Japan Press Weekly

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2008 April 30 - May 13 [US FORCES]

Several thousand USFJ soldiers redeployed temporarily to Iraq and Afghanistan each year

U.S. Department of Defense data show that thousands of U.S. forces deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan between December 2004 and September 2007 were from bases in Japan. They were engaged in both Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) for Afghanistan.

This shows that the U.S. Forces in Japan’s mission has nothing to do with the “defense of Japan” and that they have been constantly taking part in military operations in lawless wars in various parts of the world.

In December 2004, the USFJ sent 4,500 servicemen, the highest number during the above period. They included the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which later took part in the strike on Fallujah in Iraq that killed many innocent citizens.

The U.S. forces in Japan have since continued to send about 1,000 Marines to Iraq each year.

Since 2006, the U.S. Air Force in Japan has been expanding its deployment to these war zones.

Early in 2007, the U.S. Air Force in Japan revealed that it dispatched a total of 2,220 personnel in 2006 to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2007 in Najaf in Iraq, F-16 fighter squadrons from the U.S. Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture dropped many bombs and fired machine guns killing a number of citizens. - Akahata, May 6, 2008