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The Story you heard and the story you didnt hear

Outside of the Miers debacle and the Libby case, there still is real news going on in the world. Of course, where there’s real news, there’s real news spin going on.

So what’s the consistent “spin” on the news events of the day?

More evidence that the Bush administration is straining its relationships with previously solid allies.

The proof offered:

CNN: Half of U.S. Marines to leave Okinawa Withdrawal follows years of complaints from local residents
The Independent: US military retreats over Japanese base after protests by islanders

See! Our warmongering ways is getting us kicked out of Japan now. When will our foolish President ever learn?

Look a little deeper and we see something else, a far more significant story that hasn’t been reported with the same verve.

NY Times: U.S. and Japan Agree to Strengthen Military Ties

Key Points:

1) Japan announced it had agreed to base a Nimitz-class American aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, 30 miles south of Tokyo, in 2008, the first time a nuclear-powered carrier has been allowed to use Japan as its home port.

2) The construction of a new generation of radar equipment in Japan as part of a missile defense system.

3) A joint agreement was released calling on Japan to accept more responsibility for its own defense, and requiring the United States and Japan to further integrate planning in case of conflict. The two sides agreed to greater sharing of intelligence and to expand joint military training and exercises.

Japan agreeing to host an American Nuclear Carrier in its ports is big news and it’s a big help in the region. Japan has long held that Nuclear powered and ships that carry nuclear weapons will not be allowed in its ports, but now that has changed. Because of the Bush Administration, not in spite of it, they have changed their minds and allowed that to occur. For us, this means the end of the last conventionally powered and forward deployed Carrier in the fleet, the USS Kitty Hawk. Moving a Nuclear Carrier, and its attendant tasks forces forward is a big step in the right direction. It means that the costs and risks of a conventional carrier go away and the additional capacity and capability of the larger Carrier extends our capability in the region.

In addition, Thanks to the North Koreans firing a missile over Japan is a poor attempt to say “look at me”; the Japanese now see the necessity of supporting a missile defense system and have agreed to support the first line of defense, a radar detection system for missile launches.

What we end up with here is a solid ally doing what it can to become more solid and helpful, in direct contrast to what the cowards that are running several of the countries in Europe are doing. This is in direct contrast to the story you’ve heard reported about how we are being kicked out of Okinawa because of local population protests.

I don’t mind the press having its own agenda so much as I mind that the agenda is that the United States “must lose or be seen to be losing…” for them to be happy.

Posted @ October 29, 2005 05:17 PM | Current Affairs