From Okinawa to Guam

An estimated 8,000+ U.S. Marines are in the process of being relocated from the U.S. Base in Okinawa to a base located in Guam. The agreement was first put on the table in 2006 when Japan and the U.S. agreed to relocate U.S. Marines from Air Station Futenma to another location within Okinawa near Nago. Due to the Liberal Democratic Party, the agreement was then made to be outside of the (Okinawa) prefecture. That area outside of the prefecture was then switched to being Guam. U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates has been in Tokyo since this past Wednesday trying to confirm the realignment agreements. He's even had the opportunity to meet with Japanese Defense Minister, Toshimi Kitazawa. The meeting hasn't made alot of progress towards relocation in either Guam or another base in Okinawa. Gates believes that without the (Futenma) agreement, relocation to Guam will be impossible. With even more confusion and delay adding to the madness, Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima believes that the original plan to move the base further north in Okinawa is plausible if the base can be established 50 meters further from the coastline that it was in the original plan. And so the Madness insues. For more information please check out Jun Hongo's article for the Japan Times Online @ http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091022a3.html#

By: Ricky Brown