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Dear Congressman,

Thank you for your response to my LTE on 15 Dec 07.

Yes, I advocate hatred of those who oppose freedom and I also admit that I have prejudices against Communisim and Jihaism; these feelings come from deep seated values which I hold dear. Please indulge my elaboration. You objected to my characterizations of you as a communist and jihadi sympathizer. This tells me that you fundamentally understand that it is wrong to be one; therefore I can only assume that you must not understand that when you acknowledge the legitimacy of said government and its leaders as valid and even honorable, you give aid and comfort to that government which has no similarity to our own, and is in fact opposed to democracy. To be a communist is to give complete allegiance to a state government and to give up individual freedoms of choice and self determination. Through your actions you demonstrate at a minimum poor judgment and a shallow view of world politics. At the extreme you demonstrate a lack of personal values consistent with our nation's patriotic origins. For me, this makes you unqualified as a representative of the people. Your actions and words indicate that you and your liberal cronies seek to change forever America's well established values of individual freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Your socialistic ideas are perpetrated through the establishment of excessive government control over people's lives. Your policies of recognition and reward of countries and people who despise our way of life, is in fact unpatriotic and un-American.

I would agree that the world has an unpleasant history of domination and colonialism perpetrated on countries by among others Great Britain, United States of America and France. A country is only as good as those who govern it and at times our great nations have showed flawed judgment in the exercise its power. We cannot condone bad judgment, poor leadership, or oppression wherever it originates. In the case of our involvement in Vietnam, I do not see assistance of an ally as aggression in the name of colonialism or domination of other governments by the United States as you stated in your response.

Our support of the Diem regime was in fact a matter of national policy to prevent the spread of communism. To compare our war in Vietnam with the Pacification of Japan and Germany is like comparing Apples and Oranges, There is no comparison; if you understand history you will know that our country backed the war effort against Germany and Japan without interference or partisan politics that plague our military today. We conquered them and set up a democratic form of government that was more in line with our own. We did not win the Vietnam War as we did WWII because of the policies of liberal politicians such as you who tied the hands of the military, preventing them from doing their job. This caused the war to grind on, which in turn instilled unrest in the population, promoted by liberal media and celebrities.

You cannot say that today Vietnam is a peace loving state such as our own. It is still run by the Communist Party of Vietnam or CPV [Nong Duc MANH] and subjects its people to outrageous and inhumane acts of subjugation. Communism is about taking away human rights replaced by a socialist state. To "Make Nice" with countries that seek to overthrow America and our way of life is not only unpatriotic it demonstrates a lack of moral values consistent with the foundations of American freedom. Communism is the enemy of a free state. Communism flourishes in Vietnam and China, and you are right we do have a national dependence on Chinese goods ($300 billion trade deficit) which has crippled our nation's ability to manufacture products competitively. China is able to dominate world markets because of their oppression of the Chinese people. There are no human rights groups or workers advocacy groups or the protection of individual rights and minimum wages. We have effectively shut ourselves out of world trade by supporting these oppressive governments. Do we really want to sacrifice human rights for a "vibrant trade and economic partnership" with these governments? If you do, you advocate socialism with your liberal democratic views. You give aid and comfort to the enemies of freedom when you seek to "Normalize relations" with these suppressive regimes.

I believe that the "matter of our national policy" to strengthen relations with these countries can be done through diplomatic channels which reinforces true democratic rather than socialist values. You are misrepresenting the American people when you recognize and honor their leadership and oppressive policies as legitimate. The American people need to understand who is making these national policies which strike at the very core of freedom. We are gradually losing that which so many have fought and died for because of poor representation from misguided and uninformed representatives.

You are the preverbal ostrich sticking your head in the sand if you think that we can ignore Islamic extremism and Communism and everything will be alright. You have not learned the lessons of our past. Where were you when 58,209 of our comrades died assisting the people of South Vietnam to wage war against the Vietcong and the NVA who wanted to, and finally succeeded in uniting Vietnam under communist rule? They were lead by our common enemy Ho Chi Minh. If you think that he was a great leader, you would be right in the same sense as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were great leaders of their people. And you are also correct to say that I still have hatred in my heart for my enemies, it is the human emotion that keeps us alive and on our toes especially in combat. You have to dehumanize your enemy in order to be able to kill him, a skill you quickly learn when it is kill or be killed.

