Many residents of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) are opposed to the U.S. national missile defense (NMD) system being implemented in their homeland. The indigenous Inuit people feel it will make their homeland a target.

Kalaallit Nunaat is an autonomous territory of Denmark. The local government administers local affairs. The Danish government administers military and foreign affairs. The Inuit people have been living under European occupation for 1000 years. First the Norwegians claimed Kalaallit Nunaat. Denmark took over the territory in 1380.

In 1951 the U.S. signed a treaty with Denmark which gave the U.S. the right to build a military base in Thule, northern Kalaallit Nunaat. The Inuit were not consulted. The U.S. military arrived at the site and told the local villagers that they had one week to move from their homes. They founded a new village, Qaanaaq, near the military base. The U.S established an early warning radar base at Thule in 1981. Kalaallit Nunaat citizens rejected European Community membership in referendums in 1972 and 1982. It is currently an overseas territory in association with the European Union.

There is a Kalaallit Nunaat independence movement, led by the Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) Party, but it is not very strong because many residents feel that independence will cause economic hardships. The Danish government has announced that it will cut off economic subsidies if independence is declared. The IA Party voiced its opposition to the modernization of the U.S. radar facility at Thule in 1987, which the IA said violated the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.

Now the U.S. wants to use the radar facility of the Thule military base as part of the proposed NMD system. According to a BBC Radio report many of the local residents are opposed to this. They still have bitter memories of being forcibly relocated.

The Kalaallit Nunaat government in the capital Nuuk has made no official comment except to say that they will not approve of anything if they are not consulted.

Kalaallit Nunaat is a place most people know nothing about. The indigenous Inuit people have the right to be consulted on the militarization of their homeland. This is just another example of the expropriation of Native American lands.