Webb walks the line on redeployment By Peter J Brown
United States Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has completed a week-long tour of
the Asia-Pacific region to meet officials in Tokyo, Okinawa and Guam, among
other places. Webb serves as chairman of the US Senate's Committee on Foreign
Relations' East Asia and Pacific Affairs sub-committee as well as chairman of
the personnel sub-committee on the Committee on Armed Services.
He planned this trip for a number of reasons. Webb has a strong interest in
personnel-related basing decisions in Japan. He is also
keenly interested in the "big picture" when it comes to US relations with Asian
countries in general.
The primary purpose of Webb's trip was to evaluate the status of the US plan to
relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma air base from Ginowan to Nago on Okinawa.
That is, if Japan ultimately decides to carry out this proposal, which was
approved by a previous government in 2006.
Webb now realizes that Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government will
fall apart instantly if the premier decides to go ahead and, in effect, break a
promise that he made during his election campaign last year to uphold the
wishes of the local electorate on Okinawa. A clear majority there do not want
this relocation to happen.
Webb was also interested in finding out what has to be done on Guam to prepare
for the proper housing and accommodation of thousands of marines, their
families and support personnel who will be transferred there as part of the
relocation plan.
When Webb visited Guam, he was not caught off guard by several senior elected
officials telling him point blank that Guam is simply not prepared to meet the
2014 timetable for the relocation of the USMC personnel moving from Okinawa to
Guam. These would be just some of the estimated 80,000 people, slightly less
than half the island's present population, who will arrive over the next four
years as part of a huge US military buildup on the island.
US Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, who represents the island and describes
Webb as "a friend of Guam", seems increasingly annoyed that it will soon have
to deal with a sudden population surge.
"Nobody wants 80,000 additional people on Guam in 2014," she said. "We will do
everything that we can, federally and locally, to stop that from happening. As
I said before, we have our foot on the brakes. I will not support
appropriations and authorizations that will result in a construction pace that
brings 80,000 people to Guam in 2014."
For Bordallo, Governor Felix Camacho, and other elected representatives, there
was a growing sense of urgency as they tried to convince an influential member
of the US Senate that the US military presence on Guam is entering an awkward
phase, and that more coherent planning and better coordination was necessary.
It is safe to say that Okinawa is not the only place where the local population
is frustrated and increasingly uncomfortable with US military bases as
neighbors. While Guam may be reluctant to admit, it appears to be slowly
tilting in the same direction.
This is no minor matter. US President Barack Obama will visit Guam next month
as part of his upcoming trip to the region, which will include stops in
Indonesia and Australia.
The last thing that the Obama team wants to confront is a media circus spawned
by upset residents complaining about the US government's seizure of more land
on Guam, or about how acres of precious coral reefs may be destroyed in the
military makeover.
Webb's timing for this trip was ideal. He arrived on Guam just days after
Bordallo had openly confronted US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and US Navy
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff during a defense
budget hearing on Capitol Hill.
She planted important buzzwords like "coral reefs" and "aircraft carriers" in
the ears of the two top US military decision makers after complaining loudly
that any outright seizure of additional land by the US military outside its
existing "footprint" on Guam was unacceptable. It is doubtful, by the way, that
Bordallo enjoyed making Gates and Mullen squirm in their seats. This was simply
meant to send a strong message to the White House.
Bordallo probably is aware that Webb is in the midst of another base-related
showdown involving aircraft carriers. There is a proposal to shift an aircraft
carrier battle group from Webb's state of Virginia - more specifically from
Norfolk, the home base of the US Atlantic Fleet in Virginia - to a base further
south in Florida. Webb's antenna went up immediately when this proposal first
surfaced, and he adamantly opposes it.
US politicians have battled over the future of US military bases both at home
and abroad for years. Webb happens to be an astute Navy-centric politician who
is keen on enhancing the US role in Asia at a time when the US government is
drowning in red ink.
Webb, a Democrat, is also in a very good position at a time when his political
party is going through a very rough time.
Like it or not, Obama needs good advice as he prepares for his second trip to
Asia, and Webb who has already upped his profile as a mender of fences
following his surprisingly successful foray into Myanmar last year may have
important insights to share.
Webb is not Gates. Webb went to Japan, Okinawa and Guam simply to listen,
whereas Gates went to Japan in particular not just to listen, but to end the
debate and instil in the Japanese a sense of purpose.
