what we ask today on
this 50th anniversary is not just that we remember the past.
We ask that the US remember its commitments. We ask
Americans to understand us as well as we understand them. We
think they do. We think the US is a great nation that can do
the right thing.
It is too simple to say
that the wrongs done to us were justified by the good that
the US has done for the Marshall Islands and the world.
There must also be justice for our people. We believe it is
significant that former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh
independently concluded the Nuclear Claims Tribunal operated
by US judicial standards. And we are pleased that Senator
Domenici announced during hearings on the Compact renewal
that the US Senate will hold hearings on the nuclear testing
legacy.
At a time when the US is
spending billions to study nuclear clean up at mainland
weapons production sites, and hundreds of billions to make
the world safer and more democratic, the US has a legal and
moral obligation to finally resolve the legacy of nuclear
testing in the Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands is a
democratic ally on all fronts in the current war that asks
for nothing except just compensation for judicially
determined claims.
That is all we ask. We
respect and trust the United States to do what is right when
it has the facts. Now is a moment in history when the facts
can come out. The truth can be told. Our story needs to be
told and the American people need to hear it.
As we honor the survivors
of March 1, 1954, and remember its victims. How did all this
fit into God’s plan? Was it part of God’s plan for mankind
to acquire the knowledge of nuclear power? Was it part of
God’s plan for mankind to learn how to prevent the use of
nuclear weapons in war? Was the tragedy of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Bikini and Enewetak, Rongelap, and the Marshall
Islands part of the struggle between good and evil?
Was it part of God’s plan
for the US to lead the world through the dangers at the dawn
of the nuclear age?
I do not claim to be able
to answer those questions for others, but if the answer is
‘yes’, that all this has been part of the struggle of good
and evil in God’s plan for humanity, then surely part of
that plan is for the US to do right, to do justice for the
people of the Marshall Islands who are truly the children of
the nuclear age.
That is the resolve we must
have today as we remember the past, honor those who have
suffered, and face the challenges of today and the future.
The real meaning of our memorial remembrance today is to go
forward and deliver on the promise of justice for our
people. |
