THE MEN WHO STOLE OCEANA

A Special Report for Virginia News Source

September 18, 2005

There are few emergencies more pressing than those that need inventing quickly.

So it was with the recently concluded BRAC Commission in its deliberations concerning Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. (Bush-Republicans-Acting-Cocky)

Here was a circumstance, nearby housing, which existed from the days the Oceana gate first opened. By far, most of the buildings in the crash and noise zones have been there for more than twenty years. No one can think of a single privately-owned building that has been damaged by military operations since Oceana opened in 1947.

Nonetheless, the supposed Naval aviation danger is to the people and structures on the ground, primarily those homeowners who so foolishly took up residence in the

crash zone. Those people need the BRAC commission, despite the costs, to save themselves from their own foolhardiness. Federal taxpayers would have to compensate people for the death and destruction on the ground in the event of a jet crash, after all.

How big is this sudden Navy aviation problem? it does not make much safety difference for the pilot and crew whether a jet crashes into a forest or into a building. The final BRAC report only mentions aviation noise on the ground briefly as an issue and does so in a dismissive way. The CCJN class-action lawsuit alleging excessive flight noise has already been dismissed by the federal courts.

Forget the same “encroachment” surrounds hundreds of big and small airports in the United States with little to no concern ever expressed. Forget more people die on the roadways of Hampton Roads every few days than have died due to Oceana jet crashes over the past fifty years, one civilian fatality. Forget that the very buildings you are saving from harm are instead being torn down completely. Forget that the homeowners in the crash zone are more than willing to waive government liability for crashes on their land or anyone else’s.

Even forget that the Navy loves Virginia Beach and wants to stay: always a primo post to have. Forget the Navy had little inkling itself that its mission capability was being seriously affected by "encroachment". That is exactly what the Navy told the BRAC Commission.

Instead, order a city to cut a hurricane’s path through its center leaving a permanent empty space. If this insane action is not taken by the city the Navy, against its will, must move squadrons of fighter jets to a facility in Florida where there is air traffic congestion that truly does endanger Navy aviation.

Instead, trash the BRAC commission’s main mission, to save money, in favor of reopening a closed base while keeping Oceana as a ghost base with most of its fixed costs remaining.

Instead, reverse and criticize a previous BRAC panel determination moving squadrons to Oceana from Florida that did save a lot of money.

Instead, unleash a barrage of attacks against Virginia officials focusing blame for losing Oceana on short-sighted political leadership.

Seems unusually crazy even for the Feds? Just follow the geography, the people, the calendar and, of course, the money.

The BRAC Commission members are appointed by the President in consultation with the Congress. The President is George W. Bush of Texas: son of former President George H. W. Bush. The appointed chairman of this year’s BRAC commission, Anthony Principi, was father Bush’s Secretary of Veteran Affairs and took the same post under George W. after his assumption of the Presidency ordered by the Supreme Court in 2000. It was a post Mr. Principi, a business executive, had few qualifications for, other than his dogged support of the first President Bush. Other BRAC commission members share a Bush patronage connection.

Jeb Bush is the son and brother of the two Georges and is now the Governor of Florida with his eye on the Presidency for himself. George Allen is a Virginia Senator who would prefer to undertake the post of the President himself next time around. Ditto for Virginia Governor Mark

A Family Affair

Warner. Thelma Drake is the freshman congresswoman from Virginia

Beach who could never believe that her own Republican President was looking to take the Oceana squadrons away from her constituency.

Virginia is a solidly Republican state. Florida is a “swing state”. Jacksonville’s redevelopment efforts for Cecil Field have proved underwhelming. Anything that helps Florida, helps Brother Jeb.

The political calendar says it is already time to start serious jockeying for the 2008 Presidential race. That in part means proving who can deliver the most federal taxpayer dollars to their home constituency. It also means getting tough on the potential opponents in the Presidential race.

All this made the Oceana squadrons a tempting prize for reasons even beyond 12,000 good paying jobs.

For her part, Congresswoman Drake remained in denial to the end probably due to what she was being told by Rummy's men at the Pentagon. She never believed the heist would actually happen. Even since, she has had little to say about the reasons Virginia Beach will lose the

Oceana squadrons. She does know the imposed BRAC remedies are unprecedented,

Not My President

illogical, unnecessary and quite impossible to meet. She is apparently wondering how to deal with the fallout, but has decided to continue to cover her Republican masters in Washington no matter what.

Once again, our Virginia Senators are far behind the eight-ball. If the hope beyond the heist itself was to also portray George Allen and Mark Warner as ineffective and dull-witted, it all came true. These two did nothing to defuse or even point out the Washington power play underway. The two seem to remain as clueless today. Their only proposed solution is to open wide the Virginia public treasury to frustrate the plot with an ocean of almost meaningless government spending. Sometimes you have to waste tens of billions of dollars just to keep the other thieves at bay.

Sorry guys: Have no doubt the Oceana squadrons will be leaving. The most powerful men in America only play for keeps. Even if Virginia Beach offers to bankrupt the city to save Oceana, the Virginia General Assembly remains Bush Country. The President will have his way in the end.

The Keystone Senators

You can blame Virginia Beach City Council for losing Oceana if you choose

to. They certainly have been counting from day one the money generated by new housing projects around Oceana. Council indeed is an inviting patsy for this misadventure.

Or, one can open their eyes to see that the men running Washington, D.C. have stolen Oceana from Virginia Beach just because they could.

Stephen Merrill is a local attorney and General Counsel for the Tidewater Libertarian Party.