tn_subject: ['activism', 'arms-spend', 'asia', 'environmen', 'environmen', 'foreign-po', 'internatio', 'journalist', 'national-s', 'nuclear-ar', 'radioactiv', 'us-wars-an', 'war-and-pe', 'world'], It included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War during World War II, the April 1, 1945 invasion of Okinawa itself. In 2000, "Asian" and "Pacific Islander" became two separate racial categories.[55]. magazine_button_bg_color_384157 = '#dd3333'; The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War Two. Banks claimed that, "although islands such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan and the Aleutian Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, islanders from these locales are not typically considered Pacific Islanders. CIA reports obtained by Mitchell suggested that Japanese leftists were exploiting the incident for a good propaganda ride., Mitchell has also reported extensively on water pollution on US bases. These distinctions also matter to those of us who are looking at them, how we perceive them, and what degree of empathy we feel for them. if( magazine_text_384157 !='' ){ Taking Okinawa would provide Allied forces an airbase from which bombers could strike Japan and an advanced anchorage for Allied fleets. Among the oceanic islands which are part of the Commonwealth of Australia are Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, the Torres Strait Islands, the Willis Group and Coringa Islands."[16]. Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. In July 2019, at the inaugural Indonesian Exposition held in Auckland, Indonesia launched its Pacific Elevation program, which would encompass a new era of elevated engagement with the region, with the country also using the event to lay claim that Indonesia is culturally and ethnically linked to the Pacific islands. jQuery("#magazine_text_384157").html(magazine_text_384157); Australian classification standards code Pacific islanders, Oceanians, South Sea islanders, and Australasians all with code 1000, i.e., identically. "Chinaman" was a racial stereotype; a foreign (and unassimilable) menace who competed with whites for jobs, had a lower standard of living, and was racially inferior to whites. [31] The nations of the Malay Archipelago have their own regional governing organization called ASEAN, which includes mainland Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Thailand. But, as Mitchell points out, the US military is building the Henoko base, the scene of daily demonstrations, upon a pristine coral reef. [24] In his 2012 book Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, American author James A. Colorblind casting means casting actors in roles irrespective of their race. The majority of the countrys 17 provinces are littered with the unexploded ordnance, which hinders sustainable development in Laos, contaminating land needed for farming, housing or development projects and leading to greater risk of death and injury. The prefecture is composed of roughly the southwestern two-thirds of the Ryukyu Islands, that archipelago forming the division between the East China Sea to the northwest and the Philippine Sea to the southeast. Increasingly, many Native Hawaiian people object not only to the way the word has been changed in its grammatical usage, but also to how it is applied to anyone of mixed Asian and/or Pacific Islander heritage, when it implies Native Hawaiian mixed heritage. forced President Richard Nixon to renounce, The Case Against Privatizing Social Security, How Minor League Baseball Scored Itself a Union. The statement that the U.S. does not clean up contaminants is simply false, a USFJ public affairs officer wrote in a lengthy e-mail. SHARE. Before Asian Americans starting calling themselves "Asian Americans," others used the demeaning term "Oriental.". What is the difference between Hawaiian and Native Hawaiian? (2010) 1,392,818. Two of the major ones are Polyfest, which showcases performances of the secondary school cultural groups in the region,[53] and Pasifika, a festival that celebrates Pacific island heritage through traditional food, music, dance, and entertainment. September 21, 2020 Okinawa, a 70-mile long island 350 miles from Japan, was seen as the final step before a full-scale invasion of the Japanese Homeland. Remembering Executive Order 9066, the 'single act' that began WWII incarceration, Pulitzer Winner Viet Thanh Nguyen on the U.S., Vietnam, and why history can't be erased, The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives. By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 andagree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. [2] The military bases of the United States in Okinawa Prefecture are located on the Okinawa Islands.[3]. Most Pacific Islands are densely populated, and habitation tends to be concentrated along the coasts. tn_loc:'atf' }); His book also describes years of high-decibel noise pollution from the American jets flying near residential areas in Okinawa. If the immigrant is "legal," then the immigrant at least has the hope of being welcomed at her or his destination, or at least accepted. He warns that the proposed US military expansion in the Asia-Pacificits largest since the Vietnam Warwill aggravate an environmental disaster caused by 75 years of American wars and intervention. These answers have been edited for length and clarity. [15][16] The 1996 book Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas notes that Spanish was once commonly spoken in the Pacific on the colonial-era Philippines, further stating, "at the present time, the Spanish language is not widely used in the South Pacific, being unknown outside of a handful of places. Jun Xu, professor of