Bush Clears US Navy to Keep Blasting Sonars

US Weasel-in-Chief, George w. Bush, used his middle eastern tour to quietly sign an order exempting the US Navy from an environmental law that would have restricted it from using submarine sonars off the California coast.

From The Guardian:

The Navy training exercises, including the use of sonar, "are in the paramount interest of the United States'' and its national security, Bush said in a memorandum.

"This exemption will enable the Navy to train effectively and to certify carrier and expeditionary strike groups for deployment in support of worldwide operational and combat activities, which are essential to national security,'' the memo said.

The decision drew immediate criticism from environmentalists who had fought to stop the Navy's sonar training.

"The president's action is an attack on the rule of law,'' said Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. ``By exempting the Navy from basic safeguards under both federal and state law, the president is flouting the will of Congress, the decision of the California Coastal Commission and a ruling by the federal court."