Although the people of Hawai`i cannot change the events of February 9, we bear some responsibility for the consequences of militarism in our islands. And we must work for changes in US security policy to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening in the future.

US officials have portrayed the sinking of the Ehime Maru and the loss of nine lives as an isolated accident, the tragic combination of human error and circumstance. However, far from being the exception, the sinking of the Ehime Maru is but one in a string of military tragedies that directly affected civilians.

• On June 14, 1960, while docked at Pearl Harbor, the nuclear sub USS Sargo exploded and burned so fiercely that the ship had to be flooded to avert a nuclear catastrophe.
• In 1981, the USS George Washington rammed and sunk the Japanese freighter Nissho Maru, killing two.
• In 1995 three US military servicemen gang-raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.
• February 3, 1998, a Marine jet severed a gondola cable in Italy, plunging 20 to their deaths.
• April 19, 1999 a civilian worker was killed by a bombing accident on Vieques, Puerto Rico, sparking massive protests.
• Thousands of Marshall Islanders have died or suffered from radiation sickness due to 67 nuclear tests on their islands. Greenpeace reported that in the 1980s alone, the US Navy had almost 1,600 accidents, and that as of 1996, the US had 380 nuclear weapons accidents. I shudder to think what might have happened if the USS Greeneville disaster had been a nuclear one.

The people of Hawai`i, like peoples in other militarized and colonized areas of the world, such as Okinawa, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, and Vieques, subsidize the costs of militarism.

The illegal US takeover of Hawai`i in 1898 was driven by military interests to control the Pacific and gain the military advantage in the Philippines. Today, as a result, 22.4% of the land on O`ahu is controlled by the military, most of it land taken from the Hawaiian Kingdom. The bombing of Kaho`olawe, Waikane, Pöhakuloa, and Mäkua have destroyed areas rich in cultural and natural resources and ruined the lives of former inhabitants. Military operations have seriously contaminated numerous sites including Pearl Harbor, Lualualei, Mäkua, Nöhili, Barbers Point, Bellows, and Mililani, with lead, petroleum PCBs, organic solvents, and unexploded ordnance as a few of the leading contaminants. High cancer rates among Wai`anae residents may be linked to military contamination.

The Naval Court of Inquiry may shed light on how the submarine rammed the Ehime Maru. But ultimately, it avoids another, perhaps more important, "inquiry" – the critical analysis about the larger military-defense structure of the US that has been in place for more than a century. Why was the Greeneville performing dangerous stunts to entertain well-connected civilians? Why is the Navy allowed to conduct these operations and training exercises in secrecy in heavily used Hawaiian waters? Why is the submarine force commander pushing to expand the sub fleet when even the Department of Defense wanted a reduction? The commander stated that subs help "sell the Navy," but it seems that the distinguished visitor program also "sells subs."

What is the true social cost of militarism? US national priorities are perverted. The US spends 47 cents on every dollar for military-related expenses, but only 3 cents on education. If the Navy didn’t buy 30 attack subs, Honolulu could repair half of its deteriorated schools with the $90.8 million saved. This figure represents Honolulu’s contribution to the total cost of these submarines.

The arrogance of US military power and its love affair with defense contractors put the USS Greeneville on a collision course with the Ehime Maru long before it set sail on February 9. In the long run, militarism makes the world less secure. We must redefine the concept of "security" to mean human and environmental security – meeting human and environmental needs – because one way or another, people, military as well as civilian, pay the price of militarism with our lives.