Where were you when cowardly Islamic extremist's used our own commercial aircraft to murder 2,750 innocent people? This is what I know to be true; Jihadis (religious warriors) in the name of their fundamentalist belief system have resorted to mass murder, oppression, intimidation, torture, terrorism, assassination and forced religious conversion. Omar Ahmad who is the Co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations made the statement; "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

Jihadi terrorism is one of the greatest threats to the world peace. It is perpetrated through groups as such as Hamas, Hizbullah, Lasker-E-Tobia, Al Bader, Taliban, Al Qaeda, Tehreek-E-Jihad, Hizbul Mujahidden. Our war on terrorism is against any who would advocate or support our sworn enemies; Sadam Hussein supported the Al Qaeda suicide attackers and radical Islam. As you know he had a track record of use of weapons of mass destruction against Iran and the Kurdish people. Using the same intelligence information gleaned by the Clinton administration, Our President made the tough decision not allow this rogue state the freedom to furnish WMD to Al Qaeda terrorists. That is why we are in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and that is why you should support our military with more than political rhetoric and foot dragging. If you believe that the threat is not real, you need to wake up and smell the roses because you live in an idealistic world! You and your liberal democratic friends in congress are making the war in Iraq a political election year issue to gain more control of our government at the expense of the military. You say that you support our troops, but your actions show that you only are giving them lip service. In reality you are blocking and preventing full support of the military against our nations self proclaimed enemies, communism and Islamic extremism. Your actions in congress are making a partisan political pawn out of our military at war. It is this same "make peace not war" attitude that cost us the war in Vietnam and will doom our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan to the same end. Again you are showing that you are willing to bring shame on our government and our people for personal political gain. I stand by my statements and reiterate that you are out of touch with the American people and American values.

If for any reason I have been misled about you and your policies and what you do or don't advocate I remain open to correction criticism and further enlightenment.

Va'afusuaga Lorn Cramer
Retired Army Vietnam Veteran
Resident of Tafuna,
Tualauta District #15
American Samoa

Samoa News LTE: "SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER"
December 17, 2007

Dear Congressman Faleomavaega,

Many years have passed since we have spoken, and much has happened in the interim. I have attempted to contact you in the past regarding this issue, and I was moved to write to you in this public manner as I fear a direct letter might again go unnoticed.

I reference your recent visit with Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister Mr. Le Van Bang. While I vigorously applaud your efforts in diplomacy, I am bewildered by your statement, printed in the Samoa News on 7 December, recounted as follows:

"During [Le Van Bang's] tenure as Ambassador, we worked closely together to bring resolution to the Daewoosa garment incident and I will always appreciate the courtesy he showed to late Governor Tauese Sunia who I arranged for him to meet at the height of the Daewoosa scandal which the national media brought so much unwanted attention to American Samoa."

Resolution of the Daewoosa incident? I am baffled and confused. If you will recall, the Government of Vietnam, (specifically, Tourism Company 12 and International Manpower Supply) were found to be liable to our Daewoosa plaintiffs in an amount exceeding 3.5 million dollars. This Judgment was issued by the High Court of American Samoa in April of 2001. Co-counsel and I continue to pursue all available avenues of potential satisfaction of this Judgment from the Vietnamese government. We have attempted to collect this Judgment with the assistance of other United States Congressional members, anti-human trafficking and slavery lobbyists, various media outlets, and all legal means available to us (which are few and dismally impotent.)

To what resolution, then, do you refer? To the Judgment ordered in Nga v. Daewoosa, which was successfully brought by the Plaintiffs themselves? The Daewoosa Plaintiffs did not receive the slightest encouragement or assistance from you, nor from the ASG, and no one at the Daewoosa factory was criminally prosecuted. (In fact, if you will recall, you called my office and chastised us for representing "foreigners.") Or do you refer to the criminal conviction of Lee, which was successfully prosecuted by the United States Government?

