|
The 'Rape' Of
Okinawa
By Chalmers Johnson
07/03/08 "Asia
Times" -- -- It
all seemed deadly familiar: an adult, 38-year-old US Marine
sergeant accused by the Okinawan police of sexually violating a
14-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl. He claims he did not actually
rape her but only forcibly kissed her, as if knocking down an
innocent child and slobbering all over her face is OK if you're
a representative of the American military forces. The accused
marine has now been released because the girl has refused to
press charges - perhaps because he is innocent as he claimed or
perhaps because she can't face the ignominy of appearing in
court.
Let us briefly recall some of the other incidents since the
notorious 1995 kidnapping, beating and gang rape of a
12-year-old girl by two marines and a sailor in Kin village,
Okinawa. The convicted assailants in that outrage were Marine
Private First Class Roderico Harp, Marine Private First Class
Kendrick Ledet and Seaman Marcus Gill. Other incidents of bodily
harm, intimidation and death continue in Okinawa on an almost
daily basis, including hit-and-run collisions between American
troops and Okinawans on foot or on auto bikes, robberies and
assaults, bar brawls and drunken and disorderly conduct.
On June 29, 2001, a 24-year-old air force staff sergeant,
Timothy Woodland, was arrested for publicly raping a 20-year-old
Okinawan woman on the hood of a car.
On November 2, 2002, Okinawan authorities took into custody
Marine Major Michael J Brown, 41 years old, for sexually
assaulting a Filipina barmaid outside the Camp Courtney
officer's club.
On May 25, 2003, Marine Military Police turned over to Japanese
police a 21-year-old lance corporal, Jose Torres, for breaking a
19-year-old woman's nose and raping her, once again in Kin
village.
In early July 2005, a drunken air force staff sergeant molested
a 10-year-old Okinawan girl on her way to Sunday school. He at
first claimed to be innocent, but then police found a photo of
the girl's nude torso on his cell phone.
After each of these incidents and innumerable others that make
up the daily police blotter of Japan's most southerly
prefecture, the commander of US forces in Okinawa, a Marine
Corps lieutenant general, and the American ambassador in Tokyo,
make public and abject apologies for the behavior of US troops.
Occasionally the remorse goes up to the Pacific
commander-in-chief or, in the most recent case, to the secretary
of state. On February 27, Condoleezza Rice said, "Our concern is
for the girl and her family. We really, really deeply regret
it." The various officers responsible for the discipline of US
troops in Japan invariably promise to tighten supervision over
them, who currently number 92,491, including civilian employees
and dependents. But nothing ever changes. Why?
Because the Japanese government speaks with a forked tongue. For
the sake of the Okinawans forced to live cheek-by-jowl with 37
US military bases on their small island, Tokyo condemns the
behavior of the Americans. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda called
the recent assault "unforgivable" and demanded tighter military
discipline. But that is as far as it goes.
The Japanese government has never even discussed why a large
standing army of Americans is garrisoned on Japanese territory,
some 63 years after the end of World War II. There is never any
analysis in the Japanese press or by the government of whether
the Japanese-American Security Treaty actually requires such
American troops.
Couldn't the terms of the treaty be met just as effectively if
the marines were sent back to their own country and called on
only in an emergency? The American military has never agreed to
rewrite the Status of Forces Agreement, as demanded by every
local community in Japan that plays host to American military
facilities, and the Japanese government meekly goes along with
this stonewalling.
Once an incident "blows over", as this latest one now has, the
pundits and diplomats go back to their boiler-plate
pronouncements about the "long-standing and strong alliance"
(Rice in Tokyo), about how Japan is an advanced democracy
(although it has been ruled by the same political party since
1949 except for a few years after the collapse of the Soviet
Union), and about how indispensable America's empire of over 800
military bases in other people's countries is to the maintenance
of peace and security.
As long as Japan remains a satellite of the United States, women
and girls in Okinawa will continue to be slugged, beaten and
raped by heavily armed young Americans who have no other reason
for being there than the pretensions of American imperialism. As
long as the Japanese government refuses to stand up and demand
that the American troops based on its territory simply go home,
nothing will change.
Chalmers Johnson in the author of the Blowback Trilogy -
Blowback (2000), The Sorrows of Empire (2004), and Nemesis: The
Last Days of the American Republic (2007).
Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd
Click on "comments" below to read or post comments
Comment Guidelines
Be succinct, constructive and
relevant to the story.
We encourage engaging, diverse
and meaningful commentary. Do not include
personal information such as names, addresses,
phone numbers and emails. Comments falling
outside our guidelines – those including
personal attacks and profanity – are not
permitted.
See our complete
Comment Policy
and
use this link to notify us if you have concerns
about a comment.
We’ll promptly review and remove any
inappropriate postings.
Send Page To a Friend
In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational
purposes. Information Clearing House has no
affiliation whatsoever with the originator of
this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
|
