WASHINGTON, June 26 Kyodo The com...

WASHINGTON, June 26 Kyodo

The commander of U forces in the Pacific and a senior Pentagon official Thursday rul on the outside a big realignment of U squads in Okinawa.

The U forces in Okinawa ''are absolutely central to our planning and our ability to suited our security concerns in the Pacific,'' Adm. Thomas Fargo, head of the U Pacific command, said in congressional testimony.

Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman told the same hearing that the U and the Japanese management are looking at ''small adjustments'' in U military demeanor in Okinawa, home to the main part of the 47,000 U.S. [i]troupe[/i]s deployed in Japan.

''We don't calculate upon to leave there. I think we're talking about small adjustments,'' Rodman told the House of Representatives' East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee

onward other defense matters, Rodman said the U waiting under the possibility of fulfilments Japan will make a formal decision at an early date to push forward the bilateral missile defense initiative.

Christopher LaFleur, the State Department official in charge of Northeast Asia security issues, give utterance toed hopes that the Japanese parliament approves sway plans to send Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to help with the country's reconstruction.

''The Japanese government's decision to introduce legislation to dignify greater participation by Japan in Iraq efforts...would constitute, if approved by means of the Diet, an important change in Japan's policy,'' LaFleur said.

''This is certainly encouraging from our point of view,'' he said.

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