[Peace-discuss] Asahi: "Standing Army" questions U.S. troop presence around the world

[Robert Naiman]

This looks like a good candidate for AWARE films if we can get our
hands on it...

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201007060585.html

Italian film questions U.S. troop presence

BY SHINYA MINAMISHIMA ,
 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, 2010/07/07

ROME--Two young Italian filmmakers have posed an intriguing question
in a documentary that focuses on a U.S. Army base in their country and
touches on the situation in Okinawa Prefecture.

They sought to find out why U.S. troops continue to be deployed
worldwide more than six decades after the end of World War II. The
documentary "Standing Army" was completed recently by filmmaker Enrico
Parenti, 31, and Thomas Fazi, a 28-year-old researcher and translator.
The two were first drawn to the topic of the U.S. armed forces through
a January 2007 decision by the Italian government to authorize the
expansion of a U.S. Army installation in the city of Vicenza, in
northern Italy. The base is the home to the 173rd Airborne Brigade,
and a staging area for troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some
2,750 U.S. soldiers are assigned to the base. Under the expansion
plan, an additional 2,000 troops stationed in Germany were to be
transferred to Vicenza by 2012. That would make it the largest U.S.
military base in Europe.

The filmmakers set out by interviewing local residents opposed to the
expansion. Although an opponent to the plan was elected mayor of
Vicenza in April 2008, a plebiscite he initiated against the base
issue was crushed by a decision by the Council of State, Italy's
highest administrative court. According to an unofficial survey of
25,000 residents by the city government, 95 percent opposed the base
expansion. Coupled with the fact that 25 countries around the world,
aside from Iraq and Afghanistan, now host units with 100 or more U.S.
military personnel, with a total 120,000 servicemen and women
scattered worldwide, the base expansion prompted the two to seek
answers.

Their theme had a special meaning, particularly as Italians remain
ambivalent about the continued U.S. presence after Italian fascist
forces were defeated by U.S. and British troops in World War II. Many
Italians sided with the Allies as part of the partisan movement.
Parenti's mother is a U.S. citizen and his maternal grandfather and
uncle fought in the Korean War, while Fazi's mother is British, making
the issue especially poignant. Through their work with anti-base
activists, Parenti and Fazi learned about a similar situation that has
been facing an island halfway around the world.

The two traveled to Okinawa Prefecture to see for themselves the
situation surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the
city of Ginowan. There, they watched military aircraft taking off and
landing, noting that classes at a nearby school were constantly
interrupted because of the roar of the engines. Including news footage
of the 2004 helicopter crash at the campus of Okinawa International
University near the Futenma airfield, the two sought to better
understand the situation facing Okinawan residents.

 The film, which has been shown at several events in Europe, was
released on DVD in June.

Parenti and Fazi say they are hoping to find people willing to help
show the movie and distribute the DVD in Japan.

Those interested can contact the two in English or Italian at
(info at standingarmy.it).


-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern