Members of U.S. Congress question costs of military realignment on Okinawa and Guam

The Ryukyu Shimpo reports:

Barney Frank, a leading Democratic Congressman was quoted in the U.S. magazine “Foreign Affairs” (December issue) as saying, “I do think we could remove the Marines from Okinawa; whose only purpose has been to destabilize Japanese politics, so when the first alternative government to the conservative regime got elected, we caused them trouble.” He is known to have advocated the withdrawal of the U.S. Marines from Okinawa.

The remarks of such an influential congressman, who also suggested that the Marines in Okinawa are a factor destabilizing Japanese politics, may serve to intensify the debate over the necessity of the U.S. Marine Corps being stationed in Okinawa.

Meanwhile Senator McCain urges elimination of all funding for Department of Defense public infrastructure projects on Guam:

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today sent a letter to Senators Daniel Inouye and Thad Cochran, Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, urging them to exclude unneeded spending for public infrastructure on Guam from the Department of Defense section of H.R. 3671, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 pending action in the Senate.

McCain attacks the funding for non-base related expenses.   Presumably, he still supports funding for the buildup.  But even he urges a pause in funding projects, given the lack of progress on the Futenma base realignment plan:

The President’s budget request included $33 million in the operations and maintenance account for the Department of Defense to be transferred to other federal agencies to carry out socioeconomic infrastructure improvements on Guam. It is our understanding these funds are intended to be used to purchase 53 civilian school buses and to construct a cultural artifacts repository (museum) and a mental health facility on Guam.  The budget justification states that the funds are required in 2012 to address the impact of the relocation of 8,700 Marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam as well as the temporary migrant workforce that will be needed to support over $20 billion in new construction for facilities required to support the realignment.

I have strong concerns about the challenges and growing costs in a time of severe fiscal constraints of building large new U.S. military facilities and associated training areas on Guam for the permanent stationing of 8,700 Marines and their families. In addition, the Defense Policy Review Initiative as detailed in the 2005 U.S.-Japan Alliance Transformation and Realignment for the Future and the U.S.-Japan Roadmap for Realignment Implementation agreement (‘Roadmap agreement’) of 2006 requires the realignment of forces to Guam to be contingent on tangible progress towards the construction of a Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF) for U.S. Marine air assets remaining on Okinawa. To date, there has been no tangible progress on the construction of the FRF.  As a result of these developments, we believe a pause in further obligations of either U.S. or Government of Japan funds is reasonable pending a study of the strategy and U.S. force posture in the Pacific area of responsibility.

The programs that McCain singles out for cuts may have been items thrown in by Congress to sweeten the pot and mask the bitter taste of the build up. It seems to follow a similar pattern to military-funded, non-military earmarks in Hawai’i.