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Fortress Guam: Resistance to US Military Mega-Buildup

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

LisaLinda Natividad  and
Gwyn Kirk
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United States presidents rarely visit the U.S. territory of Guam (or Guåhan in the Chamorro language), but President Obama may visit in June 2010. This will be a significant stop for residents of this small island, 30 miles long and eight miles wide, dubbed, “Where America's day begins.” Guam is the southern-most island in the Northern Mariana chain that also includes Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. It is the homeland of indigenous Chamorro people whose ancestors first came to the islands nearly 4,000 years ago. Formed from two volcanoes, Guam's rocky core now constitutes an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” for the United States military in the words of Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Owens, a former commanding officer of Guam's Andersen Air Force Base.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 19 , May 2010 , e1
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2010

References

Notes

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6 Accessed here.

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8 Personal communication, Hope Cristobal, historian and former Guam Senator, Sept. 2009.

9 Department of Chamorro Affairs 2008.

10 Accessed here.

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12 Department of Chamorro Affairs 2008, 25

13 Department of Chamorro Affairs 2008, 25, 34

14 Accessed here.

15 op. cit.

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19 op cit

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21 Accessed here.

22 Accessed here.

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28 op cit

29 Accessed here.

30 op cit

31 Accessed here.

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35 Cited by Jeff Marchesseault, February 1, 2010, from this source.