 Peace organizations protest U.S. military helicopter flights to Iwakuni base On October 28, U.S. Marine Corps' CH53D helicopters of the same model as the one that crashed at a university campus in Okinawa on August 13 took off from the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to return to the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The Yamaguchi Prefectural Peace Committee issued a statement in protest against the transport helicopter flights to the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station. In Hiroshima Prefecture adjacent to Yamaguchi, the Peace Committee, the Confederation of A & H Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), and the Hiroshima Prefectural Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo) jointly demanded that the CH53D helicopters go back to Hawaii. Okinawa's Ginowan City, where the Futenma base is located, protested to the U.S. Marines for ignoring the city's demand that all flights over residential areas be banned. Okinawa Governor Inamine Keiichi published a comment expressing his "regret" over the CH53D flights. (end) |