When Webb informed Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima a few days ago that the
planned airfield relocation on Okinawa from Ginowan to Nago should go forward
for safety reasons, one gets the sense that Webb's statement may have been more
polite and predictable than firm and distant.
There is an obvious reason for this assessment. A day before this meeting took
place, Webb spoke at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, where he urged
both countries to find a solution to the problem which allowed both to "feel
comfortable".
"There are ways that the American military could be readjusted, but they also
have to be able to perform their mission," he said. "I do believe that we must
find a solution on the Futenma issue for the well-being of the citizens in that
area."
"And I am open to listening to all the suggestions from the Japanese government
and also from the people of Okinawa," he added.
Webb is mindful that the presence of US forces on Okinawa has been a political
hot potato for years. Former governor Keiichi Inamine, for example, proposed a
complete withdrawal of US military personnel from Okinawa in 2003.
Webb even wrote an article in early 2001 for Parade magazine entitled "Should
We Leave Okinawa?" in which he mentioned that former Japanese prime minister
Ryutaro Hashimoto "speaks often of 'the suffering of the Okinawan people' as a
result of the American bases, implicitly supporting their removal".
"Okinawa - 350 miles [563 kilometers] from Taipei, 700 from Seoul, 800 from
Manila and about 1,500 from Singapore - is ideally situated not only for the
defense of Japan but also for rapid deployment to a wide array of potential
crises," Webb wrote. "Ironically, some US defense planners believe that the
limits American forces have placed on themselves in order to satisfy the
Okinawan people are too restrictive, leading them to recommend a substantial
withdrawal from the island."
Webb also highlighted a US National Defense University study in 2000 which
recommended a "diversification throughout the Asia-Pacific region" of US forces
on Okinawa.
In 2010, Webb did not fly into Tokyo in order to somehow rescue Hatoyama, who
has been unable and unwilling to make a final decision on this matter. In fact,
Hatoyama is experiencing significant coalition government-induced stress lately
thanks to the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) endorsing the idea that all US
forces on Okinawa should ultimately be relocated elsewhere, and the People's
New Party (PNP) irritating the SDP considerably by conjuring up relocation
alternatives that the SDP is not inclined to approve.
Absent support from the SDP and PNP, the government led by Hatoyama and the
Democratic Party of Japan would quickly crumble.
In effect, Hatoyama finds himself pitted against Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine, who
is no doubt starting to appreciate the situation in which Bordallo finds
herself. These two politicians are not exactly cut from the same cloth. Whereas
one finds himself at odds with what is being done to - or more precisely being
imposed on - his constituents by the US military, the other grapples with how
it is being done and what is best for her constituents.
"I won [the recent mayoral election in Nago], promising local people that I
will not allow [the US government] to build any new base," Inamine said
recently. "I believe that reflects the will of the local people."
Consider these excerpts from Bordallo's recent congressional report, an annual
address presented to the Guam legislature.
The first common ground
position concerns the overall military footprint on Guam and the navy's desire
to acquire additional private and public lands. We will challenge the Navy to
conduct the military build-up on their existing land. The navy should better
utilize its land and consider moving housing and some support facilities for
the marine aviation unit to Andersen Air Force Base. The navy wants to move
8,600 marines to Guam and their question is how much land will that take? Our
question is the navy only has so much land on Guam and how many marines will
that land accommodate?
Bordallo means business, and she is not
timid when it comes to dealing with Gates, the US Navy or anyone else for that
matter.
"The plans for the carrier berth in Apra Harbor will result in a significant
loss of coral. I will challenge the navy to identify other alternatives that
will minimize coral damage and that will take advantage of currently dredged
areas," she said. "There is no ideal solution to the transient berth proposal
at Apra Harbor but I would urge a solution that requires the least damage to
our coral and the least dredging."
The sensitivity of this situation cannot be overlooked. Obama must step off Air
Force One and be seen immediately by the public as a global climate-concerned,
coral-hugging friend of Guam.
So, as both the Mayor of Nago, Japan and Guam's lone representative in the US
Congress find themselves fending off US military planners and each struggles to
preserve the future wellbeing of their communities, a bond may be forming.
This is what Webb's world looked like in mid-February as he trekked across the
Pacific trying to emphasize the importance of partnerships at each stop. He
walked a fine line and then went home to Virginia.
Peter J Brown is a freelance writer from the US state of Maine.
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