Actually, Foreign Nations Pay Billions For U.S. Military Bases

[DonViejo]

David S. Cloud
Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Five years ago, Hillary Clinton made a little-noticed deal obligating Japan to continue paying nearly $2 billion a year to help defray the cost of U.S. troops stationed on its territory.

The money is used to build housing and training areas for U.S. forces, pay wages to thousands of Japanese workers on U.S bases and supply water and power.

The payments, which began in 1978 and are considered a pillar of the post-war U.S.-Japanese alliance, cover about a third or more of the cost of keeping 49,000 U.S. troops in Japan.

The five-year extension was disclosed in a communique after closed-door talks in June 2011 between Clinton and Japanese officials at the State Department. Clinton didn't announce the deal, but the payments were never a secret.

Despite that history, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has insisted repeatedly that Japan and other U.S. allies contribute little or nothing to the United States for their defense.

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http://www.nationalmemo.com/actually-foreign-nations-pay-billions-u-s-military-bases/

[iandhr]

1. Indeed

Japan's contribution is to the point where it is actually cheaper to keep the troops station in Japan then it would be to relocate them stateside.