In the subject category of the militarism of the United States, sometimes we are so focused on watching the United States attempt to circumvent Iraq's sovereignty and become a permanent,long standing presence, that we don't see it happening as well other places. Well, here's another. Read this and tell me that it doesn't parallel what the US wants to do in Iraq.

The US island territory is destined to become the key hub for American maritime power in the western Pacific with the start of a long, $15billion construction boom.

The strategic importance of Guam to Washington's long-term presence in East Asia was a point hammered home by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in Singapore a fortnight ago.

Gates's speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of Asian defence ministers and military chiefs, was his most complete exposition of future US defence strategy in the region since he took over from Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon 18 months ago. Gates's key theme to his East Asian interlocutors was that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the US was not about to begin a long, slow, historic withdrawal from the region. Instead he outlined the concept of the US as a "resident power" in addition to its longstanding roles as an ally, partner, friend and routine offshore presence.

Critical to its long-term focus as a resident power will be Guam, the site of the largest US military build-up in the Mariana Islands since World War II. As the Pentagon chief pointed out, sovereign US territory in the western Pacific stretches all the way from the Aleutian Islands to Guam.

Sovereign US Power, eh? This must be also because the US has been kicked out of Okinawa. And read the article to see one of the hooks given ot the area, that of the US helping to bring economic prosperity.