I cannot stress this strongly enough: the Daewoosa "incident" has not been resolved. Over 280 of our clients, Plaintiffs in this horrific case, are still awaiting the Vietnamese Government to compensate them in accordance with the Judgment of the High Court. Instead, the Vietnamese government has disregarded and resisted all efforts to pay that Judgment. All of us need to be aware of this egregious lapse. Not only is the Vietnamese government thumbing its nose at United States and her laws, but it discounts the abuse that was heaped upon the hapless Plaintiffs brought to American Samoa to sew at Daewoosa. I should not need to remind you, Congressman, that Kil-Soo Lee was successfully prosecuted by the United State Federal Government for these criminal acts.

You ought to be ashamed. You, of all people, are charged with defending our laws and attendant Judgments. You have not done so, and your failure to support and defend a Judgment issued by the High Court of American Samoa speaks volumes. I only hope, on behalf not only of my clients but of truth itself, that you will re-assess your position and make all attempts to hasten the payment of this Judgment to our clients.

You state that you "worked closely" with Le Van Bang. You imply that you have a relationship with him. I implore you to utilize that relationship, and to assist in the collection of the Judgment issued by your own High Court. Please stand up for your country, Congressman. Please do everything that you can in assisting the payment of the Judgment to the victims in the Daewoosa case.

Most sincerely,

Virginia lynn Sudbury
sudburylaw@yahoo.com

An open letter to Congressman Faleomavaega
Column by MSG Lorn Cramer
Retired US Army MSG

Reprinted from The Samoa News
December 15, 2007

I was saddened and angered to read your warm comments about the leadership of the Communist Country of Vietnam. Having spent part of your youth, as I have, defending the free people of South Vietnam, your comments belie the fact that our mission was honorable and that the sacrifice of those 58,000 who died, was not in vain.

As my Representative in Congress I expect you to put forth the views of the majority of your constituents in American Samoa and the U.S. when you are representing the United States Congress in Asia. Your views reflect the liberal partisan nature of the current Democrat dominated Congress, with little or no concern for patriotism and the values established by the forefathers of our great nation. You give comfort and aid to the enemy who would just as soon kill and get rid of us all if we don't submit to their way.

The threat of our enemies is real, whether it is Jihad or Communist. World domination with the lack of basic human freedom or the eradication of infidels is their solution. Ignoring or placating them will not reduce or make the threat go away. Such actions weaken the fabric of liberty and negate our existence as a free society.

I am also deeply concerned that the reluctance by congressional leadership to reach a compromise on Iraq war funding is going to seriously damage military readiness and quality of life programs at home installations. Please encourage your colleagues to pass this bill without the inclusion of troop withdrawal timelines that some in Congress insist as a condition of passage.

The additional funding to purchase 7,200 new mine-resistant vehicles, to repair or replace damaged equipment, enhance roadside bomb countermeasures, fund military construction projects, and to improve medical and rehabilitation programs for wounded Iraq and Afghanistan servicemen and women should not be held hostage by political maneuvering. Without dedicated funding, the military services will be forced to take drastic measures to fund the war using installation operations and maintenance budgets.

The Pentagon already announced that as many as 200,000 civilian employees and contractors could be temporarily laid off by mid-February. Also being examined is the closing of military installations and facilities to free up additional funds. I know what it is like to be put on furlough without pay.

Prior to coming to American Samoa in 1997 I worked for the Command General Staff College in Leavenworth, Ka. Not being able to pay bills or make your obligations puts an additional and undue hardship on Government workers. The military are charged with fighting two wars, and they are going to execute that mission either with supplemental funding or from out of their own hide. I believe them when they say drastic planning measures are afoot stateside.

Imagine being a working spouse with your loved one deployed when half the child care center staff is laid off, or being a dedicated Civil Service employee who is suddenly furloughed, or having your entire installation put into caretaker status?

Our nation has real problems at home and abroad that are not being addressed because some in Washington would rather seek political gains for next year's elections instead of focusing on what's best for America now.

I urge the passage of the war supplemental without preset conditions for withdrawal legislation. They are separate and distinct from the appropriations process. The world will remain a very dangerous and unpredictable place regardless of how Iraq plays out, so Congress and the administration need to focus on either winning it or ending it, because our troops and their families are tired of being used as political pawns.

Soifua.

[Contact Lorn Cramer via telephone at 733-1016, e-mail at
, or write him at P.O. Box 4668.]

