Regarding the Nov. 9 Kyodo article "U.S. wanted to turn all of Okinawa Island into base site in 1945-46: documents": The Okinawan people have been consistently lied to by the Tokyo government and the U.S. military.
Okinawans don't want the American bases and many U.S. military service members don't want to be here, as evidenced by the continuing crime. Rapes are frequent; most don't get reported.
The Osprey — the tilt-rotor, transport aircraft that some people have nicknamed the "widow maker" because it is perceived as so dangerous — takes off and lands over the overcrowded city of Ginowan. In spite of promises to restrict flight patterns, the Osprey frequently hover over parts of the city.
Henoko, a U.N. preservation site, was "chosen" by the Americans and the Japanese government as a site for relocating the functions of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Originally, it was stated that this was to be a heliport.
As it was thought that helicopters don't need a lot of space in which to operate, there was not a big outcry against the relocation — until it was learned that the new site would require significant land area on which much of a local forest, home to hundreds of protected species of plant and animal life, would be destroyed. Plans also called for building two 1,800-meter long runways.
People then realized that this was not to be a heliport. It has since been revealed that the Henoko site is being planned as a vast interservice camp. Futenma will not be returned as had been promised, but rather extended.
Permission for the building at Henoko was given after a trumped up "environmental assessment," which in reality appears to me to have been a kickback for those involved and a pack of lies as an environmental assessment.
I believe this information is being withheld from people in the rest of Japan. It is time they knew about it.
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.