Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Adnkronos International
December 7, 2009

Italian peace activists opposed to the construction of a US airbase in the northern city of Vicenza have travelled to the Norwegian capital, Oslo, to challenge the presentation of the Nobel Peace prize to president Barack Obama. “Our goal is to protest against president Barack Obama, who will be receiving the Nobel peace prize for his war policy,” said the No Dal Molin organisation on its website.

“It materialised in Vicenza with the construction of a new and devastating military base.”

No Dal Molin says that the base, which will house the 173rd Airborne Brigade, plays a leading role in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The city of Vicenza also hosts Africom the US headquarters for military operations in the African continent.

“The US military presence is an occupation that the ‘Vicentini’ reject,” the activists said. “The man who will receive the Nobel Peace prize refuses to respect democracy in a European city and by imposing this new military project on Vicenza.

“With this decision president Obama loads a further magazine in his war machine-gun.”

The group defines itself as a movement led by ordinary people of all ages from across political, social and cultural boundaries mobilised to oppose the new US military base in Vicenza.

There are currently four major US Army installations in the country and several other naval bases. …

www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.4079419226

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Mainichi Daily News
December 7, 2009

Japan’s declaration that it will postpone a decision on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture until sometime next year has drawn fire from the United States.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s attempt to gain a compromise from the United States failed as Washington stuck to the agreed upon plan to relocate Futenma base to an area off Camp Schwab in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.

After Japanese officials informed their U.S. counterparts of the postponement during a bilateral working group meeting on the issue Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos requested private talks with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa while asking others to leave the room.

In the talks, Roos conveyed Washington’s anger at the decision and warned that Futenma base will remain in its current location permanently unless the two countries go ahead with the agreed upon relocation plan.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20091207p2a00m0na006000c.html

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Mainichi Daily News
December 3, 2009

The Japanese government will call for the addition of environmental regulations to the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement.

The proposal will be made at a coming meeting of the Cabinet-level working group established by the two nations to address the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. With the working group moving towards a solution of that issue and apparently ready to take up at least some reforms of the status-of-forces agreement, Japan is looking to lessen the burden of hosting U.S. forces on Okinawa Prefecture.

Specifically, the Japanese government will call on the inclusion of provisions calling on the United States to clean up any pollution connected to its bases, and allow both local and government officials access for inspections. There have been accidental spills of toxic substances such as fuel on and around U.S. bases, but under the current status-of-forces facilities management terms the United States is not responsible for cleaning up such spills upon return of the land to Japanese control and does not allow Japan to conduct environmental pollution assessments.

The Status-of-Forces Agreement was signed in 1960 based on the Japan-U.S. security pact. It has not been amended since, and contains no environmental provisions. …

… However, the United States is not showing any interest in amending the Status-of-Forces Agreement, and there is a danger that the U.S. will not shift away from its current incremental approach to improving the treaty.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20091203p2a00m0na013000c.html

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The Miami Herald
By Rob Hotakainen
November 29, 2009

In the past, members of Congress never have been particularly eager to remind the public that they regularly vote to raise the ceiling on the national debt, which now exceeds $12 trillion [$12,000,000,000,000].

The debt has more than doubled since 2002, and in the last two years it’s been rising at a clip of more than $3.8 billion a day. Each U.S. citizen now has a share that’s estimated at more than $39,000. …

A bipartisan group of more than a dozen senators is threatening to vote against an increase in the debt limit unless Congress passes a new deficit-fighting plan.

“I will not vote for raising the debt limit without a vehicle to handle this. … This is our moment,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. …

Feinstein said it could be similar to the process for closing military bases, in which members must vote to take or leave the entire package. …

www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1356674.html

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tampabay.com
By William R. Levesque
November 27, 2009

With President Barack Obama poised to ramp up troop levels in Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command planners are in the midst of the military’s biggest logistical challenge since the Vietnam War.

How do you marshal billions of dollars in equipment to escalate one war in Afghanistan while scaling back another in Iraq? …

In a wide-ranging interview with the St. Petersburg Times this week, [Army Maj. Gen.] Dowd said landlocked Afghanistan presents greater difficulties than Iraq with its fewer routes of supply.

CentCom is now conducting an assessment of air strips in Afghanistan, and Dowd said engineers will have to expand them in order to resupply larger numbers of troops by air.

“I’m a little concerned about” airfield capacity, Dowd said. “We’ve got to expand and make it better.” …

Obama is expected to announce next week an escalation of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan that will send as many as 30,000 additional troops on top of the 68,000 already there.

Much of the U.S. equipment in Iraq will never return to the states.

Often, it isn’t cost-efficient to do so, planners say.

Much of it will be sold to Iraqi security forces, Dowd said. Other gear not sent to Afghanistan after refurbishment in Kuwait might be placed in storage somewhere in CentCom’s area of responsibility, which includes 20 nations in the region. …

www.tampabay.com/news/military/war/centcom-planners-study-massive-move-of-equipment-to-afghanistan/1054693

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Reuters
November 27, 2009

Poland and the United States have agreed the legal details of deploying U.S. troops in Poland after lengthy negotiations, Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Komorowski said on Friday.

