Nydia Leaf from GPB NYC visitｓ Japan again

STATEMENT FROM THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE

The New York City Granny Peace Brigade joins with other international Peace and Justice organizations in declaring that the United States MUST BEGIN CLOSING OVERSEAS BASES TO ENSURE US & GLOBAL SECURITY.

More than half a century after the end of WWII and the Korean War, the U.S. maintains base sites in Germany, Japan, and South Korea, and in many other locations. (Recently it has announced plans for expanding to Africa.)

Opposition in Japan to the presence of U.S. bases, and especially to bases in Okinawa, is well documented. Overseas bases have impacted relations between the two countries; they are viewed by many in both nations as infringing on Japan’s sovereignty. Bases on foreign soil have important social, legal, environmental, ethical, cultural and financial implications.

In a time of economic crisis, the fiscal burden of maintaining U.S. overseas bases is too great. Unlike domestic bases, overseas bases siphon taxpayer money away from the U.S. Critical needs at home and abroad are not being addressed. In the aftermath of corruption scandals in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. public now knows how private base contractors are the ones enriched and benefiting from the bases.

As Secretary of State Hilary Clinton observed in 2012, the foreign policy objective of the United States has pivoted from Asia to the Pacific Region. However, overseas bases do not bring about “Democracy” in regions – on the contrary, they destabilize them. Bases become lightning rods for attacks on the U.S. encouraging resentment, anger, protests and anti-Americanism. Military spending and weapon flows increase in the regions surrounding bases. They discourage the very diplomacy which is essential to better global relations.

The citizens of Okinawa have paid a high cost because of the presence of U.S. bases. The incidents of health hazards, crime, noise pollution, violations of girls and women, and the destruction of pristine ecological areas in Okinawa demonstrate the need for a new policy on overseas bases.

We support the citizens of Japan who call for closing U.S. bases on their land. The U. S. has a land mass more than twenty-five times that of Japan – let all those acres of land occupied by the United States for its bases, its forces, their families and their recreation (golf courses and cafes) be returned to the people of Japan.

For these and other reasons, the Granny Peace Brigade urges Congress to assume its constitutional responsibilities. It should review Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) which are, functionally, treaties, and it must fund the clean up of military toxics sites for restoration to other uses.

IT IS TIME FOR THE U.S. CONGRESS TO EXAMINE
THE OVERSEAS BASE STRUCTURE AND TO PLAN CLOSURES –
NOT RELOCATIONS OR EXPANSIONS OF BASES.

March 2013