Guam, focus of new U.S. strategy, faces hurdles

[unhappycamper]

Guam, focus of new U.S. strategy, faces hurdles
By Eric Talmadge - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jan 4, 2009 10:15:05 EST

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — Sprawling toward the horizon in every direction, Andersen Air Force Base is surprisingly quiet, leaving the impression of a big, empty parking lot.

For now, anyway.

Over the next six years, nearly 25,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers, family members and civilian Defense Department employees are to descend on the tiny Pacific island of Guam, transforming the sleepy tropical outpost into a hub of America’s military in the Pacific.

But the metamorphosis seems as fragile as it is ambitious.

Guam’s transformation will cost at least $15 billion — with Japan footing more than $6 billion of the bill — and put some of the U.S. military’s highest-profile assets within the fences of a vastly improved network of bases.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_guam_strategy_010409/%2e