Dear Editor,

I strongly agree with the Mr. Papai'i David Cohen's encouragement and advice to the representatives from the US insular jurisdictions at the recent DOI conference in Hawaii about strengthening their public auditors' offices. In the case of American Samoa, it has been over two years the independent Auditor's position has not been filled and our local government leaders have made a marginal improvement in our single audits reports but our accountability for the federal funds still remains questionable at best. The Department of Interior and the US congress wants more accountability for the tax payers money.

We have seen it over and over again the misuse and abuse of federal funds throughout our government with no ending in sight. AS is now on the high risk list with the US government because we cannot account for federal funds. A wise man once said; "do not give me excuses, but give me solution" the USA is tired of hearing excuses they want to see solution. We the people of AS cannot continue down the road of incompetence, corruption, and misrepresentation of our territory. We cannot second guess the most powerful country in the world today, the USA.

AS has been so privileged to be under the protection of the USA who continues to support our territory financially in spite our lack of accountability. Part of being accountable starts at the top position in our local government leadership. The Governor should hold everyone he appoints to a leadership position to commit to exercising ethical conduct, internal control measures, and providing performance accountability annual reports to the governor's office. If the top leadership cannot control and manage this then we will continue down the same road we are currently traveling with no accountability and gross high risk status. The Governor then needs to step down and let someone else who is willing and competent enough to move our territory in the right political direction. In my humble opinion our current Governor has failed tremendously in the top leadership position. A leader is responsible for what happens or inaction that might adversely affect the reputation of our territory and our people's economic woes and quality of life. That is the bottom line!

When political culprits are implicated for criminal activity, they should be immediately put on administrative leave and an investigation should ensue. The suspect should not continue to be involved with the office while on leave. There have been many incidents that our governor has opted to use such a defensive posture that the suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court of law; but failed to protect the integrity of the office by exercising sound administrative decision making.

It simply comes down to the equation of "attorney's creed vs savvy Public administrator" on the scale of political self interest or public interest on the governor’s agenda. On the other, our government has a poor record of prosecuting many cases because of political reasons. When this happens, our political leaders will showing no accountability and respect for the rule of law. This will sent the wrong message to the world and the US congress that we cannot handle our own government political affairs. The local law needs to change about past criminals; felons may not hold or run for any key government position in our territory. Also those who have been prosecuted and awaiting trail need to resigned from the government position. This is not good politics it just sends bad influence in our local community and our territory’s good name.

With the pending federal adjudication for our Lt Governor and a senator, the name of our territory is again being tarnished with shame and embarrassment. Unfortunately, our people have to bear the consequence of government leaders' personal indiscretions and greed. With regards the elected officials implicated/indicted for criminal activity, it would be an honorable thing for them to step-down from office to show respect to the people of our territory. I hope our local governor and legislators do realize their names will go down in history with a legacy of either failures or monumental success as the people of the territory will judge each of them according to their public and political stewardship. A wise man once said; "if you want to know your future look to your past." If the people of AS continue to elect incompetent government leaders without any accountability, then we have not learned anything from our past and our political future continue to be uncertain.

AS needs to stop sending the wrong message to Washington DC that we are not competent enough to handle our own political affairs. We have already felt the budget cut through home land security (FEMA) with holding our annually federal funds to support local government programs and job security. We need an independent auditor so our territory can have better accountability of these federal funds and hold those government leaders and employees responsible for their own actions. A wise man once said; "do not bite the hand that feeds the mouth" and Washington DC is running out of fingers, we cannot second guest the USA they want resolution not excuses.

Soifua,

Amerika Samoa ia mataala!

Savaii P. Amitoelau

Dear Editor,

I normally like to inject some humor into my Letters to the Editor, but not this time. I recently read an article in the Samoa News concerning the almost continuing junkets of our Representative, Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin throughout the Pacific and Asia. He recently visited Vietnam for whatever reason and publicly stated that Ho Chi Minh was a great man.

Ho Chi Minh was not a great man, he was a Soviet trained Communist. I guess our Representative has forgotten about the booby-traps, punji's, ambushes, daily atrocities committed by Uncle Ho's cohorts against the South Vietnamese people and the 58,000 Military they killed from the country Rep. Hunkin claims to represent.

You like to wrap yourself in Red, White and Blue when it suits you but comments like you made to the Vietnamese Officials are those of a liberal, left wing, Democrat. On your way home you should stop in California and do a photo-op with Jane Fonda.

