Bringing the military home is good foreign, fiscal policy

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Bringing the military home is good foreign, fiscal policy

VIEWPOINT

By DOLORIS COGAN

Can one person save the American taxpayers billions of dollars from the military budget? Probably not. But that’s what I’m trying to do. And if dozens of others knew what I know and wrote their newspapers and representatives in Washington about it, together we might make a difference. Goodness knows we could sure use the money for health care, teachers’ salaries, foreclosed mortgages or to pay down the debt.

What I’m concerned about is the $20 billion being spent on moving 8,600 Marines and their 9,000 dependents on Okinawa to Guam. At least 18,000 Filipinos and other Pacific islanders are going to be imported under contract to build the necessary housing and other public works.

Twenty billion dollars is a lot of money to spend. And 36,000 outsiders are a lot to integrate into Guam’s indigenous Chamorro culture. Guam Gov. Felix Camacho has estimated that there will be 45,000 new residents in the next four years to add to the 175,000 people now there, 100,000 connected to the military.

For several months I have been suggesting that the Marines just be sent back home where there are plenty of empty barracks and unemployed workers, to build whatever is necessary. (See my letter, “Bring Marines home from Japan,” Feb. 17, 2010.) Billions of dollars could be saved and Guam could be economically developed at a much more reasonable pace. We would still have “forward bases” on Hawaii, Guam and Okinawa at least temporarily, and in South Korea. There are 47,000 on Okinawa now.

From May 24 to May 26, I attended a meeting in San Diego called “America’s Future in Asia: The $20 Billion U.S.-Marianas Buildup Conference.” It brought about 100 contractors together with 40 or more federal and territorial government officials. Present was a microcosm of what President Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex.” Speakers freely admitted that there was a lot of money to be made and jokingly suggested that those interested come to Guam and Saipan “with their buckets held up straight.”

Conspicuously absent were the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and key members of the Guam Legislature, both of which have raised serious questions. Some speakers did say all environmental problems would be “mitigated” by July. That’s not to say they would be resolved.

The conference painted a rosy picture of things to come. Guam was described as the future Pacific hub for high-tech companies, communications, finance, international trade and retail outlets. The many experienced Guamanians now living on the mainland were beckoned back home to work with the skilled Chamorros and other civilians now there.

Contracts described included Marine barracks and housing for their families, roads, wells for drinking water, a new wastewater treatment plant, an enlarged power plant, improved schools and even high-rise million-dollar condominiums. Things were moving so fast, I was afraid Guam would be transformed into a Singapore or Shanghai before we knew it. A contract has already been let for barracks to house the first of the 18,000 “guest workers.”

Some of the building is needed whether the Marines are moved to Guam or not. But if 18,000 temporary workers are brought in along with the Marines and their families, the whole culture of the island will be changed. Not much will be left of Guam’s 220 square miles.

Worse, the reasons Okinawa wants the Marines out will have been transferred to Guam. These include constant noise from planes and helicopters and maybe even a gun-firing range, not to mention the occasional rape of a native girl.

All this was brilliantly illustrated when Rep. “Hank” Johnson, D-Ga., asked an admiral at the House Armed Services Committee budget hearing in Washington, D.C., in April if he didn’t think the little island might tip over and capsize with the added population. Some correspondents on Facebook thought the congressman didn’t know better and was serious. But Johnson is nobody’s fool. As a member of the House committee, he visited Guam in 2009. And as an African-American, he knows how easy it is to have a segment of the population overrun.

It is the U.S. Congress that appropriates the money for U.S. military moves. Hundreds of millions have already been authorized by the House committee to start the changes. But the Senate Armed Services Committee cut $300 million from the proposed military buildup last week, saying the money isn’t needed yet, and budget conferences between the House and Senate won’t be held until fall.

If enough people interested in saving billions of dollars would contact their newspapers, representatives and senators about this $20 billion move, I truly believe Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would look into it closely. Members of the Senate might even go to Guam and listen to the people, some of whom think they are being treated like colonial subjects with no say. Collectively, I think, we really could make a difference.

Doloris Cogan lives in Elkhart. She is the author of the book “We Fought the Navy and Won: Guam’s Quest for Democracy,” University of Hawaii Press, 2008.