Governor Lolo Moliga wants the United States Government to recognize that American Samoa is also a potential target for North Korea and should be afforded the same treatment and protection as other US territories.
The governor wrote to Secretary of Interior Ryan Zincke with comments about an interview by the chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, William Mac Tornberry on CNN on August 14, discussing the escalating tension between North Korea and the US, focusing on the recent threat by the North Korean Leader to fire four missiles targeting Guam.
Lolo said, “While we appreciated the disclosure of defense systems set up on Guam, Hawai’i and Alaska, American Samoa, a US territory was not mentioned as a potential target for North Korean missiles nor attempts by the United States to protect Americans living on the US territory of American Samoa.”
He goes on to say that it was becoming abundantly clear that Congress needs to be made aware that American Samoa is a US territory used as a staging area during World War II.
“We continue to believe that the territory of American Samoa is strategically valuable as a platform for a military staging area and frontline defense given it’s proximity to the Asian Rim Countries and central location in the Pacific,” wrote the governor.
The governor also makes mention of the services of many American Samoans to the US Armed Forces, many of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice which the Governor says should help legitimize the territory’s claim to being Americans and also entitled to equal treatment as other states and territories of the United States.
