Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

By JYOUJI HAMANO

Hiroshima

Regarding Naoshi Koriyama's Nov. 1 letter, "Respect the wishes of Okinawans": I can understand the situation that people in Okinawa face. They have been suffering from U.S. military aircraft noise night and day and, at times, from crimes committed by soldiers stationed there. They have appealed to the U.S. and Japanese governments to reduce the military presence, but the U.S. government does not seem to have much interest in listening to what people in Okinawa have to say.

There are a number of reasons why the United States wants so many military facilities in the Far East, including the fact that China these days is building up its military forces more than ever. The U.S. wants to show its potential military power in Asia. Another reason is that the military-industrial complex has played an important role in maintaining the smooth functioning of the U.S. economy since the end of World War II.

The U.S. government does not want to risk seeing a large amount of public money wasted, so it keeps reliable military forces in many parts of the world as policemen. This helps protect the world from going to nuclear war and to deter regional conflict. Therefore, the chance of the U.S. government accepting the demands of some people in the Japanese government and Okinawans in general is appearing less and less likely.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.

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