Guam's governor rejects suggestions US troop move delayed for elections

Pacific Beat

Last Updated: 8 hours 19 minutes ago

Guam's Governor's office has rebuffed suggestions he wants to delay the move of US troops from Japan to Guam because of gubernatorial elections later this year.

Governor Felix Camacho revealed last week he had lodged a request to delay the troop movement from the scheduled 2014 deadline.

Guam residents have voiced concern at the scale and speed of the proposed US military build up.

The Governor's spokesman, Shawn Gumataotao says the request to postpone is because of financial and planning concerns.

"As we are still in a drafting environment impact statement phase, which we do continue to push on, quite frankly the Governor has recognised that the 2014 deadline would be too much for the people of Guam to bear," he said.

"By stretching out beyond the 2014 deadline much of the impacts to our labour force, to healthcare, to our utility system and infrastructure would be better suited to have it extended beyond that."





VIDEO from Australia Network News
US president to visit Guam to discuss the proposed military build-up

Created: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:05:17 GMT+1000