Caught in the crossfire: Two Peterborough residents in Guam speak out

Two Peterborough residents are getting out of Guam as talk of air strikes and military action zeroes in on the small Pacific nation.

“We’re not stressing about,” Peggy Shaughnessy said, speaking over the phone from Guam. “Because nobody here is.”

Peggy and her daughter, Liz Shaughnessy, travelled to Guam on Aug. 1, to share their RedPath Addiction Treatment program. The pair also runs the Whistle Stop Cafe on George Street.

Days after their arrival, the rhetoric between North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump escalated, with the American leader promising, “Fire and fury like the world has never seen, “if North Korea continued to make threats against the U.S.”

North Korea responded by threatening to strike areas of Guam with medium- to long-range ballistic missiles.

The Shaughnessys say the local residents hardly batted an eyelash when they heard that news.

“We did see helicopters flying today, but we’ve seen helicopters fly before,” they said.

Trent University professor David Shenin says the pair should be concerned.

“We don’t know how far their missiles can go, but we think that their missiles can certainly reach Guam,” Shenin said.

But Shenin is optimistic, and says this will likely remain a war of words, despite the heated rhetoric.

“This is not Aleppo, this is not Syria with bombs going off in downtown streets and so on,” he said.

As for the Shaughnessys, they’re cutting their trip short, returning to Canada on Wednesday instead of Sunday.