You no longer represent me and hopefully not this territory come next November.

Jim Brittle

"American Samoa political status with USA"

American Samoa (AS) has come a long way since our forefathers signed the two treaties of cession of 1900 and 1904 on behalf of the people of Tutuila and Manu'atele. Much has transpired since the dawn of our newfound political relationship with the United States. At the time, AS was quite significant in the interest of the US, given its strategic location in the pacific that provided a secondary base for US to advance its military interest and support in the Pacific region. Other world powers including England, Germany, and France were all looking for a stronghold in the region either for economic expansion or military interest. The signing of the two treaties marked the formalization of AS's a relationship with US that commanded the respect of other political power players when a compromise became evident as Samoa became the bargaining chip during the Berlin treaty that split the Samoan island group into two separate political jurisdictions as we have it today. The rest is history.

What followed in the relationship between AS and the US was dictated in the terms and conditions of the treaty(ies) which defined US's conditional obligation to AS. Included in the treaty was the concern of protection and economic development for the people of the islands. The forefathers' concern was primarily based on the need for security of AS at a time when static tension was preemptive in the region. No one was certain what could happened if the main power players had not reached a peace accord and the utmost concern of people of Tutuila and Manu'atele could not have been achieved.

AS was under the US Naval administration and our Tutuila became a significant US Communication outpost in the Pacific. Pago Pago harbor not only provided a safe haven for Navy ships but it had an established coal refueling station for steam-propel naval ships. World War II marked another significant event that provided substance to our relationship with the US when our Samoan people joined the US Marines willingly and prepared to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the US and the people of American Samoa. They fought in the Korean and Vietnam Wars; for the mother country’s liberty, freedoms and our democracy.

The history of our relationship with the US has tremendously influenced our political orientation, belief and way of life. Many of our people who sought out a progressive change in quality of life had joined several exoduses to the US in the 1950’s and this trend has continued even today. When the Navy moved out, the Department of Interior took over the administrative responsibility and governance of our Territory. Since then we have reached certain milestones including setting up of our civil government, the Fono, judicial, and executive branches, voting for our governor and our delegate to the US Congress. Our political status, such as an "unincorporated territory" of the US has congressionally afforded our people the "US Nationals" provisional status which has allowed us to travel freely in and out of the US.

All throughout our relationship, we have witnessed and benefited from political, social, economical amenities from the US federal grants and monetary aids to our territory. By virtue of the federal assistance we enjoyed, we have also created an attitude of dependence. Often times, our people would cite the ultimate sacrifice of our soldiers who are serving in the military and those who have died in war as the basis of the US's continuous courtesy and obligation. In reality, AS is more of an inherited liability to the US as our territory's strategic value and worth continued to diminish even in the present scheme of US foreign affairs and military interest.

Now AS is due to evaluate its political status with the US. As we experience an up rise in contentious issues related to our lack of accountability and abuse of federal grants, we have brought upon ourselves the unrelenting FBI investigation and apprehension of those accused of criminal activity and the possibility of setting up a federal district court in our territory.

In the wake of the aforementioned dilemmas and the emerging need for AS to participate in forums and affairs of the Pacific region without interference from the US, our leaders and people are prompted with the notion of "independence" from the USA. This is not as simple as it sounds. Such matter needs to be treaded lightly without haste. There is much to be discussed and studied prior to informing our voters on the pros and cons of this important issue.

Our Political Status Commission has presented its report highlighting different kinds of political status including our own status quo in terms of advantages and disadvantages. The recommendation from the commission is an astounding preference for us to maintain our current political status without any change. However, the rationale of which such recommendation is based may not have been thoroughly disseminated to the general populace.

The prospect of considering independence as one of the alternative has not been adequately studied in order to identify issues pertinent to AS's need to participate in political, economic, and related affairs within the forum of countries of the Pacific region. Such a regional forum needs AS's input and insight regarding partnership and networking with its neighbors to enhance regional economic development. As it stands now, AS's representation is trumped by the US Department of State. If such needs are given ample consideration, it might provide a premise for further discussions even if such option is not viable at all. A possible spin off from such discussions may provide substance for AS to further expedite a new political status alternative crafted to include new conditions in addition to our current political status. What have we got to loose? Congress would either accept it or reject it, but in the best case scenario it provides us with something to work with in Congress. But before Congress acts on such proposal, it must be voted on by majority of the people of the territory and rectify by the Fono and the governor.