sociology at Ball State University, and Jennifer C. Lee, associate professor at Indiana University, in The Marginalized Model Minority: An Empirical Examination of the Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans. Finally, 9.1 percent of Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, in comparison to 6.3 percent of non-Hispanic whites, were uninsured. The model minority image also obscures the racial subordination of Asian Americans. They are an administratively-oriented group of islands and include the outlying Itorishima, which is otherwise seen as part of the Amami Islands. The American contingency included 1,321 ships and more than 183,000 troops. The prefecture is composed of roughly the southwestern two-thirds of the Ryukyu Islands, that archipelago forming the division between the East China Sea to the northwest and the Philippine Sea to the southeast. On April 1, 1945Easter Sundaythe Navy's Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and Marine Corps. What does Desi mean? Where did the "model minority myth" come from? Blog Inizio Senza categoria are okinawans pacific islanders. In this legislation, Pacific Islanders were defined as: "Pacific Island Labourer" includes all natives not of European extraction of any island except the islands of New Zealand situated in the Pacific Ocean beyond the Commonwealth [of Australia] as constituted at the commencement of this Act. On April 1, after a full week of naval bombardments, US soldiers and . [21], The Official Journal of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) considers the term Pacific Islands to encompass American Samoa, Cook Islands, Easter Island, the Galpagos Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam,Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Salas y Gmez Island, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, the United States Minor Outlying Islands, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna. KADENA AIR BASE, Japan - An Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month recognition ceremony was held May 30 here at the Keystone Theater. [2] The first landings at Okinawa were on the outlying Kerama Islands on March 26, 1945 the last day of the Battle of Iwo Jima. [25][26][27][28] The islands of the Philippines do not have oceanic geology, and instead sit on the continental shelf of Asia. Pacific Islanders are the natives of the many Pacific islands, the main ones being New Zealand, the island group of Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Hawaii. Mitchell uncovered the US militarys accidental use of depleted uranium rounds at an Okinawan live-fire range in 1995 and 1996, its dump of radioactive waste into sewers beneath US bases in mainland Japan in 2011, and hundreds of recent environmental accidents at US bases on Okinawa that were not reported to Japanese authorities. What is the difference between Asian American and Asian American and Pacific Islander? Omissions? Maia Hibbett. Tim ShorrockTwitterTim Shorrock, who has been reporting on Korea for The Nation since 1983, is a Washington, D.C.based journalist and the author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing. The Battle of Okinawa, which began 75 years ago, was the last major battle of World War II and the bloodiest of the Pacific campaign. jQuery("#magazine_button_384157 a input").css("background",magazine_button_bg_color_384157); He also broke stories about the US testing of biological weapons and its storage and transshipment of Agent Orangethe defoliant used over Vietnamon Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest and costliest of World War II in the Pacific. [47] Aside from Papua New Guinea, the scheme includes one country each from Melanesia (Vanuatu), Polynesia (Tonga), and Micronesia (Kiribati)countries that already send workers to New Zealand under its seasonal labour scheme. The United States needed a base to stage an invasion of mainland Japan. By signing up to receive emails, you agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation's journalism. What is the harm in describing Asian Americans as smart and quiet and good at math? The U.S. Census Bureau must adhere to the 1997 Office of Management and Budget standards on race and ethnicity which guide the Census Bureau in classifying written responses to the race question. It was, he said, an apparent attempt to hobble my ability to file FOIA requests online. What are the countries and cultures that the Census Bureau includes in the definition of Asian American and Pacific Islander? The prosthetics typically flatten eyelids and slant eyes while the makeup gives a yellow hue to the skin. In 2016, he discovered through a FOIA request that the USMC Criminal Investigation Division was monitoring him. What does "hapa" mean and where did it come from? For Reprints and Permissions, click here. These people speak various Austrones. This Isnt Your Island: Why Northern Mariana Islanders Are Facing Down the US Military [52], To celebrate the diverse Pacific island cultures, the Auckland Region hosts several Pacific island festivals. Area prefecture, 877 square miles (2,271 square km). IE 11 is not supported. Micronesians include the Carolinians (Northern Mariana Islands), Chamorros (Guam and The Northern Mariana Islands ), Chuukese (Chuuk), I-Kiribati (Kiribati), Kosraeans (Kosrae), Marshallese (Marshall Islands), Palauans (Palau), Pohnpeians (Pohnpei), and Yapese (Yap). } var magazine_text_384157 = ''; Today, Okinawa prefecture is the reluctant host to 31 U.S. military bases, which occupy approximately 15 percent of the main island. More recently, in the post-9/11 era, the term AMEMSA (Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian) has emerged as another