The “status of forces” agreement (SOFA) opens the way for deployments of a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Poland next year as part of plans to upgrade the NATO member’s air defenses. …

Under the accord, due to be signed by the two sides on December 10, U.S. troops who commit any crime outside their base and outside their regular work would fall under Polish jurisdiction, Komorowski said. The deal also covers taxation of U.S. forces.

Poland, perturbed by Russia’s more assertive foreign policy, has long complained that it hosts no U.S. troops or major military installations despite a strong track record of sending troops to help in U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. …

Polish forces would use the battery to upgrade their defense systems. Komorowski told Reuters earlier this year that a U.S. battery would be permanently based in Poland from 2012 and that Warsaw would also aim to buy its own anti-missile systems. …

www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5AQ3IP20091127

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Americans Seek Up to 7,000 Extra NATO Troops for Ramp-Up in Afghanistan

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com)
By Peter Spiegel and Stephen Fidler
November 23, 2009

The Obama administration is in advanced talks with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for a coordinated rollout of a new Afghan war strategy, which U.S. officials hope will include a commitment by European allies to send several thousand additional troops.

U.S. and European estimates of the new troops they may get from NATO allies vary from 3,000 to 7,000. Those would complement the additional U.S. forces Mr. Obama is considering; those options range from 10,000 to 40,000, but U.S. officials have said a combination of combat troops and training forces totaling 35,000 has gained the most momentum. …

According to people briefed on U.S. plans, the Obama administration is targeting six European allies to contribute battalion-sized units, generally about 500 to 1,000 troops. Officials say they are most hopeful they can get commitments from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Italy, which has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, has signaled it would be willing to keep deployed the 400 added soldiers it sent as part of stepped-up security surrounding the August Afghan elections. An Italian official declined to comment. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown likewise has signaled intention to send 500 more troops, and Turkey has recently announced it is doubling its current complement from 800 to 1,600.

Both Germany and the United Kingdom could find it politically difficult to commit more troops — at least in the coming weeks. …

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125875420517357953.html

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New Jersey Real-Time News
November 22, 2009

… In its simplest terms, the military’s strategy is to reshape the warrior ethos, instilling in service members the idea that mental health is as vital as physical fitness or the ability to aim a rifle.

One important aim is to break down the stigma that has historically stopped soldiers from admitting they’re suffering or suicidal. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, calls the effort a “matter of life and death.” …

More recently, the Army has put in place a program to improve the mental resilience of soldiers based on the research of a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. …

The Marine Corps has taken a similar approach to building better warriors. Over the past several months, 1,000 specially trained sergeants and corporals have traveled to bases across the country, preaching to other noncommissioned officers the importance of watching the men below them, said Cmdr. Aaron D. Werbel, the Corps’ lead psychiatrist and suicide prevention manager. …

For all of the new measures, however, major challenges remain. Not least of them is a drastic shortage of mental health professionals in the military’s ranks. …

www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/military_suicides_prompt_us_ta.html
The page includes actual statistics and a video.

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Honolulu Advertiser
November 22, 2009
By Richard Halloran

A churning dispute between Japan and the U.S. over the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan has revealed not only political and diplomatic differences between the governments of President Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, but a cultural chasm in the way Americans and Japanese view agreements.

The realignment, agreed to in May 2007, calls on the U.S. to move a Marine air station on Okinawa from a congested city to a less crowded place; to transfer 17,000 Marines and family members from Okinawa to U.S. territory on Guam; and to consolidate other U.S. bases on the island and thus return land to Okinawans. The intent was to reduce friction between U.S. forces and Okinawans.

The agreement was signed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Fumio Kyuma, who was minister of defense at the time, and Taro Aso, who was minister of foreign affairs. In diplomatic practice, international pacts agreed to by one administration are generally considered to be binding on successor administrations. …

In this case, the Hatoyama government, which came to office in September, has said in effect that it wants to reopen the negotiations. After meeting with Obama in Tokyo earlier this month, Hatoyama said he will consider relocating the air station outside of Okinawa and perhaps outside of Japan. “We’ll make every effort,” he said, “to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.” …

www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091122/NEWS08/911220359/Okinawa+base+strains+diplomacy

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Reuters
November 21, 2009
By Fredrik Dahl and Hashem Kalantari

Iran’s military said it will begin large-scale air defense drills on Sunday, and a cleric in the Revolutionary Guards warned that the Islamic Republic would fire missiles at “the heart of Tel Aviv” if attacked.

The war games, due to last five days, are intended to help protect Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iranian media reported, citing Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani.

The statements came a day after senior officials from six world powers said they were disappointed Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential to make nuclear weapons, and urged Tehran to reconsider.

The United States, Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France met after U.S. President Barack Obama warned there could be a package of sanctions against Iran within weeks.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iranian nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. …

www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5AK0FZ20091121

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