Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009

By KINUYE OSHIRO-AVERY

Yomitan, Okinawa

Regarding the Nov. 26 article "Budget may cover part of Futenma accord": I am tired of the United States demanding that Japan stick to a 2006 agreement made between two governments that are no longer in power.

In a lawsuit, Judge Patel of the U.S. Federal Court in San Francisco found the U.S. military in violation of the National Preservation Act for endangered species, and ordered the Defense Department to resolve the issue before continuing to build an alternate base for U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station on Okinawa. The ruling is Dugong v. Gates, No. 03-4360. We have a documentary now available on YouTube in four parts titled "Why Okinawa? The Dilemma of Futenma." The link to part one (English with Japanese subtitles) is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXoTsXdefOg

The U.S. military is arguing a point from 2006 when a ruling from 2008 has essentially made the 2006 agreement moot. The U.S. military needs to follow its own government's ruling before pushing its self-serving desires on the Japanese government, which affect the lives of all Okinawans, of which I am one.

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