related identity grouping of distinct communities who have experienced Islamophobia, racial profiling as potential terrorists and other forms of targeted surveillance. In Their Fight to Stop a New US Military Base, Okinawans Confront Two Colonizers The term has since been critiqued by scholars who argue that the term does not reflect the experience of Pacific Islanders who have and continue to experience a unique set of struggles relating to sovereignty and decolonization, and do not fit into the model minority stereotype which paints Asian Americans as successful, assimilated into American mainstream, and with good cultural values. I think so.. They had no idea the US had 300,000 chemical weapons stored in Okinawa. But the US government was mostly concerned with the bad publicity. targeting:{ In its response to me, the command referred to reports from Dr. Alvin Young, a military consultant who has spent years trying to convince the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affair that herbicides did not make veterans sick. targeting:{ He took part in some of the major battlesSaipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa to name three. Okinawa, ken (prefecture), Japan, in the Pacific Ocean. 2003. [39][41], The Polynesian islands are scattered across a triangle covering the east-central region of the Pacific Ocean. Click here to log inor subscribe. This label also has a long and racist history. [12] Oceanic islands beyond that which neighbor Central America and South America (Galpagos, Revillagigedo, Juan Fernndez Islands etc.) Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen, sociologist and author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Research Consortium, "Defining Diaspora: Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi Identities | Cross-Cultural Center | CSUSM", "Taiwan Austronesian Language Heritage Connecting Pacific Island Peoples: Diplomacy and Values", "Search tips - Pacific Islander Research Starter - Academic Guides at Walden University", "The Ryukyu Islands and the Northern Frontier of Prehistoric Austronesian Settlement", "East of Easter: Traces of human impact in the far-eastern Pacific", "Mystery Islands of Remote East Polynesia: Bibliography of Prehistoric Settlement on the Pitcairn Islands Group", "Investigating early settlement on Lord Howe Island", "Hollywood on Howe: Australia's Most Exclusive Ecotourism Spot", The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the U.S. Pacific Remote Island Areas, Web copy "Our Equatorial Islands with an Account of Some Personal Experiences", "Scars of Empire: Harvard's Role in U.S. Colonialism in the Philippines", "Indonesia's "Pacific Elevation": Elevating What and Who? Thousands of Native Hawaiians have gathered on Hawaii Island to prevent construction of the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope on the top of Mauna Kea which, for them, is sacred ground. jQuery("#magazine_button_384157").html(magazine_button_text_384157); This also means developing more Asian American stories and not just slotting Asian Americans into white-centered narratives. magazine_button_url_384157 = 'https://www.thenation.com/email-signup-module-donate/'; Details as to civilian casualties are virtually unknown, but Okinawan authorities and the U.S. military estimate 100,000-150,000 Okinawans perished. 3 Luglio 2022; how to spot a collapsed narcissist; john creasy wikipedia . He notes that the terms are sometimes taken to include Australia, New Zealand and the non-oceanic Papua New Guinea, however he does not consider them to encompass the Japanese archipelago, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Russia's Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island or countries associated with Maritime Southeast Asia. The island itself has 2 main towns, one where most of the locals dwell near the port and the other catered to visitors, where most hotels, shops, restaurants and other attractions are located. Defining Diaspora is a series of workshops and programs that allows participants to increase understanding of and connection to the diaspora that makes up Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi communities. } magazine_button_url_384157 = 'https://subscriptions.thenation.com/Nation_index?pk=G2A1CLT'; [37], Melanesians constitute over three quarters of the total indigenous population of the Pacific Islands; Polynesians account for more than one-sixth; and Micronesians make up about one-twentieth. Will there be a 'Crazy Rich Asians' effect at Sundance? Okinawa saw 82 days of brutal warfare in horrific conditions at places like Kakazu . Japan's Okinawa, a chain of tropical islands more than three hours southwest of Tokyo by plane, looks and feels almost like a different country. In 2011, Mitchell was the first reporter to interview US Air Force technicians on Okinawa in charge of the storage of nuclear weapons, which included over 1,200 warheads at Kadena and Naha Air Force Bases as well as at US Army ammunition dumps in Chibana and Henoko. "[2] This came as result of a steady stream of immigration from Polynesian countries such as Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Niue, and French Polynesia in the 20th and 21st centuries. magazine_button_bg_color_384157 = '#ffcf0d'; Easter Island is located in a remote part of the Pacific which is thousands of kilometers removed from both Polynesia and the South American continent. Norman Kaneshiro. A large section of its own indigenous population consists of Maoris a Polynesian race. ", "The Genetic Structure of Pacific Islanders", "Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (Cth)", Australia's Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme: Managing vulnerabilities