SANCTUARY IN JAPAN?
The "hawks," "vultures" and other carrion-eaters in Washingtion who are one hundred per cent behind Johnson's escalation of U.S. aggression in Vietnam feel that Secretary of State Dean Rusk was speaking for.them when he declared that in the war now opening up, there will be "no privileged sanctuary." That kind of talk, however, has justifiably frightened the Japanese people. If China and the Soviet Union become targets of U.S. bombers, and if these bombers use bases in Japan...what then?
The B52s, ordered by Johnson to take off from Guam for. bombing runs on Vietnam, showed how realistic these fears of the Japanese people are. Bd2s can carry hydrogen bombs.
Thus when the U.S. embassy in Tokyo notified the Japanese government July 27 that B52s based on Guam were going to fly to Itazuke Airport in Kyushu to "take shelter" from a threatened hurricane, a wave of fear swept Japan.
However, the BS52s did not arrive. The weather changed, and instead of going to Japan, the B52s went to Okinawa. From there they took off for a bombing run on Vietnam. oO
The use of Okinawa as a base for a raid on Vietnam caused
such an uproar in Japan that Foreign Minister Etsusaburo Shiina called a press conference July 30 to announce that the Japanese government. had requested. the American government the day before not to. allow the bombers to’ leave Okinawa for a bombing raid on Vietnam. as it would give rise to "unnecessary misunderstanding." But the U.S. had ignored the plea.
The request, said Shiina, "was a unilateral one, so to speak, and if the United States does not, want to go _atong with it, we cannot stop the bombers."
On Saturday, he told the press that the use of Okinawa as a base had made the people of Japan and Okinawa "feel uneasy and bewildered." mel ; —
When the first notice was served on the Japanese government that Bo2s were going to use Itazuke as a shelter from a typhoon, the Diet Policy Committee of the Japan Socialist party branded this as a “smokescreen" for using the airport on a regular basis. They said the JSP would stage massive demonstrations at Itazuke if U.S. bombers should actually land there.
On August 2 the U. Ss. Embassy notified the Foreign office that 35 planes were going to land the next day at Itazuke to seek shelter from a typhoon, The planes turned out to be C130 transports and HU16 air rescue planes.
The Japan Socialist party decided at once to take up the question in the Diet. There were other indications that a typhoon was building in Japan -- a typhoon of public indignation.