<<  <  >  >>

Page 11

island life by stationing a marine expeditionary force and

other units on Okinawa?  The U.S. and Japanese governments

do not like being asked that question.  In fact, the

Marine Corps seems to blame the Okinawans whenever the

issue comes up.  As part of an official briefing, one

officer complained to me, "Because of Governor Ota's

recent media assaults, the Marine Corps has found itself

justifying the importance of basing Marines on Okinawa."41

The Tyranny of Status Quo Thinking

In fact, both nations' defense establishments have

been busy for years concocting new justifications for old

deployments.  The most notorious is the United States

Security Strategy for the East Asia-Pacific Region.  The

report's conclusion was simple: whatever has been must

always be.  Every American military deployment, installa-

tion, and treaty is needed now more than ever before.  Yet

that is an obviously unsatisfactory response.  The Cold

War is over, Japan faces no credible threats, and South

Korea--where U.S. forces on Okinawa would be sent in a

crisis--is capable of defending itself.  Indeed, despite

the April U.S.-Japan agreement to expand bilateral military

cooperation, so complacent is Tokyo that it is cutting its

already modest defense budget in 1998.  Japan is also

reducing troop levels and weapons procurement.42   And

Japanese political analysts warn that the fall of the

Hashimoto government in July may cause Tokyo to renege on

even the modest promises it made a few months ago.43

The end of the Cold War should logically have led to

the end of America's Cold War deployments.  Says Miki,

"Before 1989, the U.S. said that due to the threat of the

Soviet Union and China the U.S. must stay.  Since 1989 it

has emphasized the Korean issue.  If Korea reunifies, what

reason will the U.S. give next" for keeping everything as

it has been since World War II?44

That is a good question, one Okinawans now regularly

ask of Washington.  Even the Marines admit, "Not a day

goes by when we are not asked the question . . . 'With the

end of the Cold War, why does the United States continue

to base such a large number of military here on

Okinawa?'"45   The services, naturally, have an answer--in

fact, many of them.  The military graciously gives tours

of their facilities even to skeptics of the U.S. presence.

The Air Force and Marine Corps conduct formal briefings to

justify their presence on Okinawa.