.5 In his Feb. 25 article, "Fuel to the fire in Okinawa," Kiroku Hanai stated that he was interested in how Americans view problems related to U.S. military bases in Japan. Here's how I see it.
The Japanese government should thank the American government for its military support all these years, but it is time for Japan to assume responsibility for its own protection and welfare and for America to close its bases and go home. It is time because it is the right thing to do. Because our conscience tells us so.
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed this idea very pointedly when he made the following statement: "Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular . . . ."
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