Bitter battle over closing US bases
p. 13 · Read in the full issue
DESPITE virtually unanimous agreement that the US defence budget should shrink to reflect the end of the Cold War, members of congress are locked in a bitter parochial battle to starve off cuts in their own back yard.
The aim is to reduce American forces by 25 per cent by 1995. But when Defence Secretary Dick Cheney announced that the Pentagon plans to close 31 major military facilities as part of the cost-cutting drive, congressmen and women swarmed over media micro phones to passionately defend bases on their turf — bases which often mean economic
survival to adjoining townships.
But amid the clamour was a lone voice from the Pacific island of Guam begging the US administration to close a local base on the grounds that it would help promote economic survival.
'While Cheney rebuffed emotional appeals from other congressmen to keep their bases
open and observed tartly that no bases would be closed if they were up to Congress, Guam’s representative Ben Blaz fumed.
“I think to myself‘Somebody‘s not reading my mail,’ ” Blaz said.
Blaz, a Republican and a former Marine Corps general, and Guam s Governor, Joseph Ada, want the Defence Department to evacuate the island’s 2200-acre Argana naval Air Station so it can be used to expand a commercial airport and diversify the local economy.
“We’re not seeking to expand the airport simply to accommodate more tourists,” Blaz said.
“We have here a golden opportunity to make a pitch for economic development. We would like to be able to erect maintenance facilities, food service facilities and a wide range of support services to allow Guam to become an airhub for the estern Pacific. Right now the territory’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism. By expanding our account base, we will be able to assure healthy growth well into the next country.”
The Navy considers the base, located in the middle of the island, too valuable to military operations in the Pacific.
“The Navy mission remains unchanged in Guam,” a Navy spokesman said.
Blaz says Argana’s operation could be relocated to the larger Andersen Air Force Base on the northern tip of the island. But that would cost up to 5230 million, according to a government report.
And it could take 100 years before the Pentagon could recoup the loss from savings by merging the two facilities.
It is a.stark contrast to the US administration’s plan to begin saving money from other bases closures by 1997. The Pentagon estimates the cost of closing recommended bases at 55.7 billion over five years. But it would also save 56.5 billion in operating costs over the same period.
Guam is a self-governing US
territory but about one-third ofits land is controlled by the US administration. More than 22,000 military personnel and their dependants live on Guam, accounting for nearly one-fourth of the island’s population.
Blaz, who is a non-voting delegate to Congress, says the island’s repeated requests to reclaim Argana are also rooted in history and emotion.
As a 15-year-old boy, Blaz was forced to help clear the fields to build the airport for Japanese forces that occupied the island in World War II.
Argana “has tremendous emotional significance for us. We built it with our bare hands. It truly belongs to the people of Guam because we paid for it with our sweat and blood,” he said.
Recently Argana was removed from a hit-list of bases slated for closure by an independant commission which is due to report to President
George Bush in July.
Blaz says he remains optimistic. The initial
inclusion of Guam on the hit-list at least gave Argana national attention. Until then, Blaz concedes it had been tough to even get a hearing from the Navy and the US administration.
The problem with a little fry like me is there arc not too many people listening.”
The chairman of the Defence base Realignment and Closure Commision, James Courier, echoed similar sentiments.
“The Navy has basically stiff-armed the island. (Argana) was put on the list to create a signal that we want them (the Navy) to sit down and negotiate,” Courier said.
Now Blaz says he has had discussions at the highest levels of the Navy and Air Force and there have been no objections to the idea of consolidating Argana with Andersen.
Guam is even willing to consider compensating the Navy for the cost of relocating the base.
There is a desire on both sides-to see it happen. It’s the logical thing to do. The question under consideration is how soon and who will foot the bill.” n
Picture: US Department of Defense Lone voice: Guam says closing a US base Is in the Interests ot Its economic survival
Washington