Fwd: [nousbases] Open letter to President Obama from concerned citizens in the Japanese archipelago

Fwd: [nousbases] Open letter to President Obama from concerned citizens in the Japanese archipelago

The article fwded by nousbases, Hikaru Kasahara and Agatha Haun

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Concerned Japanese citizens send

an open letter to President Obama

"Are you reviewing and changing Bush-Rumsfeld military posture?"


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Dear friends of peace in the United States,

January 16, 2009

We, concerned citizens from the Japanese archipelago, are sending an
open letter to Mr. Barak Obama on the occasion of his inauguration as
President of the United States, asking him to clarify whether and how
far he is going to "change" the Bush administration’s military posture
and strategy toward East Asia and the Pacific. More than 100 citizens,
many from peace and other social movement groups, have signed it. More
are signing now. (The open letter is annexed.)

As we state in our letter, we understand that his promise of "change"
is a commitment not only to American citizens but also to people all
over the world who suffered under the Bush administration's destructive
actions. In concrete, we are eager to know whether Mr. Obama will
fundamentally review and retract the Bush-Rumsfeld’s global military
strategy, the so-called Defense Transformation Program, particularly
its East Asia and Pacific version centering on the Japan-U.S. military
alliance.

The U.S. military presence in East Asia and Pacific region has been
drastically reinforced and the Japanese remilitarization accelerated to
serve the purposes of Bush’s global and permanent "war on terror" and
spurring the Japanese rightists' drive to glorify the imperial Japanese
past and revise the pacifist constitution. What has been done in the
past eight years in this respect serves only to destabilize this region
and lead to new arms race among the countries involved. The U.S.-Japan
military buildup program is met by vigorous and sustained protests of
citizens, particularly in areas affected by reinforcement of U.S. bases
such as Okinawa, Iwakuni, Yokosuka, Zama and Yokota. Time is ripe for
the United States to fundamentally review its military posture and
presence in East Asia and the Pacific as well as in the rest of the
world.

We have great respect to the wisdom of U.S. citizens who opted for
change by electing Mr. Obama President. We hope that you will share our
concern, endorse this open letter, and circulate it widely among the
change-aspiring American people who voted for Mr. Obama. Our hope is to
build a bridge of peace and demilitarization across the Pacific so that
a real change will come.

Hikaru Kasahara,


For the steering committee of People's Plan Study Group (PPSG)




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Contacts for your responses and endorsements


to the open letter to President Obama


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People’s Plan Study Group (PPSG), Tokyo


Shinseido Bldg.2F, Sekiguchi 1-44-3,


Bunkyoku, Tokyo 112-0014


Tel: +81-3-6424-5748 Fax:+81-3-6424-5749


Email: ppsg@jca.apc.org


URL: http://www.peoples-plan.org/


English Media: http://www.ppjaponesia.org/


.............................................
For details of U.S.-Japan military arrangements made under the Bush
administration,

please refer:

"Japan's Willing Military Annexation by the United States -- 'Alliance
for the Future' and

Grassroots Resistance" (by Muto Ichiyo) http://www.ppjaponesia.org/

"Okinawa Disagree -- A Historic Turning Point in the Struggle for Peace
and Dignity"


(by Yui Akiko) in /Japonesia Review No.2/, December 2006, published by
PPSG

"Okinawa's Resistance Reaches a New Height on Falsification of History
and U.S. Bases"

(by Yui Akiko) in /Japonesia Review No.4/, March 2008, published by
PPSG

"From Okinawa -- Breaking the Imposed Myth: Permanence of U.S. Bases in
Okinawa"

(by Yui Akiko) http://www.ppjaponesia.org/

"People of Yokosuka Resists U.S. Nuclear Carrier" (by Yamaguchi Hibiki)

in /Japonesia Review No.5/, October 2008, published by PPSG

"Rural People Resist U.S. Military Encroachment -- From Takae, Okinawa"

(by Hikaru Kasahara) in /Japonesia Review No.5/, October 2008,
published by PPPSG

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An Open Letter to U.S. President Barack Obama


The "Change" You Promised Should Include the Official Dismantling


of the Bush-Rumsfeld Neoconservative Military Strategy


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President Barack Obama


The White House

Washington D.C. 20500

January 16, 2009

Dear Mr. President:

First, we would like to extend our congratulations on your election as
President of the United States of America.

The Bush administration, by conducting wars forbidden under
international law, and by taking other unilateralist actions during its
eight years in office, has brought immense suffering to the people of
the world. We welcome your election as President, as you clearly
promised to change what had been done by your predecessor and his
administration. We believe that your call for change won the hearts and
minds of the American people, particularly the young, inspired them
with hope, and rekindled idealism, undoubtedly a great virtue of the
American citizenry, beyond color, gender, class and other differences.
We heartily welcome your victory.

We nevertheless feel it urgent, as residents of the Japanese
archipelago, to remind you, Mr. President, that your promise of
"change" should be a commitment not only to American citizens but also
to people all over the world who suffered under the Bush
administration's destructive unilateralist actions. We, as people who
long to be liberated from the endless war situation created by the Bush
administration, are eager to know how you plan to change the global
military strategy that it formulated and implemented. In particular, we
are carefully watching whether you will dismantle the Bush-Rumsfeld
military strategy, centering on the so-called Defense Transformation
Program, which bears the indelible hallmark of neoconservatism, and
will introduce instead more modest and decent U.S. foreign and defense
policies.

We would like to know whether you intend to embark on a fundamental
review of the U.S. military strategy along this line.

Specifically, as peace loving citizens of the Japanese archipelago, we
expect and request you to bring a fundamental change to the U.S.
military strategy in East Asia and the Pacific region.

