 Peace Committee demands a ban on U.S. Marines' return to Okinawa The Japan Peace Committee (JPC) on March 4 demanded that the government oppose the planned return to Okinawa of U.S. Marines from Iraq where they committed massacre. Sato Mitsuo, JPC representative director and Chisaka Jun, JPC secretary general, visited the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Agency. They also demanded that the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station be returned to Japan unconditionally without delay and that the plan to construct a state-of-the-art on-sea airport off the Henoko district of Nago City be withdrawn. About 2,200 personnel of the Okinawa-based U.S. 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit involved in the killing of Fallujah citizens are expected to return to the island in March along with about 20 helicopters from the U.S. Futenma base. JPC representatives told Foreign Ministry officials that under international law, U.S. Marines can not be allowed to return to Okinawa and that this is necessary to secure the safety of citizens who live near U.S. bases. Mayor Iha Yoichi of Ginowan City where Futenma base is located and Okinawa Prefectural Governor Inamine Keiichi have expressed their opposition to the Marines' return to Okinawa. A Foreign Ministry official stated that generally speaking, it may be possible to deny entry into Japan of those who have committed atrocities in violation of the United Nations Charter. However, he added that deployment to Iraq of Japan-based U.S. forces has been supported by the Japan-U.S. relations as a "global alliance" rather than by the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Quoting a passage from Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty: "...the purpose of contributing to the security of Japan and the maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East..," the JPC activists argued, "It has become clear that the redeployment of U.S. forces from Okinawa to Iraq has nothing to do with the treaty and that they can no longer serve to maintain Japan's security, so their return to Japan must not be approved." The JPC representatives urged the ministry to oppose the units' return. At the Defense Agency, they demanded that the ongoing boring to construct the new Nago base be stopped now. "From the outset, the project is destroying the beautiful sea off Nago," they stressed. (end) |