NARRATOR: In 1993 the Department of Defense announced it would close the Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York State in order to save $137 million over four years. This is Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, an island of one million people near Japan. This year, US Air Force bases and personnel in Okinawa and Japan will cost the taxpayer about $1,100,000,000.

WOMAN-on-the-Street: Well, remember that our Navy has to train and they're going to be somewhere. If it weren't Okinawa, it might be Hawaii or it might be somewhere else.

WOMAN-on-the-Street: Really? That's a lot of money that we're sending over there to keep those people there if there's no great military need. Why? Why are they there?

Admiral GENE LaROCQUE: Welcome once again to "AMERICA'S DEFENSE MONITOR."

It's been almost 50 years since American troops captured the southernmost island of Japan, Okinawa. Fifty years ago, we occupied that country and we've been there ever since.

When I recently visited Okinawa, I was frankly surprised at the disruption that is caused by the presence of our forces in Okinawa. The Okinawans themselves have become very uncomfortable and somewhat disenchanted with the large presence of American forces on their tiny island.

Our program today is on Okinawa: How we got there, why we stayed and what the future means for us in Okinawa. I think you'll find it interesting.

NARRATOR: The US military currently stations 300,000 troops around the world, defending other countries, costing US taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year. With hundreds of facilities at home scheduled to be closed, the US military continues to maintain that spending billions to station troops in foreign countries serves the national interest.

Thirty-thousand of those troops and 20,000 dependents are currently stationed on Okinawa. They have been there ever since the end of World War II. Today, with no enemy in sight, we continue to keep 50,000 Americans stationed on Okinawa.

For over 400 years, until its annexation by Japan in 1879, Okinawa was part of the Kingdom of the Ryukyus, a cluster of islands 350 miles south of the Japanese mainland. The island kingdom prospered through trade with countries throughout the Asia Pacific region, reaching as far as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Osamu Taira is a respected clergyman who lives in Okinawa. He talks of Okinawa's peaceful island traditions.

OSAMU TAIRA: Historically speaking, we used to be an independent Kingdom of the Ryukyus. And one of the main charac- teristics of that kingdom was we were not armed. We did not carry any weapon. So, it's the reason why we created karate, see, an unarmed way of protecting ourselves. This is our philosophy.

GEORGE FEIFER: No arms. Holy mackerel!

NARRATOR: George Feifer is the renowned historian and author of Tennozan: The Story of the Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb.

Mr. FEIFER: They were not only farmers but, to a certain extent, traders in their century of glory, which was the 16th Century, before Japan started hammering them down. And they were respected all over the Far East, and China, and in Formosa, and in Indonesia. They were respected as honest and friendly people. People liked visiting Okinawa.

NARRATOR: Okinawa's first encounter with the United States took place when Commodore Matthew Perry visited the island in 1853. The United States and the Kingdom signed a treaty promoting peace and friendship between them.

In 1879, Imperial Japan annexed Okinawa as its 47th prefecture, ending the 400-year dynasty of the Ryukyus. As a part of Japan, Okinawa was used as a military outpost for Japan's army in World War II.

The war in the Pacific was fought in a series of island campaigns, including Guadacanal, Guam, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. In April 1945, this island-hopping ended with the Battle of Okinawa, a final island battle to take place between Japan and the United States, the only land battle that was fought on Japanese soil.

Edward Blitzer was a communications officer aboard the battleship Wisconsin, which was part of the huge armada of US warships massed off Okinawa.

EDWARD BLITZER: It was, I suppose, the greatest organiza- tion afloat in the history of the world. There were four units. Ours consisted of a battleship, and two or three carriers, and 20 destroyers.

NARRATOR: For several weeks these aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers bombarded Okinawa with hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs in what was known as the "Typhoon of Steel."

Mr. BLITZER: The highlight of the battle, of course, was the use by the Japanese of kamikaze suicide planes which caused terrible havoc in the fleet, particularly to the carriers and really to the destroyers, because they were able with a single successful hit to sink a destroyer. Our losses were extremely high.

NARRATOR: Thirteen thousand Americans, 50,000 Japanese, and 150,000 Okinawans were killed in the Battle of Okinawa. A third of the native population perished. Countless more were wounded and nearly every structure was demolished.

Mr. FEIFER: Here it is an irony. That the people probably least responsible for World War II suffered proportionately more. A third of their population killed. Not a family left. And, by the way, I've just talked about a third of the population killed. All the national treasures, the cultural landmarks, obliterated, turned to ash. An ancient civilization destroyed by the bombardments.

NARRATOR: The US land invasion of Japan, which was supposed to be launched from Okinawa, never occurred.

