PDA

View Full Version : US, Japan Agree To Delay Marine Base Relocation.....



MMC
06-28-2011, 01:20 AM
http://beta.news.yahoo.com/us-japan-agree-delay-marine-relocation-145643901.html;_ylt=AuQ2dPTmhmt4uUanydtRo7wD5gcF;_ ylu=X3oDMTNwNGQyMHRqBGNjb2RlA3dlaWdodGVkY3QEcGtnAz FiNzYzMDM2LTg3YWYtMzk5OC05ZmFmLWI5MjlkNmE4NTdhNQRw b3MDNgRzZWMDbW9zdF9wb3B1bGFyBHZlcgMxZmQzZjY2MC05Yz RiLTExZTAtODczZC02NzQ2MGM1NDg3Nzc-;_ylg=X3oDMTIyMjV2aTdiBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3x3aGl0ZSBob3VzZQRwdA NzZWN0aW9ucw--;_ylv=3

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Japan said Tuesday they would press ahead with the costly relocation a U.S. Marine air station in Japan but pushed back the deadline amid opposition to the plans in both countries.

The delay in the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the southern island of Okinawa had been widely anticipated. Japan's government has failed to win the requisite assent of residents there, although the plans aim to reduce the U.S. military footprint on the island that hosts more than half of the 47,000 American troops in Japan.

The two sides confirmed plans, spelled out in 2006 agreement, for Marine air operations to be shifted to a less crowded part of Okinawa, where a new airfield would be built. Some 8,000 Marines would also be shifted to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. They also confirmed their commitment to fund it. Japan is to foot much of the multibillion-dollar bill.

Japan agreed to a U.S. request to share with allies the SM-3 Block IIA, a ship-based missile defense system jointly developed by the two countries, in cases where it would contribute to Japan's national security or international peace and stability.

I say let the Japanese provide for their defenses and not us. How much more money wasted here? Divide and move troops to Guam. Ship-missile Defense. Not stationary anymore. Thoughts?

waltky
10-25-2012, 12:49 AM
Quick U.S. military response to Okinawa rape case...
:cool2:
Okinawa governor says US response quick on rape case
Thu, Oct 25, 2012 - The governor of Japan’s southern island chain of Okinawa on Tuesday welcomed the “quick” US response to an alleged rape by servicemen of a local woman, saying Washington was taking the case seriously.


Governor Hirokazu Nakaima was visiting Washington for a previously planned symposium on Okinawa’s heavy US military presence a week after two 23-year-old sailors were arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman on a street. Nakaima, who had earlier called the purported crime “insane” and told the US that Okinawans were “fed up,” praised the response he heard during his meetings in Washington. “My impression is that they were very quick in their response,” Nakaima told reporters. “It’s not just the response, but also they’re taking it seriously. That was apparent.” “The way they responded makes very clear they’re taking it seriously,” he said, while adding that he was awaiting further details on the case.

In meetings with Nakaima, US officials Kurt Campbell and Mark Lippert pledged cooperation and said that “we take all allegations of misconduct by our servicepeople extremely seriously,” US Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. The US put all 47,000 members of the armed forces in Japan — both in Okinawa and elsewhere — under an indefinite nighttime curfew in response to the case. The alleged rape came amid already high tensions in Okinawa, which recently saw demonstrations against the US deployment to the island of the Osprey aircraft, which local activists charge has a poor safety record.

The protests against the Osprey have been among the largest in Okinawa since 1995, when tens of thousands took to the streets urging a smaller US footprint after three soldiers were arrested for the gang-rape of a 12-year-old girl. The 1995 gang-rape led the US military to ramp up cultural sensitivity training for troops in Okinawa, but the two troops arrested last week, Christopher Browning and Skyler Dozier Walker, were based in Texas and reportedly only on a brief mission to Okinawa.

Senator Jim Webb, a former combat marine who has long taken an interest in Okinawa, told the symposium that the nighttime curfew was “backwards” and that the military should instead encourage more interaction with residents. “You can’t have both sides thinking that the barbarians are on the other side of the gate,” said Webb, a Democrat from Virginia who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia. “I just think it’s a great opportunity for the American military, when they can live and operate in a place like Okinawa, to get out and fully experience the depth and the history of the culture.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2012/10/25/2003546066