[Laz711]

Yah, placing nuclear carriers and submarines in Okinawa, the Japanese would love that. It is a red tape nightmare for nuclear capable warships (American) to go to Japan, much less stay there for an extended time. This man is an idiot.

[USNBandit]

I think he was talking about "redeploying" (semantics is everything) ground troops to Okinawa. This ignores the situation with the Japanese where they want us to draw down in Okinawa. Rep. Murtha must have slept through those hearings. The Navy will remain in the Gulf for the foreseeable future.

You are correct, though he is an idiot. Even if we were interested in his folly, the U.S. would want to "redeploy" (the bugle call is the same as the one for retreat) to Kuwait, or someplace where we could "respond" to an emerging contingency. Quite honestly, if you wanted to do it right, when we do finally hand over our requirements to the Iraqi Army we should move a formidable force up to the Kurdish areas. It is relatively safe there, no borders to cross, and still within helicopter/C-130 assault distance from the rest of Iraq.