Mr. FEIFER: Okinawa was going to be the staging area for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Since the invasion never took place -- because the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered -- those quarter of a million lives were lost for nothing, if you want to look at it that way.

NARRATOR: After Japan surrendered, US military forces occupied the country, with General Douglas MacArthur as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. US Military rule of the Japanese home islands ended in 1951, but it did not end in Okinawa for another 21 years, in 1972.

Under the military occupation, Japan did not need to provide for its defense. The Japanese focussed on civilian enterprises.

Rinjiro Sodei is a knowledgeable expert on US-Japan relations at Hosei University in Tokyo. In contrast to mainland Japan, he notes, the US military became Okinawa's cash crop, a grim reminder of the island's wartime tragedy.

RINJIRO SODEI: The High Commissioner of Okinawa during the occupation days said that the military bases is maybe the only or major crop in Okinawa. In other words, the Okinawans have to live by this. And so long as American militaries are there, they are always reminded by the tragedy of the war.

NARRATOR: In 1972, the United States gave Okinawa back to Japan. The Okinawans hoped that the so-called "reversion" would mean the end of the US occupation. But it did not.

Okinawa is now one of the most heavily militarized regions in the world. Forty-five US military facilities still occupy fully 20 percent of the island. Fifty-thousand US troops, civilians, and their dependents are stationed on Okinawa.

WOMAN-on-the-Street: Now that you've said we have that many, I'm not sure why we actually have military in Japan.

NARRATOR: Camp Shields, for example, located near Yomitan village, has about 1500 Navy personnel. That's roughly the same size as the Naval Station in Mobile, Alabama, which the Pentagon said in 1993 it would close. One of the largest bases on the island, Kadena Air Force Base, supports 6500 airmen, more than the combined size of Newark Air Force Base in Ohio, and K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan, both of which were scheduled in 1993 for closure.

The largest component of US forces comes from the Marines, with more than 20,000 troops stationed on the island.

WOMAN-on-the-Street: Well, what are they doing over there? I mean, why are they there? Is it some kind of standard that we just keep them there like we do at Panama or Puerto Rico?

NARRATOR: During the cold war, the United States used Okinawa as a staging area to wage war in Korea and Vietnam. When not at war, the United States justified the need for the bases in Okinawa as a military stronghold against communism.

Stanley Roth is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asian Affairs in the Department of Defense. He explains the uses of Okinawa during the cold war.

STANLEY ROTH: Well, we were there for several reasons. One reason, of course, was for the defense of Japan, pursuant to our treaty interests. But another not often recognized reason was for our own defensive purposes. We were there to establish a presence in the region. We were there to defend against a possible threat from the Russians to the North, and we were there also just as a stabilizer for the entire East Asian Pacific region.

NARRATOR: Today, however, the Russians are our friends, China is an important trading partner, and Vietnam wants to open up trade with the West. There is no enemy today to replace the former Soviet power, and China also is no longer an enemy.

MAN-on-the-Street: It's not a threat any longer. There are no threats in the East Asian rim.

NARRATOR: Today, it's hard to find justification for the troops in Okinawa and East Asia. The threats are unclear.

Secretary ROTH: I think it's very understand that we understand the concept of presence. The fact that there might

not necessarily be a threat in the region right now -- and other than North Korea, we don't see a major threat in the region right now -- doesn't mean that one might not emerge in the future, particularly if we were not there as a stabilizing influence. And therefore, we feel it's very important to maintain a presence in the region and, if necessary, the capability to fight in any direction.

NARRATOR: The Pentagon argues that even though we don't have an enemy, we should be ready just in case one comes along.

General COLIN POWELL, Retiring Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Pentagon's Bottom-Up Review briefing, 1 Sept. '93):

"And it seems to be a sound strategy based on sound political and military principles, that we always have the wherewithal to project power this distance for the purpose of fighting and winning against any regional aggressor who might surface in that region of the world."

NARRATOR: Some Pentagon officials speculate that US forces may again be called upon to wage war in Korea.

Secretary ROTH: The North has at least 1.1 million men under arms on the Korean Peninsula. With the South's forces, you have over two million men armed on a very small peninsula. In addition to that, the United States has roughly 37,000 troops there and over 40,000 in Japan. And, of course, if a war broke out, we'd bring in many more. So, we have very direct interests ourselves, as well in our allies, in seeing that a stable balance exists. Deterrence has worked on the Korean Peninsula since the 1950s and we'd like to keep it that way.

