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Japan's Okinawa demands US reins in troops after alleged rape
2008-02-14
Japan's southern island of Okinawa on Thursday demanded the US military rein in the thousands of troops stationed there after a US Marine was arrested for allegedly raping a girl. The prefectural assembly of Okinawa unanimously adopted a resolution asking the US military to take action to improve ethical training for its forces. The move came on the heels of similar resolutions passed by local assemblies of Chatan and Okinawa city, two municipalities where the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl occurred late Sunday. "Okinawa prefecture has repeatedly demanded stricter discipline for US servicemen and action to prevent criminal offences, but still an incident like this happened. We feel fierce anger," said assembly member Seiichi Oyakawa, reading out the resolution. "We demand the US government take effective and specific preventive actions that are clear to the eyes of the people of Okinawa, such as carrying out thorough human rights training for US soldiers," he said. The resolution also renewed the local government's call for a reduction in the more than 20,000 US troops stationed in Okinawa. Staff Sergeant Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested on Monday over allegations that he raped the girl in his car on the island. He has admitted trying to forcibly kiss her and groping her but denied raping her. The incident rekindled memories of the gang-rape in 1995 of a 12-year-old girl by three US Marines, which set off major protests on the island and set in motion a process to reduce the number of US troops there. More than 40,000 US troops are stationed in Japan to defend its key Asian ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War II. US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer, who on Wednesday flew to meet to Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima to express regret over the incident, promised to review ethical training for the troops. But opposition assembly members demanded that Nakaima, a government ally, demand tougher action, noting that the US government has promised tighter discipline before. The Okinawa police have reported to an assembly committee that 14 rapes allegedly by US soldiers have occurred in the tiny province since 1995. "He has not shown enough anger," opposition assembly member Chosei Taira told AFP. "We have adopted resolutions of protest over and over again, but they hardly have made any changes," Taira said. "We demand the entire withdrawal of the US military. Unless all Marines go, we wouldn't be rid incidents like this no matter how many times we protest." Nakaima was elected in 2006 promising to improve the island's troubled economy and signalling a more conciliatory policy towards the US military and its global realignment plan. The Japanese and US governments have agreed to transfer some 8,000 troops out of Okinawa to the US territory of Guam while relocating a controversial air station from more densely populated Ginowan city to another Okinawa city. The incident came as Tokyo tries to persuade the town of Nago to host the facilities from Ginowan in an arrangement criticised by activists pushing for the air station to be removed completely from Okinawa.
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