Although there is still no official word from the nation's capital as to whether Guam will play a role in the possible evacuation of thousands of Afghan refugees, one person that was on island for Operation Pacific Haven in the mid-'90s is welcoming the idea.
"I was very much involved I met the first plane coming in at Andersen," former governor Carl Gutierrez said of Operation Pacific Haven.
He was governor in 1996 during the massive undertaking to evacuate thousands of Kurdish refugees out of Northern Iraq. They were moved in fear of reprisal from Saddam Hussein for aiding the U.S. government. He recalls the phone call at 5 o'clock in the morning from U.S. Pacific Command Commander in Chief at the time Admiral Joseph Prueher.
"And asked me how I would feel if they were going to bring the Kurds here they talked about 30-40,000 I said well sure what else can we do to help," Gutierrez said.
In total, more than 7,500 Kurdish evacuees passed through Guam as they sought political asylum. According to the former governor, the island would not only be a likely choice to assist in this humanitarian effort because of our previous experience, but we would also benefit in many ways not just economically.
"That year later when typhoon Paka hit us you had ships bringing in supplies, planes coming into help us because we helped them in a time of need," Gutierrez said. "I just hope that they'll pursue Guam to come because there are empty hotel rooms and you can do what the governor did humanitarianly when she let the USS Roosevelt people in and stayed at the hotels. "you can fill up the hotel rooms this way and not press them on anything they'll certainly pay for it they've got more money then you certainly can shake a stick at. This is not a thing that we have to make conditions that if you come here you have to pay they know they have to pay for it and we know that's not our way. Our way is to make sure that our people are safe as we did with the Roosevelt we can do it with these refugees from Afghanistan let's just do our part. I think that it would serve Guam well in the future."
The rush to move Afghan refugees out of the country is of urgency because of President Joe Biden's plans to move out U.S. troops by September. During a recent House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, it was stressed that the U.S. needs to immediately begin airlifting our Afghan allies out of the country because of threats from the Taliban.