Protests escalating in Okinawa over alleged rape; letter sent to Bush

February 13, 2008

NAHA — Protests continued to spread Wednesday in Okinawa Prefecture in the wake of the alleged rape by a U.S. Marine of a 14-year-old girl over the weekend, while Gov Hirokazu Nakaima called for a fundamental review of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.

Two local assemblies each unanimously adopted a protest resolution and a statement against the U.S. and Japanese governments, while Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, an influential civic group that played a key role in a massive rally in 1995, sent a letter to U.S. President George W Bush.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer visited Nakaima at the Okinawa prefectural government to convey regret over the incident and asked the governor to deliver a letter expressing his sympathy to the girl and her family, according to prefectural government officials.

"It is truly regrettable that an incident like this could have occurred," Schieffer said in a statement to the governor and the people of Okinawa. "We want to assure you that we will do all we can to cooperate with you and the authorities here to ensure that justice is done in this matter." He was accompanied by Lt Gen Bruce Wright, the top commander of the U.S. forces in Japan.

In a written request, Nakaima urged the U.S. ambassador to ensure that the U.S. forces in Okinawa "will make every possible effort" to prevent a recurrence of such an incident "by enforcing stricter discipline as well as strengthening the education of the service members."

"We feel utterly unforgiving and extremely resentful over the incident," Nakaima said, calling the alleged rape a felonious crime. "It is deplorable that despite all our past requests, such an incident has occurred again."

Senior Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera, meanwhile, told Marine Lt Gen Richard Zilmer at the Foreign Ministry's office in the prefecture that the U.S. military's conventional measures to control service members are "insufficient."

"The U.S. side has so far restricted outings from bases, but the incident occurred in a different situation," Onodera told a press conference after the meeting, referring to the fact that the arrested Marine lives outside the base.

Zilmer, who heads the U.S. military in Okinawa, was quoted as replying that he would tell senior base officials to deal with the situation, such as by reviewing education programs for soldiers.

The incident would have an unignorable impact on the U.S. military realignment in Japan and the U.S. side is well aware of that, Onodera said.

In the resolutions and statements adopted in respective impromptu sessions, the assemblies of the town of Chatan, where the alleged rape occurred Sunday night, and the city of Okinawa, where the Marine allegedly met the girl, called for preventive measures, an apology and compensation for the victim.

The Okinawa city assembly denounced the incident as "absolutely impermissible," while the Chatan town assembly said no effects can be seen from disciplinary and other measures taken after past incidents involving U.S. soldiers and that local people are "exposed to fear."

In a prefectural assembly session, Nakaima said, "In order to resolve various issues pertaining to U.S. bases, mere improved operations of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, under which discretion is entrusted to the U.S. side, are insufficient and a drastic review is necessary."

The women's civic group called for an apology and compensation in the letter to Bush, while stressing the need to provide psychological support for children who have been victims of violence by U.S. military personnel.

The group also called for strict punishment of the suspect and for overseeing U.S. military personnel living outside bases.

In 1995, when a 12-year-old girl was raped by three U.S. servicemen in Okinawa, the group called for protest activities at a press conference three days after the incident came to light.

The group and two other organizations of women successively held protest rallies which eventually coalesced into a single mass demonstration. The protest moves led Japan and the United States to agree the following year to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station and to vacate some other U.S. military facilities in Okinawa.

Uncertainties remain over whether the latest incident will head in the same direction as in 1995.

Suzuyo Takazato, a former Naha assembly member who belongs to the women's group, said, "Things were not planned from the beginning to move that way in 1995."

In the latest case, a 38-year-old staff sergeant at Camp Courtney is suspected of raping the girl inside a car parked on a street by a park in Chatan on Sunday night.
The suspect, identified as Tyrone Hadnott, was arrested Monday by local police and sent to prosecutors on Tuesday. He denies raping the girl, but has admitted to touching her in the vehicle, the police said.

Hadnott joined the Marines in 1996 and was stationed at Camp Courtney in October 2006 after serving at other bases in the United States and Japan.

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