The Coming War on China Page #7

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were killed in the

American invasion in 1945

and a fear of war has been

passed through the generations.

(gentle music)

Today, those who witnessed these horrors

live in a place of extraordinary beauty

surrounded by coral reefs

and a unique marine life.

It was here in Henoko Bay

that the survivors of

World War Two sought refuge

and it's this they're

now fighting to save.

It's an epic struggle that

pits these island people

against the greatest

military power on Earth.

- This is the office of a

former governor of Okinawa,

Ota Masahide.

What is done is create

not so much a museum,

but an appeal to the outside world

to understand the resistance in Okinawa,

to understand the suffering,

to read its hidden history.

It begins in 1945 when

the Americans invaded.

Here's General MacArthur

arriving in Okinawa.

A second invasion happened 10 years later

in what became known as

the Bulldozer's and Bayonets campaign.

American forces seized

prime agricultural land,

burned farm houses, and killed livestock.

The dispossessed people of Okinawa

march the length of

Japan, appealing for help.

- This wall is devoted to

a resistance in Okinawa

that never ceases.

Everywhere people go on the island,

they are confronted by this sign.

It tells them they must not go past

this fence topped with barbed wire.

These fences run like great

ribbons across the island

and the bases themselves

cut swaths across Okinawa.

But all around them are people

with this continuing demonstration,

this continuing resistance.

And they have a message.

It's:
"People of the World,

"Watch what Japan and the US are doing.

"Don't let them force

the bases on Okinawa."

- [John Narrating] All this will be lost

when much of the bay becomes

concrete runways for

bombers at Camp Schwab,

the huge US Marine base behind this fence.

(applause)

In 2014, Okinawa elected a new governor,

Takeshi Onaga, who won by

a landslide on one issue.

Stopping the new base at Henoko.

This was election night

outside the American base

at Camp Schwab.

(cheering)

We shall overcome

We shall overcome someday

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome someday

The New Year's celebration

of their victory

was bittersweet.

The government in Tokyo resented this

unprecedented challenge to its authority.

The issue is now in the Japanese courts.

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe,

has also made clear that with the backing

of his powerful patron America,

he wants to reawaken Japanese nationalism

and reclaim it's military power.

(helicopter whirs)

(drum pounds)

(singing)

While we were filming this

ceremony outside the base,

on a day when people paid respect

to their departed loved ones,

giant American helicopters

circled above us,

intimidating as always.

The threat of these low-flying aircraft

is a constant presence in Okinawa.

Teachers often can't

teach because of the noise

and the fear.

(somber music)

This was the carnage

when an American fighter

crashed into a primary school

after the pilot had ejected to safety.

Haru Akira, aged seven,

was terribly burned.

Akira suffered throughout his youth

and died from his injuries age 21.

Another tragedy waits

to happen on Okinawa.

US military aircraft have been involved

in 44 accidents on the island.

The latest threat is this

hybrid plane, the Osprey,

notorious for its safety issues.

(dance music)

Wherever the military is based in Asia,

there is a relationship with local people,

especially women, that

often breeds resentment.

In Okinawa, this resentment

ignited a riot in 1970.

Scores of American GI's

were pulled from their cars

which were set alight.

For Washington and it's

compliant ally in Tokyo,

it's this kind of

insurrection that they fear.

During the making of this film,

a young woman was raped and murdered,

allegedly by an American

military contractor

from one of the bases.

(chanting)

It was the latest of

thousands of cases of violence

and it brought massive

crowds into the streets,

demanding an end to the

military occupation of their country.

(aircraft rumbles)

This is a Mace missile,

designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

During the Cold War, the United States

secretly installed nuclear weapons

at this launch pad in Okinawa.

Most of them were aimed at China.

Today, the nuclear missile site

is run by a Buddhist organization,

the Soka Gakkai, as a peace museum.

- In 1962, the atomic weapons,

that were on the missile,

was almost launched.

- They were almost launched?

- Yeah, according to the

spokesman of this military base,

said they were ordered to prepare.

Then we received second order to stop it.

- [John Narrating] One of

the American servicemen

whose job was to fire the Mace missiles

has since revealed that

China was a nuclear target

during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

- We were told that we had

to launch all the missiles.

But we only had one missile

headed towards Russia

and we did not see why we

should have to involve

the other countries.

The captain suggested that

everybody crack the doors open

so it would take less

time to launch the missile

if the doors were cracked open.

(beeping)

- [John Narrating] One of the launch crews

was on the point of firing their missiles

when a duty officer suspected

the order was false.

- The officer that was on the B side

was told to send two

men over there with 45's

and to shoot anybody that tried to launch

until the situation was resolved.

And it would only take like 15, 20 seconds

to run the distance between

the two command centers.

So those two men kept

that whole crew at bay

while we made a decision as what to do.

And it wasn't very long, maybe

two or three seconds later

where a very nervous major

came over the intercom

issuing the stand down order.

And then we just kind of

looked at each other, like

we could have exterminated

the whole planet.

The major who had given the launch order

was quietly court-martialed

and dismissed from the Air Force.

- That morning is just as familiar to me

and as clear as yesterday morning is.

And this is 53 years later

and how clear blue the sky was

and there was just some very light clouds

and there was a perfect breeze blowing

at the perfect temperature.

I did not know what the temperature was,

but it just felt perfect.

And we were all just kind of taking it in

and taking in the smell of the air

and the sea and the land mixture together

and everything smelled so beautiful.

- This is very interesting

because it shows

the cities in China where these

Mace missiles were aimed at.

Which ones do we have here?

- This Okinawa Island.

So within 2000 kilometers

you find Peking, or Beijing,

Xi'an, Jiuzhaigou, Hong Kong, Shanghai,

Taiwan and Taipei, and

Pyongyang, North Korea.

Within the range of missile.

(aircraft rumbles)

(somber music)

- [John Narrating] This is the work of

the Okinawan sculptor, Kinjo Minoru.

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