PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

Pacific Daily News

By Joe Murphy

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Dec. 16, 2008) - I woke up this morning a little bit confused. Is Guam "the tip of the spear," or are we the most rundown of all communities in the United States?

On one hand, we can’t find a place to dump our garbage. On the other hand, the U.S. and Japan are going to spend billions of dollars to make our island the most sophisticated defense base in this part of the world.

You can’t blame me for confusion. Our legislators seem to be in the same situation.

Most of us have seen the stock market plunge. We’ve seen Congress give the financial institutions "bailouts" by the billions. I have watched over the past several months as the U.S. economic system has verged toward total collapse. I, along with a few thousand people on Guam, have watched, with discontent, our IRA’s and other retirement plans go down the tubes.

Where do we lay the blame for this disaster?

Blame, for the beginning, has been laid on various lending corporations, including Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We’ve seen a lot of housing foreclosures, and people actually being evicted and put out onto the street.

Most of us, me included, have put the blame on the White House. It has been a total disaster, from the billions we’ve spent on a war against terror that hasn’t worked.

Congress hasn’t taken control of the situation, and there are a lot of worried people in this country.

About the only positive thing I’ve seen in recent months is the cover of Newsweek Magazine, which heralded this headline: "It isn’t that bad!" And, of course, the recent presidential election swept Bush and his crowd out of the White House, and put in Barack Obama, giving some of us hope for the future.

The fact that the U.S. lost millions of jobs over the last year is also scary to me. It may be helpful that Obama devised a plan for public works that will create 2.5 million jobs by January of 2011. But we need more, especially on Guam.

Guam has had a long history of being a "military" island. At present, a third of the island is "home" to U.S. military bases, which cover approximately 39,000 acres.

Given the financial mess that the U.S. finds itself in, my suggestion is this: We had better get on board and greet the U.S. military with open arms. It may be our only salvation. We are having problems with attracting tourists, and it seems to me that right now the military upsurge is our only chance to maintain a real economy and give our people jobs and a future.

By the year 2014, approximately 8,000 Marines, and 9,000 family members, from Okinawa will relocate to Guam. The buildup will amount to about US$20 billion.

The expansion will include a new Marine Base, an Army ballistic missile defense facility, and expanded Air Force and Navy bases by 2014. In the meantime, federal funds have been approved for a major overhaul of the roads and highways of Guam.

This development also will mean that as many as 20,000 to 30,000 overseas construction workers will be brought in to help with the construction.

All of this building and relocation doesn’t mean Guam won’t experience any problems. We may experience difficulties with our utilities, for example. We may have to expand our power generation, our water pipe lines and storage facilities. Mass transit, and even telephone and TV services need improvement. We need more stores and entertainment facilities.

We must make sure that the U.S., which is causing all this upheaval, understands the problems of Guam and our inability to afford many of the solutions. For instance, we must prevail upon the federal government to help establish a first-rate landfill.

We must immediately finalize plans for the expansion of the commercial port to handle all the ships that will be coming in with supplies for the Marines, Navy and Air Force.

I think, at this stage, the military has sufficient land for its expansion plans, and we should stand up and fight to retain the existing land for agriculture and recreation usage.

It is important for both sides that Guam be informed to every detail of the military upsurge, so that we can plan ahead.

It would be in the island’s best interest if the people in the planning stages can help provide training for our people to secure jobs, good jobs, to help with the construction stages. They should be working with the Guam Community College and the University of Guam to provide training for nurses, teachers, masons, electricians and plumbers, because these people will be needed.

As far as water goes, you have to think back to the end of World War II, when the Navy realized that they may have a water problem. They built Fena Lake and captured a good water source.

The same attitude should be exhibited today. We have plenty of rainfall on Guam, and dozens of streams and rivers. What remains necessary is another Fena Lake, perhaps in the center of the island.

It is possible that because of the economic meltdown, it may be difficult for Congress to appropriate the billions or so to build up Guam. Still, if this island is to retain its status as the "unsinkable aircraft carrier," then it all seems to be necessary. The Japanese will have to contribute its share.

Guam wants to help out. Some 80 percent of the people, in a recent poll, said that they were in favor of a military buildup. These are patriotic citizens living on this island. But somebody has to convince the U.S. that we are Americans, too, and must be treated as such in this expansion.

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