I strongly suggest that our leaders and our people don't become complacent with the present political status but be creative fashioning a composite new option addressing AS's participation in regional affairs combined with the status quo and put it in referendum for people to vote. It takes time for something like this to filter through our community. As it stands now our people are still not sure whether we should maintain the current political status with the USA. It seems like our people are going to be asked to vote either YES or NO to maintain the status quo. I feel it is fair that our voters are presented at least two options/choices and vote for the best choice or preferred. Our people should be empowered to determine our own destiny. We have to be creative in negotiating our future political status.

We are now into the 21st century and for our political status to remain as it is without any progressive improvement will be a disservice to our future generation. As President Kennedy once put it, "we are charged with the responsibility to build bridges for our future generation to walk towards their future." Clarence Seward Darrow also posited, "If there are true patriots out there in AS, we need your help to voice your opinion and ideas to improve our political and economic affairs." We have been so fortunate to have the US as our mother country and we have adopted constitutional provisions that afforded us certain freedoms and liberties protect and enhance our security and quality of life and pursuit of happiness.

If AS wants changes we need to show the US congress and the secretary of interior that we are politically competent enough to conduct our own affairs be accountable for the monies we get from them.

Soifua,

Amerika Samoa ia mataala!

Savaii P. Amitoelau
Olosega, Manu'a

"Independent American Samoa?"

In order for American Samoa to be totally independent from the United States of America the people in our territory need to vote on it. There are a lot of issues of the pro and cons that need to be addressed in order for the people to make the final decision. Some of these very important issues need to be addressed first is Manu'a Treaty of Cession. There has never been any amendment or ratification to the said treaty with Tutuila as it was only signed between USA and Manu'atele. In my humble opinion this important issue was never resolved by our local government leadership and the US Congress. I still think there should still be two governments instead of one. This is also one of the reasons why Manu'atele only gets bread crumbs after the federal funds is cut between Tutuila and their villages communities. Manu'atele should have their own separate federal funds distribution different from Tutuila's.

Some of these important issues are Manu'atele's air and land transportation cost affect. Medical facilities still waiting to have medical facilities to be built in Tau and Ofuega with Medical doctor and staff. Education has come a long way and it still needs a lot improvement in building renovation, books, furniture's,computers internet exists, no lights on the landing one ways for Tau and Ofuega, Ocean water purification facilities with new technology we can convert sea water into drinking potable water facility in Tau and Ofuega.

The Future Political Status Study Commission has a lot of loop holes in the report that needs to be address or open ended question and what if’s. There were a lot of what if and no solid concrete what we really want to do in our territory political status. The report seems to have an open end question to allow the public and the people to voices our opinion.

We cannot assume nor second guest the most powerful nation and country in the world today and that is the USA. We cannot break off ties economically and political status with the USA. AS will not last a year without the federal funds to run our little territories. AS needs learn the meaning of self reliance and to stand on our own two feet economically. We have two fish canneries that can only produce a few millions a year after paying off the CEO's, board of directors, federal taxes and the local employees. Our local territory only receives a few hundred thousands if we’re lucky. Local tourism needs a lot of help from our Airline flights and tour ships advertisement.

We have men and women serving in the US military armed forces and some have died fighting in the pass and the present war on terrorism. The question we might want to ask ourselves is, "at what price do we want to continue the status quo with the USA?" The only other political issue we have is the refueling point in Tutuila Pago Pago bay. The US Navy has move out of the Philippine and set up shop in Guam. What do we have to bargain with the USA to maintain the economically and Political status quo?

There are a lot of other important issues that local government leadership and our people need to resolve before we can go to the table to negotiate with the US congress. But before we can do this we need to start cleaning up our own political corruption affairs in our territory. We are so lucky that we have the US and local constitution in place we might think its bad now wait until we become an independent territory. . . monarchy and dictatorship will be enforced.

We will become like those third world countries looking for any financial aids from affluent countries like the USA. I vote no for independent territory status. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Why should I cut off ties with the most powerful country that is willing to give me free financial handouts to keep my island afloat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

Soifua,

Amerika Samoa is malaala!
Savaii P. Amitoelau
Olosega, Manu’a

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