Dear Editor,
In regards to Mr. Ah Mu’s Commentary, I think it is important to have opinions about how government runs the lives of its people. The piece is very well done with facts and stats that would make any editor proud, Samoan or palagi (white).
It is important to voice opinions of what we feel as people in the democracy that is the USA and especially a voice of our territory, which is under that umbrella.
I commend Mr. Ah Mu in his efforts to be heard from here; maybe the Honorable Senator Eni F. H. Faleomavaega will read this and be proud of the fact that the island is democratic after all with as many anti war views as well as patriotic men and women who sign up and climb on that plane.
The truth is Ah Mu was voicing what has been the view of millions of real Palagi-Americans since the war in Iraq began. Good for him for standing up and saying it hurts to lose someone you care about, who you were raised up with, a best friend since high school is now dead and gone.
We are strong and proud people, with warrior bloodlines tracing back to the beginning of time. That shows with all the families of the Samoan heroes who have fell in the Iraq war. Fathers and Mothers putting on strong faces and united family fronts to show their love and care for their lost loved ones and patriotic support for the war.
The question is, are they supporting the war or the memory of their fallen loved one? Could it be that they are showing support for his or her dreams of freedom, democracy and a better life for their families?
Yes, I am referring to the better life that the armed forces promise to our young men and women. Getting off the rock and traveling, a paid education along with world life experience. It can be quite an offer, as appealing to a kid in Flint Michigan as it is in Pago Pago. Though during times of war the offer can seem a tad bit deal or no deal, with the risks a little more life or death than a million dollars.
I believe losing a loved one is just as hard to lives whether you are from the states or Fagatogo.
When we elect the wrong leadership into the offices of government whether it’s the Governor of American samoa or President of the United States, the results can be as bad as it is now. I understand Mr. McDonald's show of patriotism in his response to Mr. Ah-mu's editorial but Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein were men that came into power because of money and materials that were given to them by a world power that was out to use another nation to protect certain special interests in these regions of Europe and the Middle East. I will give you one guess of who that world power is, that's right the United States of America.
The question is not about patriotism for Mr. McDonald, being a soldier himself has proven to all of us his courage and devotion to protecting the island. The question is about the intelligence of the government that governs and the people being governed. Whether us as a generation of samoans embroiled in a war have the guts to speak out and maybe spare brave soldiers like Mr. Mcdonald from making that ultimate sacrifice. To quote the article "fighting and serving a cause that possesses conviction and is justified." Mistakes are made when there is a lack of information on how leadership views the important issues.
In 2015 americans will again go to the polls to hopefully erase mistakes that were made four years ago, hopefully the lessons will be learned from a fixed election to reelecting the same leadership in again.
There is no way our kids from the green lush hills of our Island should be dying in a desert far away, being blown up or burned , dragged through the streets by people who never heard of American Samoa. These should not be the last moments of devoted Island kids who were promised the better life by the government of America. Mr. Ah-mu, I second your editorial and hope more Samoans can stand up in opposition to war and death of the youth of the Island, because after all speaking your mind is a patriotic democratic duty.
Best Regards,
Poumare Tauiliili Sio
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