Comparison of the Status Agreements in different countries.

Since I have questioned about the fairness in the Japan US Status Agreement, a friend of mine in the US asked me to compare it with the same kind of the agreement of the US with the other countries. I understood he meant the agreement of the military status of the US with the other countries. So far as I know, here are the comparisons.

In Germany, which is also one of the defeated nations in WWII, the flights of the US military aircrafts are under the control of the German domestic law, which determines the areas being prohibitted the low altitude flights. In Japan, the flights of the US military aircrafts are out of the control of the domestic law. They could fly at any altitude in any place whatever dangerous it might be.  There have been sue cases against such flights at many places in Japan. The court decision has been for the plaintiff of the people suffering the hazard and strain from the flights. But our courts deny to judge if the presence of the US military is against the huma rights defined by our constitution. Those cases always end with payment of some money to the plaintiff by our government.

In Italy, another defeated nation, the US military stationed there should get permission from the Italian government and/or Italian military when the US military makes any military training operation. The US military is supposed to inform about their operation prior to its execution. The low altitude flights are actually prohibitted. The US military flights in Japan, as described in the previous paragraph, are not regulated by our domestic law. According to the Japan US Status Agreement, the US military aircrafts could fly and execute any training operations as the inter-base flights anywhere in Japan.

In Korea, the regional government has the right to investigate on the pollution by some toxic substances to the land/property of the US military base . In case that any pollution was found, the US military is responsible for the decontamination. In Japan, the regional government is not capable of investigation the possible pollution. Even in case that pollution becomes evident, the US military won't be responsible for the normalization. In Korea, the government knows how many personnel of the US military are located in the country. It has not been grasped by our government. The US military personel are free at entering and exiting our country. No immigration nor emmigration for them in Japan.

In Iraq, the US military has already withdrawn from the country. The Iraq US Status Agreement says
1)The date of the withdrawal of the US military was definitely determined.
2)Though the escape clause for crime is almost the same as with our agreement, Iraqi authority had the right to sue any private company from the US.
3)It is prohibitted for the uS military to attack the neighbor countries from the bases in Iraq.
4)Iraqi authority had the right to investigate any cargo etc on ships belonging to the US.
Our system is almost totally opposite to this content of the Iraq US Status Agreement. The Iraqi officials are told to have investigated about the Japan US Status Agreement before they concluded theirs with the US. What an irony!

In Phillipines, after the political change by Aquino, they have founded the new constitution, which realized the withdrawal of the US military from Phillipines. Phillipines has not got any disadvantage in the territorial issues even after the US military withdrawal. Phillipines has concluded a mutual defence treaty with the US and has been in good relationship with the latter.

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I believe the US military should withdraw from our country. Afterward, they should conclude another treaty in fairness. I know some of our politicians and bureaucrats are getting profits or advantages from the present suboridanating relationship. We should be aware of that and speak against to the present system. In addition, hopefully, American people pay a bit of attention to this issue and would know what is going on here. I believe it will straighten our relationship for now.

At present, a law to protect from espionage is going to be made in the congress here. I believe it will work to hide things disadvantageous to the authorities here like this problem. It might fix the problem as stated here. The problem must go underground or get hidden with the new law. I hope as many people as possible will be concerned about it.