Japan PM calls Okinawa rape case "unforgivable"

[rpannier]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Top Japanese officials on Tuesday deplored the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 case that jolted the U.S.-Japan alliance.

The U.S. Marine, 38-year-old Tyrone Hadnott, based at Camp Courtney on the island, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of raping the schoolgirl when the two were in a car on Sunday.

Japanese media said he had denied raping the girl but acknowledged forcing her to kiss him. "It is unforgivable," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a parliamentary panel in his first public comments on the latest incident on Okinawa, host to a huge U.S. military presence.

snip

In 1995, the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen sparked huge protests calling on the U.S. military to leave Okinawa, where residents have long resented crime, noise and accidents they blame on the U.S. presence.

link:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ead80530-de98-4ede-b122-cf0877a3a0c4&k=3305

on note:
I believe he is innocent until proven guilty. But, this is NOT the kind of publicity the US or the Armed Forces needs.
There needs to be better screening of people who join the military and who are allowed to re-enlist. Unfortunately, with the war in Iraq, we are quite often forced to take what we get.
I would be curious if this 38 year-old Marine is a careerist, or someone they took at an older age to meet a quota.

[Captain Hilts]

1. So's what the Japanese Army did in Nanking and Korea. nt

[Kutjara]

4. Gee, so that makes it alright, then?

I'm not sure, but doubt that 14 year old girl was involved in the rape of Nanking.

So what's your point?

[Captain Hilts]

5. Who said what just happened is "all right?"

Not I.

The Japanese need to apologize to Korea and China, specifically.

The Marine should be locked up and kept there.

[Kutjara]

6. Riiiight.

The OP was about a Japanese girl raped by a soldier, so you thought you'd remind everyone that Japan behaved abominably during WWII for no particular reason.

Pull the other one, pal, it's got bells on it.

[ChicagoRonin]

7. Let's be informed in our statements, shall we . . .

Historically, ethnically, and culturally the people of the Okinawan islands are not Japanese. They had their own kingdom with a unique language throughout history. However, after Japan decided to play catch-up with the West during the late 19th century, they made Okinawa one of its first colonial acquisitions. Using a pattern that would be carried out in China, Korea and elsewhere, the Okinawan language and culture were suppressed in the name of all things Japanese. However, ethnic Okinawans then, as now, were treated as second-class citizens in comparison to anyone Japanese. One of the reasons that the Japanese government has put up with the U.S. military bases in Okinawa is that the politicians in Tokyo would much rather have a bunch of rowdy American soldiers exploiting Okinawans than Japanese on the main islands.

[PDJane]

2. This is one of the reasons that the US is losing ground......

And yes, there are constant incidences of violence and stupidity on Okinawa perpetrated by American servicemen. Because of the number of bases around the world, bored young men in uniform are the main face of the US, and it is disastrous.

[Kutjara]

3. This kind of thing is endemic in garrison towns.

I lived on a number of US Army bases in Germany and Italy during the '70s, and there were frequent rapes, robberies and/or murders of local people by military personnel. Usually on payday. At one point, things got so bad that business-owners in Frankfurt put us signs saying "No Americans."

Of course, you can go back through history and see the same story repeated over and over. Foreign soldiers in close proximity to civilians is never a recipe for peace. And it's always the most vulnerable who suffer the worst.