U.S.-based "Network for Okinawa" launches website: Closethebase.org

The U.S.-based "Network for Okinawa" has launched its new website: CloseTheBase.org.

So far the website offers:

•  A Center for Biological Diversity sign-on letter to President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama addressing the environmental damages of the planned project to open a U.S. military base to Henoko, Okinawa.

• An article, "Can Japan Say No to Washington?," by John Feffer, of Foreign Policy in Focus, exploring the Okinawa base issue within the context of U.S. military empire.

•  A petition, "We must protect the reef and its inhabitants." Speak out and tell President Obama to protect Okinawa’s reefs and stop all plans for the construction of a military base.

For in-depth background on US military bases in Okinawa, see Satoko Norimatsu's Peace Philosophy Centre blog and Japanfocus.org.