<P> Those indicted said that their behavior was caused by the resentment and bitterness that had accumulated from the decades of suffering due to the Navy's bombing practices on the island . Norma Burgos, a Senator of Puerto Rico, who had formerly been imprisoned for trespassing on the bombing range several months earlier, justified the behavior by comparing it to the fall of Saddam Hussein's statue in the recent invasion of Iraq--in which U.S. soldiers used an Army tank (a property of the U.S. government) to tear it down . Their defense failed, and more than a dozen of those charged were imprisoned for "damages and destruction of public property ." </P> <P> In 2001, the United States Navy left western Vieques, which had been used as an ammunition depot . Now the United States Fish and Wildlife Service controls 3,100 acres (13 km2) of this land--about half of the formerly owned military property . Over the course of U.S. Navy occupancy, nearly 22 million pounds (10,000 tonnes) of military and industrial waste, such as oils, solvents, lubricants, lead paint, acid and 55 US gallon (200 L) drums, were deposited on the western portion of the island . As cited by McCaffrey, according to the Universidad Metropolitana, the extent of leaching is unknown . In 2005 the Navy was investigating 17 potentially contaminated sites . </P> <P> On May 1, 2003 the Navy finished turning over all of its lands to the U.S. Department of the Interior . This included the Navy's entire eastern portion of the island--14,573 acres (58.97 km), which had mainly been used as a dumping ground . McCaffrey cites data from the U.S. Navy: "Vieques was bombed an average of 180 days per year . In 1998, the last year before protests interrupted maneuvers, the Navy dropped 23,000 bombs on the island, the majority of which contained explosives ." </P> <P> The live impact range, which is the most contaminated zone, was given the highest protected environmental status, that of a "wilderness preserve ." The Fish and Wildlife Service states that Vieques Wildlife Refuge is an ecologically diverse Caribbean wildlife refuge . The EPA has declared the refuge a superfund site . Much of the lands are now termed wildlife refuges, meaning that humans are not allowed on the land, therefore allowing the Navy to avoid cleanup . Whether or not the U.S. made the land a wildlife refuge to avoid cleaning up the island is debated . </P>

When did the us military leave puerto rico