Keating reverses talk of delay on moving to Guam

[unhappycamper]

Keating reverses talk of delay on moving to Guam
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, February 22, 2009

Pacific Commander Adm. Timothy Keating on Thursday backed away from doubts he expressed earlier that the move of some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam would happen by the planned 2014 deadline.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Japan Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada in Tokyo, Keating said he was only talking about the possibility of a delay because of "budgetary challenges" facing the United States and Japan in coming up with the estimated $10.3 billion tab for the move to Guam.

He expressed that opinion in a November interview with reporters in New York and again in a Feb. 5 interview with Reuters in Washington.

"What I said was there is a possibility of delay," Adm. Timothy Keating, who heads the Pacific Command, told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

The realignment plan includes building a new Marine air facility on the lower half of Camp Schwab, closing several Marine bases on Okinawa and moving Marine headquarters units and some 8,000 of the 13,000 Marines now stationed on Okinawa to Guam.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60872