Antinuclear

U.S. marines unwelcome in Okinawa, moving to Australia

US to move 9,000 Marines out of Okinawa, By Reuters, 27 April 12,  WASHINGTON — The United States and Japan announced on Thursday a revised agreement on streamlining the U.S. military presence on Okinawa that will shift 9,000 Marines from that southern Japanese island to Guam and other Asia-Pacific sites. The new plan, unveiled days before Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visits President Barack Obama, helps the allies work around the still unresolved, core dispute over moving the Futenma air base from a crowded part of Okinawa to a new site that had vexed relations for years.
Under the agreement, 9,000 U.S. Marines will relocate off Okinawa: 5,000 to Guam and the rest to other locations such as Hawaii and Australia, U.S. officials said……
Friction over U.S. bases intensified after the 1995 gang rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen. The case sparked widespread protests by Okinawans, who had long resented the American presence due
to crime, noise and deadly accidents. There are about 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan under a 1960 bilateral
security treaty. Okinawa, occupied by the United States from 1945-72, accounts for less than 1 percent of Japan’s total land, but hosts three-quarters of the U.S. military facilities in the country in terms of land area…..
http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/26/11418757-us-to-move-9000-marines-out-of-okinawa

April 27, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Northern Territory, politics international