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No. 314

September 1, 1998

OKINAWA

Liberating Washington's East Asian Military Colony

by Doug Bandow

Executive Summary

U.S. military bases on Okinawa, home to some 27,000

service personnel and nearly as many family members, occupy

one-fifth of the island.  Although being stationed in an

attractive western Pacific locale may be pleasant for U.S.

soldiers, the pervasive American military presence harms

most Okinawans.  Barbed-wire-topped fences line major roads

and cut across towns; prime commercial sites and beaches

are unavailable for civilian use; accidents, crowding, and

crime are constant annoyances; live-fire military exercises

and aircraft flights disrupt what would otherwise be a

peaceful environment.  Okinawan demands for a reduction in

the number and size of U.S. bases have been growing, espe-

cially since the election of Masahide Ota as governor in

1990.

The pervasive U.S. presence, made possible by

America's conquest of the island during World War II, is a

relic of the Cold War.  The end of the Cold War and the

transformation of the strategic environment of East Asia

have eliminated the need to deploy the Third Marine

Expeditionary Force and other military units stationed on

the island--as well as elsewhere in Japan.  Proposals for

new missions--such as providing support for humanitarian

interventions--are merely pretexts to preserve bases that

have outlived their usefulness.

After more than half a century of U.S. occupation, the

majority of Okinawans want the American troops to start

going home.  It is time for Washington to oblige by phasing

out its troop presence, not only in Okinawa but in the rest

of Japan as well, as recently recommended by former

Japanese prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa.

____________________________________________________________

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, was a

special assistant to President Reagan and is the author of

Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World.