Saturday, February 24, 2001

By David Allen
Okinawa bureau chief

Gov. Keiichi Inamine

NAHA — Add Gov. Keiichi Inamine to the list of Okinawa officials who want fewer U.S. troops on the island.

Inamine, who normally shies away from criticizing the presence of the U.S. military, told Okinawa lawmakers Thursday that the time has come to discuss cutting back the troop strength in the island prefecture.

Okinawa has less than one percent of Japan’s landmass, yet is home to 75 percent of the land covered by U.S. bases in Japan. About half of the U.S. troops in Japan are stationed here.

Inamine was responding to questions posed during a regular meeting of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, which last month called for the reduction in the number of U.S. Marines on Okinawa after the arrest of a Marine charged with indecent sexual acts.

Several incidents since then, including a Marine charged with burning down a row of wooden bars in the town of Chatan, have prompted other calls for reducing U.S. troops and imposing a curfew on the off-base activities of servicemembers.

The most recent action was taken by the Chatan town council Thursday, which passed a resolution demanding a midnight curfew.

Inamine became governor in 1998, defeating base critic Masahide Ota, who advocated a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Okinawa. Inamine, a conservative businessman, ran on a platform of economic progress and cooperation with Tokyo and Washington on the base issues.

But he has become increasingly critical of the U.S. military, especially in light of the disparaging remarks made about Okinawa officials in an internal e-mail by Marine Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, the senior U.S. officer on Okinawa. In the message to the commanders under him, which was leaked to a local newspaper, Hailston referred to Okinawa officials as "nuts and a bunch of wimps."

"There is a trend inside and outside Japan to reduce Marine Corps forces on Okinawa," Inamine said. "To explicitly convey the wish of the people of Okinawa, I will demand that the national government, which has the sole responsibility to provide military facilities to the United States, to reduce the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, including the Marine Corps."

A U.S. Forces Japan spokeswoman said the United States is "committed to discussing any issues raised by the government of Japan concerning the alliance."

She cited the bilateral 1996 Joint Declaration on Security, which states that "in response to changes that may arise in the security environment, both governments will continue to consult closely on defense policies and military postures, including the U.S. force structure in Japan, which will best meet their requirements."

Inamine also said he would seek a change in the Status of Forces Agreement, which governs relations between U.S. forces and the Japanese, to give Japanese police initial custody of servicemembers charged with crimes.

"It is the keen desire of the people of Okinawa to make changes in the bilateral agreement," Inamine said. "I hope that the U.S. government reviews our demands in a positive light."

In a recent interview published in Business Week, departing U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley said the Bush administration is making a review of U.S. troop strength worldwide.

"I have no particular objection to considering changes in the disposition of U.S. forces in Japan," Foley said. "What I’m concerned about is that I think it’s a review and decision that should be conducted expeditiously.

"There’s a sort of growing expectation [in Japan] that we’re about to consider, in a very serious way, a reduction of Marine forces in Okinawa," Foley said. "That’s an assumption that’s not based on evidence, except that the overall review of our forces is an ongoing thing."

He said reducing the number of Marines might be a tough call.

"The commandant of the Marine Corps said flatly the finest facilities the Marine Corps has are not in the [United States], they’re in Japan, in Okinawa," he said.

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