Agent Orange buried (by US) at beach strip (in Okinawa) ?

[kristopher]

Agent Orange buried at beach strip?
U.S. veteran fears toxin now beneath popular civilian area

By JON MITCHELL
Special to The Japan Times

Dozens of barrels of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange were buried in the late 1960s beneath what is now a busy neighborhood in the central Okinawa Island town of Chatan, near Araha Beach, according to a former U.S. soldier who has recently pinpointed the location thanks to a 1970 map of a U.S. base obtained by The Japan Times.


Black mark: A U.S. military veteran who claims to have witnessed the burial of dozens of drums of Agent Orange in 1969 points to the site on a map. Today the area is a busy shopping district in the heart of touristy Chatan, Okinawa Prefecture. JOE SIPALA


The alleged burial took place in 1969 when the area was part of the U.S. Hamby Air Field, but since its return to civilian use in 1981 the area has been redeveloped into a sightseeing area. Nearby today are restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings on a street running parallel to popular Araha Beach.

Recently there have been several other claims concerning the burial of Agent Orange within U.S. military installations in Okinawa, but this is the first time a site has been identified on civilian land, which may pave the way for independent environmental tests to be conducted.

In August, the veteran claimed he had helped offload dozens of barrels of dioxin-laden Agent Orange from an American transport ship that struck a reef in 1969. He says he then witnessed the defoliants being buried in a 45-meter-long trench at Hamby Air Field...

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111130a5.html

He was

[gejohnston]

1. My god

That is only about 2km from my first apt. as a newlywed. We lived in Kuwae ward of Chatan, a couple of blocks from the library.

[jwirr]

2. In his book "Blowback" Chalmers Johnson talks about what a mess

we have made of that island and why they want us out of there. I wonder how many foreign bases we have treated this way?