The people of Guam want military presence
Brooke 3 (James, New York Times, March 10, Lexis)JFS
Last December, when all of South Korea seemed to be in the streets protesting the accidental deaths of two teenage girls killed by an American military vehicle, Guam's leaders pointed out that this island, the largest between Hawaii and the Philippines, had plenty of unused military land for building bases. In January, when Japanese politicians greeted plans for American warplane training with "not in my backyard" arguments, Guam authorities said in effect, Come on down here, just a three-hour flight from Tokyo. And in February, people in Guam welcomed the news that the Pentagon was going to send 12 B-52 bombers and 12 B-1 bombers here. Most of the bombers have arrived. "While many communities may shun having the military in their backyards, we on Guam welcome them, embrace them," said Felix P. Camacho, the newly elected governor of this American territory of 150,000 residents. "Guam can play an increased role in taking up the slack," said Mr. Camacho, a Republican. Fresh from visiting Navy and Air Force commanders here and openly bidding for American military units now based in Japan and South Korea, the governor predicted, "As they downsize in those regions, Guam will benefit." The island's welcome is an about-face from the resentment a decade ago. Although protests never grew as strong as the movement that helped end in early February the United States Navy's use of a bombing range in Vieques, P.R., the dissatisfaction here was symbolized by a much publicized photograph of an activist who climbed the fence of the naval air station and spat in the face of a sentry. Emboldened by a rising tide of tourists and hotel construction, protesters called for cutbacks in American troops here and the transfer of land from the military, which controls almost one-third of Guam's 209 square miles. During the military cuts of the mid-1990's, several units left the island.
CP Results in Guam Transfer
No solvency – relocating the base to northern Okinawa is the first step for a Guam transfer
Shuster 6/21 (Mike, National Public Radio, Morning Edition, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127932447)JFS
Washington wants Japan to stick to an agreement made with the previous administration in Tokyo to relocate the base farther north on a less populated part of Okinawa, and says the transfer of the 8,000 Marines to Guam cannot move forward until the new site on Okinawa is finalized.
Long Timeframe
Relocation takes years – costs, environment, and lack of construction
Weekly Japan News 6/3 (A Japanese News Service, http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=10355)JFS
Money, environmental issues and a simple lack of enough construction capabilities in Guam appear to be forcing the United States and Japan to consider postponing the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, now scheduled for 2014 at the latest.
Afghanistan/Iraq CP
No withdrawal anytime soon – Petraeus
Reidel 10 (Brian Expert on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Brookings Institution 6/28 Interview conducted by Gregor Peter Schmitz http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,703243,00.html TBC 7/6/10)
Riedel: I think that issue was resolved. The July 2011 date will now be very notional and Petraeus has, in effect, gotten what he wanted. SPIEGEL: So a serious plan for US withdrawal is off the table? Riedel: Petraeus would not have taken on the job without being reasonably certain that it is not a hard and fast deadline but an aspiration. SPIEGEL: Do you think this was a condition Petraeus set, before accepting the job? Riedel: I know David Petraeus pretty well, and I don’t think he would have (made that demand publicly). But by turning to Petraeus, the president has signaled that he understands that that deadline is an aspiration, not a fixed point.
Non-Unique
Kandahar focus now
Shah 10 (Saeed 21 February Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/21/kandahar-arena-showdown-afghanistan-war TBC 7/5/10)
Kandahar is the likely arena for what is being billed as the decisive clash between Nato forces and the Taliban in Afghanistan this summer, with the current high-profile operation in Helmand province just a preparation for the showdown to come, officials have said. Nato officials told the Guardian that the focus of international forces will shift from Helmand to Kandahar, which, with a population of more than a million, is the big prize for both the Taliban and the coalition. A senior Nato official said: "This moves to Kandahar. That's the next main objective."
Non-Unique – troop surge to Kandahar in the SQUO
Farmer 10 (Ben, The Telegraph, Mar. 30 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7538510/Nato-to-launch-surge-against-Taliban-in-Kandahar.html)IM
Operation Omaid, or hope, is the cornerstone of Gen Stanley McChrystal's troop surge strategy to reverse the eight-year-old Taliban insurgency's momentum. Thousands of American and Afghan troops are being sent to the city and surrounding province, which is home to the Taliban movement and has threatened to slide into anarchy. However, the Taliban, which controls swathes of the province, has threatened strong resistance and responded to the announcement of the offensive earlier this month with a string of suicide bombings. Troops are arriving and key routes have been secured, with up to 70 significant Taliban commanders seized or killed ahead of the operation a senior Nato military official in Kabul claimed. "There's roughly today on the ground about 8,000 coalition troops and 12,000 Afghans in the Kandahar fight," he said. A new US brigade will increase international troop strength to 11,000 by June. Thousands of international troops, led by a Canadian task force, have been garrisoned in the province since 2006, but security has only worsened. The official said: "We have never had the force density in Kandahar to really own all the extreme approaches. "With forces that have gone in there we have been able to really slice down on a lot of the traditional avenues into Kandahar itself." The June start date is timed to try and finish the fighting phase before Ramadan begins in August. Resistance is expected to be stiffest in the rural districts of Arghandab, Panjwayi and Zhari, while the city will be largely secured by Afghan police and soldiers.
Non-Unique – there are already about 35,000 troops in Kandahar
AP 10 (Jan. 2 2010, Associated Press, http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/troop-surge-afghanistan/)IM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency that is fiercer than NATO leaders expected. The new troops will augment the 12,500 NATO soldiers — mainly British, Canadian and Dutch — in what amounts to an Afghan version of the surge in Iraq. New construction at Kandahar Air Field foreshadows the upcoming infusion of American power. Runways and housing are being built, along with two new U.S. outposts in Taliban-held regions of Kandahar province. And in the past month the south has been the focus of visiting U.S. and other dignitaries — Sen. John McCain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. congressional delegations and leaders from NATO headquarters in Europe. For the first time since NATO took over the country in 2006, an experienced U.S. general, Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, is assigned to the south. He says U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, NATO's commander in Afghanistan, has made the objectives clear in calling the situation in the south a stalemate and asking for more troops, on top of the 32,000 Americans already in Afghanistan. "By introducing more U.S. capability in here we have the potential to change the game," Nicholson said. The Army Corps of Engineers will spend up to $1.3 billion in new construction for troop placements in southern Afghanistan, said the corps commander in Afghanistan, Col. Thomas O'Donovan. Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. Military officials say they have enough troops to win battles but not to hold territory, and they hope the influx of troops, plus the continued growth of the Afghan army, will change that. U.S. officials hope to add at least three new brigades of ground forces in the southern region, along with assets from an aviation brigade, surveillance and intelligence forces, engineers, military police and Special Forces. In addition, a separate brigade of new troops is deploying to two provinces surrounding Kabul.
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