NARRATOR: South Korea's active and reserve forces total about five million, a million less than North Korea's total forces. South Korea, however, has twice the population and an economic output of $300 billion, 15 times the output of North Korea. As for weapons, South Korea possesses top-of-the-line technology in planes, like this General Dynamics F-16; tanks, like this M-48; and US-supplied ships, like this destroyer. In case of a land attack, South Korea has 130 attack helicopters armed with thousands of wire-guided missiles of the sort that proved so effective against Iraq.

Admiral EUGENE CARROLL: South Korea can do anything they need to do out of their own resources to take care of North Korea.

NARRATOR: Retired Rear Admiral Eugene Carroll, director of the Center for Defense Information, is skeptical of the North Korean military capability.

Admiral CARROLL: The South Korean military is as modern as money and technology can make it. The state of training is high. Of course, there's tremendous US support. On the other hand, North Korea is essentially a leftover World War II military power. It uses obsolete, obsolescent weapons of two generations back.

NARRATOR: To the East, North Korea faces Japan's air force of 438 modern jet fighters and bombers, a fleet of 30 submarines, 104 attack helicopters, and 86 frigates and destroyers.

Secretary ROTH: In terms of a conventional attack, no one anticipates swarms of North Korean ships coming off the Japanese shore mounting a conventional invasion. In that sense, we don't see a problem.

WOMAN-on-the-Street: Well, that's another reason why I don't see why we're there. Because if they can protect them-selves, why do we need to be there?

NARRATOR: The North Koreans are completely isolated mili-tarily and economically. China, the huge country to the west, is a favored nation among the United States' trading partners.

Secretary ROTH: What we're really talking about at the moment is the threat of non-conventional attack against Japan.

INTERVIEWER: By missile?

Secretary ROTH: Either missile, or by aircraft, or by some terrorist device. If one assumes the North has fissile material, for example, could they do something by taking a ship and float- ing it into a Japanese harbor and detonating something? So, we have to worry about these things.

Admiral CARROLL: They've had this nuclear program for a long time. Yes, they will someday be able to build two, three or four nuclear weapons. Then they'll have to find a delivery system that will make them useful. We're talking about years and years from now before North Korea will have even a token, sort of a political threat in the form of nuclear weapons.

NARRATOR: Any nuclear devices or missiles that North Korea might obtain would be crude and inaccurate.

President BILL CLINTON (South Korea, Summer '93):

"It is pointless for them to try to develop nuclear weapons because if they ever use them, it would be the end of their country."

NARRATOR: Any attack by North Korea, conventional or nuclear, would be national suicide.

For the peaceful people of Okinawa, the danger is not North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons.

Mr. FEIFER: The Okinawans have no enemies.

NARRATOR: With 50,000 American troops and civilians stationed on Okinawa, the US Military poses the biggest danger to the Okinawans' quality of life. American troops occupy 20 percent of Okinawa, including the best farmland and the choicest real estate.

Mr. FEIFER: What would I feel if a fifth of the United States, 10 American states -- What would I feel if 10 American states were occupied by a foreign power for a purpose that I disapproved? I'd be very angry.

Mr. TAIRA: Those bases have been causing many problems, see. They practice with live shell -- live ammunition shells, which causes many troubles of forest fire, and damage to precious, valuable species with the birds, plants, and so forth.

NARRATOR: The most intrusive aspect of the US occupation is noise pollution. In townships next to Kadena Air Force Base, school classes are constantly interrupted by low flying aircraft. Children there have the worst scholastic test scores in all of Japan.

Mr. FEIFER: The inevitable bombs misdirected and dropped outside the target areas, the incessant screeching of planes overhead so that the classrooms had to be interrupted almost hourly. In addition to all of those physical factors, I think the militarization, in a way, of this whole economy was another nail in the coffin of Okinawan culture.

NARRATOR: Live artillery exercises cause extensive environ-mental damage to the island. It has been estimated that US troops are responsible for six forest fires a year in Okinawa. Deforestation, in turn, causes soil erosion, which kills the island's coral reef barrier. The destruction of these reefs will have untold effects on Okinawa's fragile ocean ecology.

The crowded conditions on the military bases and the surrounding towns have led to other problems. Accidents frequently occur in the heart of Okinawa's residential areas. These accidents disrupt the daily lives of Okinawans who live near the bases. Without an enemy in sight, the presence of US armed forces has become the biggest threat to Okinawan peace of mind.

Mr. FEIFER: We have, after all, 50,000 people there, and they don't know what the heck they're doing there. This is a chronically overcrowded island. It was overcrowded even in 1945.

NARRATOR: The US military's impact on Okinawa has not been all bad. The economic growth that Okinawa saw during the 1960s was due largely to the revenue from US occupation forces. The Okinawans now enjoy a standard of living far exceeding pre-war days.

Dr. Victor Okim was interpreter of the US Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Island during the US military government there.