Under the Bush administration, Japan has been fully integrated into the
U.S. global military strategy which is dedicated to the goal of U.S.
global domination and serves exclusively the military, political, and
economic interests of the United States as defined by the then neocon
rulers. In other words, the strategy that Japan was integrated into has
nothing to do with Japan's defense or peace in Asia. Through a series
of bilateral arrangements signed from 2005 through 2006, Japan's
Self-Defense Forces, a military force which exists in violation of the
Japanese constitution, were placed directly under the U.S. command as
auxiliary units to serve Bush’s wars, under the plausible slogan of a
"mature alliance." Under the new agreements, the Japanese and U.S.
governments are forcing the construction of new military facilities in
Okinawa, and these attempts are being fiercely contested by local
people. U.S. military bases are also being reinforced in Japanese
mainland cities and towns such as Iwakuni, Yokosuka, Zama and Yokota,
but again, local residents are struggling against these moves. By
pressing Japan's rapid militarization and its incorporation into the
U.S. global strategy, and thus forcing Japan to revise its pacifist
constitution, the U.S. government under President Bush has been
blatantly interfering in Japanese domestic affairs. The U.S. has also
attempted to turn Guam into a huge U.S. military complex as a
cornerstone for the U.S. forces' global strategic deployment, using
Japanese tax money.

The military arrangement thus introduced by the Bush administration is
counterproductive, as it not only will fail to bring about peace and
security to Asia and the Pacific region, but may lead to an aggravated
arms race with China and usher in a new Cold War situation in Asia.

We therefore request that you seriously consider and adopt the concrete
proposals articulated below. We believe that the "change" you promised
will not be substantiated unless these are met.

1. Fundamentally review and abolish the bilateral arrangement
contained in the "U.S.-Japan Alliance: Transformation and Realignment
for the Future" agreed on October 29, 2005 and the related subsequent
military arrangements between the U.S. and Japan, and freeze the
ongoing construction of military facilities and the transformation of
military forces based on the arrangements.

2. Review and stop the expansion of military facilities in Okinawa
and review the presence of U.S. forces in Okinawa with a view to
eventually withdrawing them completely.

3. Abandon the plan for the construction of new U.S. military bases
in Guam.

4. Cease to demand or pressure Japan to revise Article 9 of its
constitution. Opt for regional multilateral arrangements for peace in
Northeast Asia in the perspective of the withdrawal of the U.S. forces
and Japan's demilitarization and promote a Northeast Asia Nuclear-Free
Zone as a first step.

We eagerly await your response to the above proposals.

Sincerely,


igned by:

Hokkaido Peace Network

Kansai District Collective Action Network

Study Group on the United Nation and Japanese Constitution

Forum for Human Rights, Justice and Solidarity for Peace

Solidarity with Anti-War Military Personnel

Buddhists No War Group, Fukuoka

Group to Substantiate the Fukuoka Court Ruling on Unconstitutionality
of Prime Ministers' visits to Yasukuni Shrine

Action Committee against US-Japan Security Pact

No! to Nukes and Missile Defense Campaign

EcPeaceClub


SPACE ALLIES


Asian Pace Alliance (APA) Japan

People’s Plan Study Group (PPSG)

Myoukei Nakata, Kentaro Nakata, Tsuneo Takeichi, Megumi Ishibashi,
Kenji Kunitomi, Kitarou Wada, , Kazuhiro Nishii, Hideaki Nishiya,
Hidenori Ao, Hideyuki Kuroda, Makoto Sakai, Sachiko Kunimitsu, Shizue
Hirota, Teramachi Ayumu, Kolin Kobayashi, Shigeki Konno, Yoshikazu
Makishi, Hiroshi Kajino, Mitsumasa Ohta, Naoya Arakawa, Yoko Yamaguchi,
Yumi Honda, Takashi Ozawa, Fumitaka Miyahara, Makiko Sato, Kaori
Suzuki, Koichi Bessho, Asita mo hare - Seiko Ohki, Sachiko Taba, Yukio
Kurihara, Masahide Tsuruta, Shutaro Hosono, Yuuko Nakamura, Akiko
Inari, Hiroko Taguti, Kiyokazu Koshida, Yukinobu Aoyagi, Yuko Inoue,
Mitsue Sugiyama, Hideaki Kuno, Kenji Ago, Kazumasa Igata, Kazuhiro
Katou, Tomoko Miyahara, Takao Watahiki, Yuko Inui, Hisashi Senba,
Mutsuo Usami, Setsuko Usami, Yumi Kikuchi, Kamiya Fusako, Takako
Morimoto, Hiroshi Yoshikawa, Akemi Ishii, Yasuo Kuwano, Kouitirou
Toyosima, Yuuichi Aoki, Kenichi Hanamura, Keiko Tanaka, Marie Nakajima,
Kimio Oda, Takashi Sano, Hatuko Sano, Tetsuo Matumura, Morioka shingo,
Tosiko Kamakura, Toshimasa Sakakura, Keiko Doi, Yasushi Furuya , Keiko
Kimura, Masao Kimura, Rosan Daido, Yuzuru Nakazawa, Mieko Iwasaki,
Toshiaki Ikeo, Shiro Saka, Kiyoshi Owa, Isamu Nagano, Junko Yamaguchi,
Koji Sugihara, Terumi Terao, Noriko Kyogoku, Yasue Tanaka, Ayako
Nakanishi, Shu-ichi Satoh, Hikaru Kanesaki, Seiko Miyake, Junko Okura,
Sojun Taira (as of January 13, 2009)