Over the past week, tensions on the Japanese island of Okinawa have come to a head. In an extraordinary development, a curfew was imposed on US military in the area, with the US ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, being forced to apologise to local residents for the activities of American troops there.
This apology came following the rape of a 14-year old girl by a US soldier, based at the Okinawa military base. The marine, who is stationed on the island, denies raping the 14-year-old but, according to police, he’s admitted trying to ‘force’ her to kiss him. The incident prompted Schieffer to bow in front of the governor of Okinawa and apologise by saying that the incident was “truly regrettable”.
This deeply unpleasant incident may create a tipping point. Locals have long felt that the US military has been acting with complete disregard for their rights – a view which was reflected in a powerful letter of dissent that was sent by the Irish musician and composer Donal Lunny to Colonel Larry Halcomb, commander of the US troops on Okinawa late last year.
At the time, Lunny – one of the most important figures in Irish music over the past forty years, best known for his work with Planxty, Moving Hearts and The Bothy Band – copied his letter to a selection of media outlets, including the Washington Post, the Guardian, the London Independent and the Irish Times.
Remarkably, given his international standing as a musician and a composer, not one of the outlets saw fit either to print or to follow up his letter.
Here, Hot Press publishes the text of the letter in full.

FROM DONAL LUNNY TO THE COMMANDER OF US TROOPS ON OKINAWA

Attn. Col. Larry Holcomb,
Assistant Chief Of Staff MCB G-5,
Marine Corps, Camp Smedley Butler G-5 Division,
c.c Ginowan City Office,
The Ryukyu Shimpo,
The Japan Times,
Sen. Edward Kennedy,
The Washington Post,
The Irish Times,
The Guardian,
The London Independent,
Nishi Izumi, Okinawa University,
Ms. Corason Fabros, International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases,
Ms. Debbie Quinata, Guam indigenous people’s movement,
Ms. Jun Jungsuk, SPARK (Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea),
Peter Barakan radio show.
Dear sir,
I am an Irish citizen, and have lived intermittently in Okinawa (Nodake, Ginowan), for over two years. I soon became aware of the extraordinary circumstances Okinawan people have had to endure daily, more or less since World War II; the presence of a working army, apparently utterly indifferent to its impact on the population of Okinawa; the constant roar of low-flying helicopters and fighter jets (which frequently exceed legally established “safe” noise limits), and the obvious danger to all who live anywhere near the many military airstrips and helipads – particularly the people around Futenma Marine Airbase in the heart of Ginowan City, long recognised as the most built-up airport on the planet.
My 5-year-old daughter attends pre-school in Nodake, which is on the main flight path of Futenma airbase. While I was there I saw small children reacting with fear to the roar of aircraft flying directly overhead. As well as the psychological trauma, there is every possibility that my daughter and her schoolmates’ hearing will be damaged. It is an unacceptable situation.
But I only recently discovered that of the many hundreds of formal objections and complaints presented to the U.S. authorities over the years, not a single positive solution has been offered in response. This bespeaks an attitude which is entirely inappropriate for a body representing a democratic country.
I have found the people of Okinawa to be civilised, honourable and kind – even though I am often assumed to be American – and I believe it is this very tolerance and good nature that has accommodated the intransigent attitude of the U.S. authorities for so long – despite the fact that most Okinawans undoubtedly abhor the fact that their country is being used to train American soldiers for active service (which usually involves killing people) in other countries. The numerous protest demonstrations by Okinawans have achieved no change whatsoever.
On Aug 6 ’05, the US military and the Japanese government agreed to reduce the flyover patterns at Futenma to two circuits from the existing six or more. Since then, there has been no noticeable change in the flyover patterns above Ginowan; if anything, military air activity has increased. Unacceptable.
The most recent data I acquired of military air activity is from the neighbouring airbase of Kadena. On Nov 26 ’07, in a 17-hour period, there were 92 (ninety-two) F15 fighter jet flyovers, with sound levels regularly exceeding 70 decibels (normal conversation is out of the question during this noise), adjacent to schools and hospitals. That averages out at one every 11 minutes. Unacceptable.
The AICUZ (Air Installation Compatible Use Zone) program, which applies in America, Italy and Germany, requires that a 900-metre long area at each end of a runway be prohibited areas (no buildings or people), and a larger zone of 3.5 km be designated Accident Hazardous areas. My daughter’s school lies within this area. Up to 10,000 people live and work within the AICU Zone in Ginowan alone.
On behalf of the people of Okinawa:
I call on you to immediately begin honouring your Futenma Flyover Pattern agreement of Aug 6 ’05; I call on you to commence winding down operations on Futenma Airbase without delay, and to effect its closure as soon as possible; I call on you to abandon plans to relocate Futenma Airbase at Henoko. This will merely transfer to the people of Henoko the same dangers and lowering of quality of life as is presently suffered by the residents of Ginowan.
I call on you to follow the closure of Futenma with the immediate closure of all the other military facilities on Okinawa, and to effect the prompt return of the land to its rightful owners. There were over 120,000 Okinawan men, women and children killed in the infamous Battle Of Okinawa of World War Two. Many graves are situated on the land held by the U.S. military, and are inaccessible to the families of the dead. Unacceptable.
I look forward to your response, as no doubt do the other parties who have also received this letter.
Yours faithfully,
Donal Lunny

Note: AICUZ (Air Installation Compatible Use Zone)
This rather stupid title, which no doubt earned some US army person a promotion back in the ’60s, is a singularly clumsy attempt to disguise the reality of the dangers that pertain to the takeoff and approach zones at each end of any airport, civilian or military. Why not give it a more realistic name, like FPPDZ (Flight Path Potential Disaster Zone)? The purpose of the opaque language is to remove any trace of humanity, and to depersonalise people’s perception of the reality.
“Collateral Damage” was frequently used in Operation Gulf Storm, to disguise the most appalling atrocities inflicted on Iraqi men, women and children. It isn’t used so much now, because most people know exactly what it means. However, the example of US Army wordspeak that really takes the biscuit is the description of a mistaken rocket attack on US troops by their own comrades as “Accidental Delivery Of Ordinance Equipment”.
AICUZ as Okinawans experience it, represents the daily dangers of Chinook and other military helicopters flying directly over housing estates, schools, hospitals, crowded shopping malls, etc, and fighter jets creating unbearably loud noise on their takeoffs and landings. This might be “normal” in a war situation, but certainly not on the peaceful island of Okinawa. It’s time the US military stopped behaving as if Okinawa was a deserted island.

(NONE OF THE MEDIA OUTLETS TO WHICH IT WAS COPIED HAS ACKNOWLEDGED THE LETTER)