American Samoa Delegate Amata Coleman Radewagen, Representativ Joe Wilson
American Samoa's Republican Delegate to the U.S. Congress, Amata Coleman Radewagen, says protesters of military plans for a firing range at Ritidian should reconsider their opposition.
Delegate Radewagen is on Guam as part of a congressional delegation that includes Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Radewagen and Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri. Wilson, Bordallo and Hartzler serve on the House Armed Services Committee. Radewagen is on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
The primary concern of the delegation is the progress toward the transfer of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, but events related to North Korea have put the American military situation in the Pacific in sharp focus.
For the same reason, local Guam protest of plans to cite an extensive firing range at Ritidian has intensified. After a brief tour of Ritidian led by Delegate Bordallo, Radewagen said the protesters should take another look at the plans
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“The people who are protesting [the Ritidian firing range] need to work together because I’m really very impressed with what the military has set up. And I think that some of these assumptions that these people have made may not be totally accurate and I do think that once they find out what the Marines have in mind and that every realistic step has been taken to take the cultural and other things into consideration... I think it’s just a real plus and it’s necessary for the people of Guam to understand the accurate parts of this plan.”