Ambassador John Roos speaks Friday at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he made a case for the importance of the U.S.-Japan security alliance as the core of security in the region. “Make no mistake about it – the stakes are high,” Roos said before the packed auditorium in the school’s International Conference Center. “Our alliance is the critical stabilizing force in this area of the world.”


U.S. ambassador stresses need for troops on Okinawa
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 31, 2010

TOKYO — The Marines stationed on Okinawa might be the least understood of the nearly 50,000 U.S. troops serving throughout Japan, according to the United States’ top diplomat here in a Friday speech to explain to Japanese the importance of the military alliance.

“But in reality, it’s among the most critical of the forces we deploy in both peacetime and in the unlikely event of conflict,” Ambassador John Roos asserted Friday in a speech before students and faculty at Waseda University in Tokyo.

Those Marines are the region’s first responders by air and ground, Roos continued as he made his case for U.S. troops in Japan.

As China’s military spending grows and as North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs continue, Roos said, it’s up to the United States and Japan to maintain security in the area.

“Make no mistake about it — the stakes are high,” Roos said before the packed auditorium in the school’s International Conference Center. “Our alliance is the critical stabilizing force in this area of the world.”


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