Withdraw plan for building a new U.S. base as 1st step toward easing Okinawans' burden

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Withdraw plan for building a new U.S. base as 1st step toward easing Okinawans' burden
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The Japanese and U.S. government scheme to impose a new U.S. base on Okinawa is faced with strong criticism from local residents.

Minister of State for Okinawa Takaichi Sanae, in her first visit to Okinawa since taking office, pressed the prefecture to accept an early start of the construction of a new base on the shoreline of the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab in Nago City, using an economic stimulus package as a carrot.

The U.S. intends to use the new base as a permanent stronghold in its global-scale preemptive wars in which many people will be indiscriminately killed, as seen in Iraq.

It is intolerable for Okinawans, who value life highly through their bitter experience of the battle of Okinawa, to see their land turned into a foothold for mass murder on a global scale.

What is worse, the Japanese government is trying to sell the new base with the argument that this plan will reduce Okinawans' burdens.

The government has explained that 8,000 U.S. marines command personnel and their 9,000 family members will be relocated from Okinawa to Guam, and that for this purpose Japan needs to pay about 700 billion yen to construct a U.S. base in Guam.

However, the "Guam Integrated Military Development Plan" drawn up by the U.S. Pacific Forces unveiled that the number of marines needed for a new command is only 2,800. This has raised a serious doubt about the government promise of an 8,000-cutback in U.S. personnel.

The Japanese government later requested the U.S. to delete the document from their website. The government has been unable to give a clear explanation to the Diet about the discrepancy between what the Japanese government says and what the U.S. forces say.

Withdrawal of the plan to construct a new U.S. base will be the first step towards reducing Okinawans' burdens.

The Okinawa gubernatorial election slated for November 19 is the best chance to achieve that goal. It is decisively important to give a victory to the candidate who firmly opposes the new U.S. base.
- Akahata, October 30, 2006