Ombre Ga’chong: Become informed about missile defense system for Guam

By Lee Webber

“Si vis pacem, para bellum” is a Latin adage translated that means, “if you want peace, prepare for war.”

As residents continue to work through the environmental impact study timeline (EIS) for the Guam enhanced integrated air and missile defense system (EIAMDS) proposed by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency this age old adage is an excellent one to remember.

There are basically two choices in life, you can either be prepared to win or prepare to lose. 

In such serious and potentially adversely impactful events, it is always better to be prepared and to win than to lose.

It is also good to remember that there are costs involved in being prepared just as there are costs involved in not doing so. On Guam we are much better aware of this than the majority of our mainland counterparts.

To me it makes much better sense to deal with and cover those costs, up front, as preparation than to end up paying for not doing so after the event, should it ever occur.

That is why when living on Guam we have learned to harden our homes and have backup water and power systems at our homes to prepare for the inevitable storms that come our way.

Because of this reality, there is always a price we must pay for this peace of mind during a storm just as there is a price we must pay for peace of mind in the contentious world environment in which we currently live.

It is also why if we properly raise our children we prepare and teach them to deal with the tragedies as well as the joys in life.

Guam has been a strategic location on the globe for hundreds of years. We simply live in a very strategic and beautiful location in the middle of the Indo-Pacific region. 

With that – in this day and age – comes certain preemptive safety requirements.

I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to walk the path of war, physical confrontation and the challenges those events carry with them as well as the path of peace in my life. 

My endeavor has been to raise my children (now adults with their own families) to understand the realities of life and not to wish things but to create what is necessary in any given set of circumstances.

Or, as Charles Dickens said, “The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then treat the possibilities as probabilities.”

My wish is that you take the time to attend the scoping meetings for yourself. Do not depend on the thoughts of others (even your elected officials and public information organizations) for this very important decision-making process.

Take the opportunity to get out and meet with the Missile Defense Agency representative when they are on island. Ask them to explain this very complicated and precision-based system they plan to place in our backyard.

Learn for yourself that the vast majority of it is going on existing federal property and what potential types of impacts these installations can have on adjacent lands and what their present plans are for dealing with those potential issues.

Take the time to do this for yourself and your family.

Guam is our home and it is imperative that we properly prepare it for the potential storms of life that nature and any unfriendly foes may bring our way.

Harden up Guam – Let’s make Guam Great Again!

Esta.

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Lee P. Webber is a businessman and civic advocate, the former publisher of the Pacific Daily News, a former president and publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser, and a former director of operations for USA Today International/Asia