VICTOR OKIM: The economic condition was tremendously helped by the US occupation right after the war. And the economy was based on the military base. Lots of Okinawans work for the military base installations.

Mr. FEIFER: Americans, in personal ways, as we all know, can be extremely generous. There were among the American programs scholarships, foundations set up so that a few Okinawans could come and study at American universities.

NARRATOR: Currently, however, less than one percent of the island's population is employed by the US military, even though it occupies 20 percent of the island.

Mr. SODEI: So, as long as the American troops are there, there can't be much major industry, because one-fourth of the island is taken by the American military bases and the people of Okinawa cannot develop their own projects.

NARRATOR: Okinawans earn only 71 percent of the average Japanese income and they suffer from the highest unemployment rate in Japan. If the US military was economically beneficial to Okinawa in the past, it is not anymore.

Anticipating a withdrawal of the US military in the future, the Okinawans have planned to develop the land currently occupied by the US military. What is now Yomitan airfield will someday be a tropical agriculture farm. This is Naha Military Port: This is its future, a seaport town. Futema airfield today, a city tomorrow.

Dr. OKIM: I think maybe there is some hope for Okinawa to see a little different future, instead of the last 40, 50 years under US occupation. As the Okinawan industry, which is based on tourism, hopefully, develops and that small island can be developed successfully and prosperously for the people on Okinawa as one of the prefectures of Japan.

NARRATOR: This development planned for a demilitarized Okinawa will be a source of revenue and a source of jobs, jobs desperately needed by the Okinawans. As long as the US military remains in Okinawa, preparing to fight an enemy that doesn't exist, the island's development will never take place.

With the US spending billions of dollars to maintain its troops abroad and Okinawa suffering the brunt of the US military, who likes this arrangement? The government of Japan does. Because with the US military stationed on the remote island of Okinawa, we provide military forces to the home islands with little disruption to life there.

Mr. SODEI: The Japanese, at least those in the government, some of them at least, they regard the Americans in Okinawa are their mercenary. Would you like to put your own sons and daughters as kind of a hired hand for any foreign government, even if it's a friendly country like Japan?

NARRATOR: But the US military is not Japan's hired army. Mercenaries are paid money. The United States does not receive one penny for supplying Japan's defense. We receive land free of charge for use for our bases, but American taxpayers pay the troops, pay to train them, pay to transport them. We pay to defend Japan.

Dr. OKIM: The majority of Japanese people still like to have good relations with the US, still trying to -- have a tendency to depend on the US forces to defend Japan, while they can enjoy economic benefits.

Mr. TAIRA: Japan became so rich without paying any money for armaments under the US umbrella of defense. So, they thought it was unfair for Japan, such a rich country, to rely upon the US military power.

NARRATOR: Edward Blitzer has known the Japanese as enemies at the Battle of Okinawa and as friends in his business dealings today. He thinks the United States has developed bad habits.

Mr. BLITZER: And I guess we're there, in part, because we didn't get around to getting out, didn't have the guts to move out. Too many people happily occupied doing jobs that are quite unnecessary. Certainly it can't be because we're afraid the Japanese are going to arm and attack us suddenly. It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

NARRATOR: The case of the Philippines is instructive. The US military said for years that the US forces maintain stability in the region. In 1992, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo forced the US Air Force to do an about-face and evacuate all of its troops from Clark Air Field. Then the Philippine government decided not to renew the US military's lease at Subic Bay, and the Navy also left. It turned out that the presence of the US military was not so important after all.

In May 1993, the governor of Okinawa, Masahide Ota, met with members of Congress and military officials to request that the number of US troops in Okinawa be reduced. With Ota on his visit was Tokushin Yamauchi, the mayor of Yomitan Township. Understandably, the mayor also wants Americans troops out because they now occupy nearly half of Yomitan Township.

With the disappearance of the Soviet threat, and no new enemy in sight, we can declare "mission accomplished" and bring our troops home from Okinawa and the other islands of Japan. If we do so, American taxpayers will no longer have to pay to defend Japan and perhaps we can keep more bases open at home.

Admiral LaROCQUE: Nearly 50 years after World War II, we are still occupying the island of Okinawa with our military forces. But Okinawa is not alone in this. We have military bases in Europe, in Central America and elsewhere, in Asia of very dubious value as far as their military utility is concerned. I think we'll probably stay in these bases in foreign countries until our elected representatives in Washington look at this problem. Our elected representatives in the White House, the Congress, and the American people themselves have to become concerned about our farflung military bases before any change will be made.

Until next time, I'm Gene LaRocque, for "AMERICA'S DEFENSE MONITOR."

[End of broadcast.]