Posted by Matt Hawes on 01/30/10 8:20 PM Last updated 01/30/10 8:18 PM   [Newer: "Lincoln on Liberty: Friend or Foe?"] [Older: Reason: Obama's Jobs Program Success]

From the UK's Daily Mail:

Thousands of protesters from across Japan marched today in Tokyo to protest against U.S. military presence on Okinawa, while a Cabinet minister said she would fight to get rid of a marine base Washington considers crucial.

Some 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, with more than half on the southern island of Okinawa.

Residents have complained for years about noise, pollution and crime around the bases....

Read the rest.

After sixty-five years, it's well past time (sixty-five years past, matter of fact) to bring them home.

Posted 01/30/10 8:38 PM WillBee Linden, NJ

Technically, we are still at war with N. Korea.

Posted 01/30/10 9:42 PM zonraalder East Lansing, MI

"Technically, we are still at war with N. Korea. " What does that have to do with having troops stationed in North Korea? Answer: It doesn't and its time to end our military presence abroad.

Posted 01/30/10 11:39 PM BruceKoerber Cedar Rapids, IA

This is another good sign from Asia. China is starting to rebel against the imperialistic interferences of the U.S. and now Japan is waking from its slumber. These two huge creditor nations no longer have to fear the most irresponsible and out-of-control debtor the world has ever seen. Spread too thin and friendless the bully who enjoyed international monetary hegemony is now penniless and still reckless. Our true friends in Asia will simply act responsibly as our creditor and that will help tremendously to make it possible to purge our Constitutional Republic of the unConstitutional coup.

Posted 01/30/10 11:45 PM BrandonSantaCruz Santa Cruz, CA

Jesus, and some people deny the fact that Washington has imperial ambitions. Unbelievable.

Posted 01/31/10 12:54 AM RiverRock Concord, NC

OK, you guys are taking it too far. I would say that attacking Japan and temporary military presence, under the circumstances was the right thing to do. However, yeah it has been 65 years. It is time to close the bases down.

Posted 01/31/10 03:11 AM Linda APO AP, Japan

Okinawa "reverted" to Japan in 1972. Many hoped they'd get their independence. But if they did, they'd ask the US to please leave. Japan let us stay, so the islands went back to Japan. We have inserted ourselves into their economy so much that we say leaving will cause a collapse. The unemployment rate on Okinawa has been over 10% "forever". If you ever see an overhead photo of MCAS Futenma, you'll see how the city (Ginowan) has grown up around it, with a potential for a disaster should a helo or plane crash. (One helo did take out part of a university building a few years back.) Then they were going to move the helo port/camp up to the north end of the island, but complaints about destroying one of the only habitats for the dugong population stymied that. Then we thought they were all going to go to Guam. Now it sounds like we're reneging on that. I love it here on Okinawa, and certainly need the work. But if someone told me tomorrow that my job would end in June because the US was getting out of Okinawa, I'd be fine with that, because that would be the right thing to do. (Sorry I didn't read the rest of the article before this; I have a busy evening ahead of me doing semester grades.)

Posted 01/31/10 04:54 AM stritzm APO AP, AP

@WillBee and zonraalder Just to be clear I do not understand what N. Korea has to do with Japan, nor do we have military presence in N. Korea. If our soldiers were in N. Korea they would be killed or in jail forever at the very least. I agree though-we need to end our military presence around the world.

Posted 01/31/10 08:47 AM RomanRepublic Hicksville, NY

This whole idea that our global regional commands (AFRICOM, NORTHCOM, etc.) keeps us "powerful" and "safe" is a total misconception. They do not protect the average American. Our defenses are so strong that no prudent nation would attack us. The truth is that these troops do nothing more than protect the business interests of the few. There are those that say without our large economic empire our standard of living would be reduced. This is also a misconception, as the profits from these overseas investments go to less than one percent of the U.S. population. Therefore, in a world without such foreign troop presence/investment, and without that greedy 1% who profits from it, we'd all be living pretty much the same anyway. Who knows, perhaps some manufacturing jobs would come back as well.....

Posted 01/31/10 10:26 AM MichaelBarry Sebring, FL

It is time to leave. It is also time to leave Germany, and the UK, and South Korea, and the Balkans, and Iraq, and Afghanistan, and every other arm pit of the world.

Posted 01/31/10 10:44 AM abjectivist Springport, MI

OK, Well we can't fire 47,000 troops, we have to create jobs. Oh.... we can put them in Haiti. They need us. No, the Defense contractors would have to lay off workers. Wait! the Chinese and Japanese really don't trust one another. We could sell weapons to both sides and end our trade deficit. Hmmm. OK let's finally leave. Everyone will be happy.

Posted 01/31/10 2:03 PM ticsani Boca Raton, FL

America can't afford its brand of global military hegemony any longer. It's really time to reform U.S. gov't so it less intrusive, works better and fairer for Americans.

Posted 01/31/10 3:04 PM MikeKlamecki Elkhart Lake, WI

Maybe 47,000 troops could be used to protect our borders from illegal entry.

Posted 01/31/10 5:18 PM BrentBurk Lompoc, CA

I agree with Linda. I lived on Okinawa for 5 years. The complaints come storming in once another Marine decides to rape another little girl (and it always seems to be the Marines for some reason too). But in reality, if all the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines + all their family + all the Americans (teachers and such) left Okinawa, the Okinawan economy would die easily. It'd have to be a slow move out, you couldn't just leave the bases there within a year.

Posted 01/31/10 7:06 PM Spencer Rocky Mount, NC

The US can't afford to keep bases open all over the world. It's that simply.

Posted 01/31/10 7:47 PM disdigg Schenectady, NY

47,000 troops in Japan? Why would we need so many, or any in Japan today? And yes, even if justified, we can't afford it.

Posted 01/31/10 10:06 PM Paul Hogan Middle Village, NY

It is well past the time pull our troops out of Japan, South Korea, Germany, the UK, Iraq, Afghanistan and perhaps even Saudi Arabia. Think of how much lower our taxes could be without these expenses. A tax reduction of this magnitude could be used to begin restoring a productive capacity in our economy.

Posted 02/01/10 02:34 AM illuminati hater Las Vegas, NV

I wonder how much money the Fed prints to give our government the power to stay over there. If people knew the truth, we would've have left that country years ago.

Posted 02/02/10 02:57 AM JohnF Lake Mary, FL

I have a friend who just got out of the military a year ago and who was stationed all over Asia, including South Korea and Japan. Right now, those two countries basically have no military of their own. Our military is their military. I'm not so sure anymore that America has an empire. Our politicians are not shrewd enough to run one, and our political system was never designed to accommodate one. We're just the world's security blanket. We can't pull it away because it would end our "global supremacy," an illusion which allows dollar hegemony to continue.

Posted 02/03/10 12:47 AM Linda APO AP, Japan

There is a movement in Japan to change their constitution(pretty much written by MacArthur) so they can have their own armed forces again. Right now, they have the Japanese Defense Force, that helps out with disasters, ships in trouble, etc. and tries to keep North Korean subs from infiltrating their waters and abducting Japanese citizens. The planes are like 40 yr old US planes and choppers. There are a few Asian countries with long memories not thrilled about this prospect (re-militarizing Japan). Once I get the chance, I'll copy a recent article in a local paper about the Futenma issue.