Wouldn't Okinawa a staging point for fighters if we had to, say, defend Thailand from China? I think that the need to fly over Indian airspace with the fighters and refuel craft in order to cross that great of a distance to react to anything coming at us from the Middle East just doesn't seem so smart. Does the Rep. own a globe.
Yes, you would have to refuel an F-16 approximately 6 times to fly a Baghdad/Okinawa mission.