Bombs Away ... at Last

For at least two years the people of Puerto Rico have tried everything from begging to protesting to make the U.S. government stop the Navy’s 60-year-long bombardment of Vieques, a small island nearby. The Navy’s response has always been that there’s no other place on Earth as good as Vieques for simulating land, sea and air battles with inert bombs.

Thursday, in Goteborg, Sweden, President Bush told the Navy that come May 2003 it must find somewhere else to conduct its exercises. “These are our friends and neighbors, and they don’t want us there,” he said. In fact, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Which makes the case against the bombing even stronger: In a democratic society no institution can go forever against the will of the people.

The Navy calls Vieques the “crown jewel” of its Atlantic training sites, mainly because it can conduct military maneuvers there without interference from civilian ships or aircraft. Protesters have said they will continue to demonstrate in an effort to obstruct the Navy’s exercises--an effort that undermines the site’s value.

Training exercises are critical to the defense of the entire United States--including Puerto Rico. But the Navy needs to find a new site--and if it can find one sooner than 2003, so much the better.