Gates: Disputed US airfield should stay on Okinawa

Source: Associated Press

Gates: Disputed US airfield should stay on Okinawa
By LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes, Associated Press Writer – 23 mins ago

TOKYO – U.S. leaders expect Japan's new government to stick with already-forged agreements between the two nations, America's top defense official said Tuesday amid debate over whether to shutter a U.S. military air field on Okinawa.

Pentagon chief Robert Gates did not specifically mention the controversy over the Futenma base, a major U.S. Marines hub, during brief remarks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

But the defense secretary made clear that the Obama administration would frown on any action by Tokyo to block a new runway at another base on Okinawa when Futenma is closed.

"As your government exercises its new responsibilities, I want you to know the United States stands with you," Gates told Okada at the start of their half-hour meeting in Tokyo. "And we are committed to advancing and implementing our agreed alliance transformation agenda."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_re_as/as_gates_japan;_ylt=AmsydBpiAQwju4YdGe9G0A6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFlcGVlZG8wBHBvcwM4NQRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3BvbGl0aWNzBHNsawNnYXRlc2Rpc3B1dGU-

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Your Overlords speak. :sarcasm:

...has the same legitimacy as that of the U.S. Which is, virtually none. Both of these superpowers are invaders and occupiers. Within living memory, Japanese overlords viewed native Okinawans with contempt. Their pastoral lifestyle and unique culture were exploited by both Japan and the U.S., going way, way back.

The Battle of Okinawa, the last land battle of World War Two, was an epic conflagaration which laid waste to both the land and way of life for the Okinawans. The dreadful number of civilian casualties is debated to this day. The massive scale of this tragedy is almost forgotten by history, perhaps due to its coincidence with the end of the war in Europe.

Both countries should go home, and perhaps a rebirth of Okinawan culture may occur.

Sheesh, do I have to do all the sarcasm around here?

the people the locals find most offensive (horrible crimes aside) aren't the soldiers, but the soldiers wives who have nothing better to do then get absolutely hammered and generally be obnoxious in public.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091020a3.html

Clock ticking on base, its delicate environment
<SNIP>
Lt. Col. Douglas Powell, director of the marines public affairs office at Camp Foster, said marines in Okinawa engage in 1,500 public relations activities a year. To save money, Congress also recently instituted a policy of having most U.S. service members deployed abroad, and their dependents, reside in base housing.

"The new policy will save between $30 million and $50 million annually and we're aiming to have nearly all military personnel and their families on-base," Powell said.

Such efforts to be good guests, as Powell said, while welcomed by large numbers of Okinawa citizens and by those businesses that benefit from the U.S. military presence, are now overshadowed by the environmental concerns over constructing the Henoko base and, by extension, the larger political question of just how large the U.S. military presence in Okinawa should be, or if there should be one at all.

The specific debates over how marine life will be affected if the Henoko base is built are a pretext to larger discussions about how U.S. Marine Corps life in Okinawa will be affected.