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Another rank assumption on your part. I don't. Because we have one in Guam. :lol:
I know. I've been there. Great strip clubs, let me tell you...
Look, these people protesting the US base at Okinawa is really inconsequential. Let them squeak all they want. The plans to reorient the US presence in the Pacific has already been in the works for sometime. The Japanese government, as one member in this thread already commented on, knows damn well they want a US presence in the Pacific.
When and if Japan meets its obligations to foot the bill for the new base construction, then the US will shift the main brunt of its presence.
. . .
However, the whole plan could collapse if Japan fails to build a replacement for a busy Marine Corps air base on its southern island of Okinawa, a festering issue that one senior US military official acknowledged is fraught with difficulties. The buildup plan, to be carried out by 2014, represents a major realignment of US forces in the Pacific:
About 8,000 Marines are to be shifted 1,200 miles southeast, from Okinawa to Guam, making it the Corps' second largest permanent overseas staging and training area.
US Plans for Military Buildup Leave Guam Wary | CommonDreams.org
My concern isn't really the protesters. I saw them all the time when I was in Oki, so it's nothing new to me. My concern is our financial instability and the precarious position we've put ourselves in by perpetuating the mentality that it's the our responsibility to stabilize foreign regions.
I can't tell you for certain that a war wouldn't break out, but what I can tell you for certain is that the US will be just as safe as it was before we got rid of that worthless base.