At a recent Hawaii virtual public hearing on the renewal of U.S. Army leases of public trust lands, the commander opened by declaring that continuing the leases was vital to defend “U.S. interests and the lives of U.S. soldiers.” All subsequent public testimonies opposed renewing the leases.

We are among those who oppose the U.S. military practicing war on Hawaii’s fragile ecology, including spaces considered sacred, or wahi pana such as Pohakuloa and Makua, that is offensive to many kanaka maoli and locals.

As veterans and allies, we respectfully disagree with the opinion that projecting military domination secures global stability. If protecting the lives of service members were paramount, the highest priority would be placed on civilian leadership to resolve international conflicts diplomatically. For genuine human security, we cannot be stuck in failed 20-century policies of worldwide warring and arms races. The U.S. failed to learn from British and Russian militarism in Afghanistan, sacrificing countless on all fronts, including an ongoing surge of military suicide.

We reject the saber-rattling propaganda campaign fear-mongering war against China. This isn’t to support Chinese militarism; on the contrary, we oppose the resurgence of warlordism internationally from Burma to Palestine, to the South China Sea where both China’s sea bases and permanent U.S. military occupations in Okinawa and Korea exacerbate regional tensions.

With transnational crises including epidemics and climate change, we need to rethink the futility of militarism and not autopilot mistakes we don’t have time or resources for. U.S. military annual spending is scheduled to continue in the hundreds of billions through the decade, in spite of withdrawing from Afghanistan and studies estimating that 3% of the Pentagon’s annual budget could alleviate world hunger.

The military-industrial-media-congressional complex bleeds both public and public monies contributing to the instability and casualties globally that it claims to secure in the lucrative addiction to military interventionism.

Afghanistan is another chapter in an ongoing history of regime change also seen here in Ka Pae Aina o Hawai‘i, where everything from society to nation was overthrown by the barrel of U.S. Marine Corps guns and conspiracy. From the USS Maine to the Gulf of Tonkin, to mainstream media that sold Americans on multiple invasions of Iraq, U.S. history reveals a long history of “Afghanistans.”

We oppose the renewal of military leases because we reject the entire myth that humanity can forge peace through military supremacism. We reject the Forever Wars that continue in military colonies like Okinawa, Guantanamo, Guam — and Hawaiian trust lands. The example of the military leasing 30,000 acres for 65 years for a mere dollar symbolizes militarism’s robbery from civil society, and explains why there’s always unaccounted trillions for wars but never for health care, education, living wages or other long-term social investments, let alone infrastructure.

On today’s occasion of International Peace Day, Veterans for Peace renounces the brutality and stupidity of wars, including its crushing debts and unintended consequences, and reaffirms the security from investing in genuine human and economic sustainability through peacebuilding and demilitarization.

This was submitted on behalf of Veterans for Peace, Hawaii Chapter 113, by Pete Doktor, a former U.S. Army medic, teacher and co-founder of the group; Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army Reserves colonel; and John Swindle, a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran and retired health care worker.