to exploitation, "Pacific guestworker scheme to start this year", "Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme is more proof of Australia's new Pacific focus", "Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG) - 2nd edition", "Polyfest NCEA credits / Pasifika Education Plan / Home - Pasifika", "Thousands turn out for Pasifika Festival", "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders a FAQ", Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Association, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacific_Islander&oldid=1142360971. On Okinawa alone, during 82 days of fighting, approximately 100,000 Japanese troops and 12,510 Americans were killed, and somewhere between 42,000 and 150,000 Okinawan civilians died as well. The U.S. planned that Okinawa, once captured, would serve as a staging area for an invasion of the main islands. jQuery("#magazine_button_384157 a").attr("href",magazine_button_url_384157); }else{ According to the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program (PEP), a "Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander" is, A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific islands. Asian American Journalists Association, Guide to Covering Asian America. Choose soy and soy foods.Try adding tofu to a stir-fry or switch from dairy milk to soy milk. With Rear Admiral Lawrence F. Reifsnider, USN, commanding the attack group, the U.S. Army's 77th division landed on April 16, 1945. In Okinawa, the US Military Seeks a Base Built on the Bones of the War Dead For substantive measures of success, including median individual income, wage returns to education and representation at the managerial level, Asians actually fare worse than whites. [19] Like with the Spanish-speaking islanders in the southeastern Pacific, they would not normally be considered Pacific Islanders under a ethnically-based definition. On Wednesday, a small group of activists announced they would study whether Okinawa could split from Japan and become an independent state, which was reported by island and national media.. I really hope my book helps people understand how badly the island has been contaminated, especially because so many American veterans are sick. Through his research, he has documented claims from more than 250 veterans that Agent Orange was stored on Okinawa during the 1960s and 70s. Okinawa, Japan's poorest prefecture, previously had the highest longevity indices in the country. Menu. The second phase of the Okinawa Campaign consisted of the objectives of Ie Shima, which housed the big airfield of the islands, and Motobu Peninsula. In their genetic analysis, Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi and Piazza (1994) identify Micronesians, Polynesians and Melanesians as a separate genetic cluster. [32] Japan and Malay Archipelago countries such as East Timor, Indonesia and the Philippines are dialogue partners of the Pacific Islands Forum, with East Timor having observer status, but none are full members. East Timor, while considered to be geographically Southeast Asian, is still generally accepted as being ethnoculturally part of Melanesia. Its certainly fine to describe people as being "from China," but the label "Chinaman" has a long and racist history that was used to demonize and then discriminate against Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans. What about white savior narratives? An immigrant chooses to leave and chooses where he or she will go. Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada. Chris Gelardi and Sophia Perez While the basic language of SOFA has not changed since its inception, it said both the US and Japanese governments agree that the agreement works well to serve the interests of the two countries. In the end, it concluded, the Commander of US Forces Japan is designated as the DoD Lead Environmental Component for Japan, and therefore will ensure US military operations are carried out in a responsible manner that will protect the environment now and for future generations., Statements like that, along with the lack of US press coverage, reflect the disdain on the part of the American elite towards Okinawa, Mitchell said. The Okinawa Gunt, defined by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard, cover the following islands: The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) defines the Okinawa Shot. Melanesians include the Fijians (Fiji), Kanaks (New Caledonia), Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu), Papua New Guineans (Papua New Guinea), Solomon Islanders (Solomon Islands), and West Papuans (Indonesia's West Papua). Jon Mitchell, the investigative reporter for the Okinawa Times who interviewed Heathcote and Mohler, has spent years documenting the Pentagons brazen use of the Pacific as a testing site and dumping ground for dangerous weapons. These incidents have ranged from small fuel leaks of only several liters that stayed on the base to large spills discharging tens of thousands of liters of fuel and raw sewage into local rivers, he writes. In his interview, he was unperturbed by the surveillance. Army Lt. Gen. James Lampert, the last U.S. high commissioner in Okinawa, is presented with the flag of the high commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands, a post he held since 1969, just before boarding . While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. It was full of fabulous riches, but also savage heathens and backward civilizations. [8] In an often geopolitical context, the term has been extended even further to include the large South Pacific landmass of Australia. Okinawa Island is the largest in the Ryukyus, being about 70 miles (112 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide and having an area of 463 square miles (1,199 square km). Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are among the fastest growing populations in the state and nation. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Progressives Slam Bidens Foreign Policy Team Is colorblind casting the solution or the problem? [11] In the South Pacific, the easternmost oceanic island with any human inhabitation was Easter Island, settled by the Polynesian Rapa Nui people. They are still a part of the subregion for ethnocultural reasons. When people think of Pacific Islander, they think of Guam or Polynesian Islands. Melanesia is the great arc of islands located north and east of Australia and south of the Equator. Is there a better term we should be using? tn_ptype: 'article', Scattered across 100,000 square miles of open water in the western . } [51] Some smaller island populations such as Niue and Tokelau have the majority of their nationals living in New Zealand. Such a clash, strategists assume, will involve intense air and sea battles for control of these areas. placementName: "thenation_article_indent", Their environment has been decimated by the American military, he said. 90% of the population of the prefecture reside within the Okinawa Islands, primarily on the largest island of the group, Okinawa Island. This coding can be broken down into the finer classification of 1,100 Australian Peoples; 1,200 New Zealand peoples; 1,300 Melanesian and Papuan; 1,400 Micronesian; 1,500 Polynesian. It h0uses 70 percent of the total number of US bases in Japan, where 50,000 American soldiers make up the Pentagons largest overseas contingent. Sources/Usage Public Domain. As more people in Tokyo and elsewhere were beginning to hole up at home during the coronavirus pandemic, others were venturing out to visit islands in . This ceremony highlighted the traditions of many Asian and . His investigations have won him high praise in Japan. [34][35][36] In Island Realm: A Pacific Panorama (1974), Ian Todd states that, "New Zealand is uniquely gifted in its role as a Polynesian associate. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Such long-term exposure is a serious health risk that can cause heart problems, disrupt sleep patterns, and damage cognitive skills in children. Author page. Okinawa is a chain of islands about 400 miles southwest of mainland Japan. She teaches Asian Pacific American Studies and writing and she speaks nationally on Asian Pacific American issues. The article caused a global furor and forced President Richard Nixon to renounce the first use of chemical and biological weapons. slotId: "thenation_right_rail_384157", Okinawa is in many ways a paradigm of the Pacific island experience: once a kingdom whose dynamic trade relations throughout East and Southeast Asia helped connect an isolated Japan to the outside world, then a colony that epitomized Japan's efforts to reshape Asia, then the final, bloody battleground of the Pacific War, and now a Japanese Recognized as the bloodiest confrontation between the opposing American and Japanese forces, there has already been much written concerning the two main players in this fight[1]. Answer (1 of 6): I've lived in Okinawa for about a year and a half, and they are overall, very kind and laid back, much more at ease than the Japanese on the mainland. What does "hapa" mean? The 1997 OMB standards permit the. The Torres Strait Islands are politically part of nearby Queensland, Australia, although the inhabitants are considered to be Melanesians rather than Indigenous Australians. They diagnosed me with bronchitis and sinusitis connected to chemical exposure, Heathcote said. Desmond Doss' actions on Hacksaw Ridge occurred during the Battle of Okinawa. A refugee is forced to leave, endures an often dangerous and life-threatening journey without a guarantee of a destination, may be fated to spend long stretches of time in refugee camps, and is often unwanted in both the country of the refugee camps and the country of destination, which are sometimes the same but oftentimes not. There is no specific coding therefore for "Pacific islander". All told, Okinawa was the bloodiest operation of the Pacific War. . ". On May 15, 1972, Okinawa reverted to Japanese control. The Okinawan people deserve better, so Im committed to providing justice for them.. Washington D.C., October 16, 2018 - Recent news reports out of Okinawa underscore the extent to which the long-standing U.S. military presence on the island is a perennial source of political friction that complicates the U.S.-Japanese military alliance. Which countries are included? Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism, Hawaiian language finds new prominence in Hawaii's courts decades after near disappearance, 1966 New York Times Magazine article, "Success Story: Japanese American Style,", Asian Americans now most economically divided group in U.S., report finds, The Marginalized Model Minority: An Empirical Examination of the Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans. Mitchell is originally from Wales and lives in Yokohama. Spanish is spoken by a resident population only on the Ecuadorian Galpagos Islands, the Chilean possessions of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Juan Fernndez Islands and a few other tiny islands. His reporting extends beyond the Cold War. Based on hundreds of declassified US documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with US veterans and whistleblowers, it documents the Pentagons use, testing, and storage of chemical, nuclear, and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Pacific and the disastrous impact of its flawed handling and storage of such weapons.