thedrifter
12-04-02, 07:27 AM
December 3, 2002
TOKYO - A court in southern Japan issued a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of a U.S. Marine officer for allegedly attempting to rape a woman, police said.
The police asked the U.S. military to hand over 39-year-old Maj. Michael J. Brown, assigned to Camp Courtney on Okinawa island, under a 1995 agreement covering U.S. forces in Japan, said police spokesman Shinpachi Higashizato.
Brown allegedly tried to rape a foreign woman inside a parked car in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, Higashizato said. The woman resisted and managed to get away, he said.
U.S. Marine Corps officials declined to comment on the case Tuesday. Brown's hometown was not immediately available.
Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine protested the incident as a serious crime against women.
"Yet more trouble was caused by a U.S. serviceman, despite our repeated request to the U.S. military for disciplinary and preventive efforts," Inamine said in a statement. "It is extremely regrettable and we feel enraged."
After the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen, which outraged Okinawans, the United States agreed to be more flexible in handing over criminal suspects to Japanese authorities before they are indicted so the police can carry out their investigation. It is not compulsory for the military to hand over suspects, however.
Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi called U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker Tuesday to protest the incident, request U.S. cooperation with the investigation and to ask for disciplinary and preventive measures, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said.
Baker replied he still wasn't aware of the facts of the case, but said the United States would cooperate fully with the investigation, Kawaguchi added.
Crimes involving the U.S. military are a sensitive issue on Okinawa, where residents have complained about misbehavior among soldiers and noise from nearby bases.
More than half of the 47,000 American military personnel in Japan are stationed on Okinawa, 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Sempers,
Roger
TOKYO - A court in southern Japan issued a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of a U.S. Marine officer for allegedly attempting to rape a woman, police said.
The police asked the U.S. military to hand over 39-year-old Maj. Michael J. Brown, assigned to Camp Courtney on Okinawa island, under a 1995 agreement covering U.S. forces in Japan, said police spokesman Shinpachi Higashizato.
Brown allegedly tried to rape a foreign woman inside a parked car in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, Higashizato said. The woman resisted and managed to get away, he said.
U.S. Marine Corps officials declined to comment on the case Tuesday. Brown's hometown was not immediately available.
Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine protested the incident as a serious crime against women.
"Yet more trouble was caused by a U.S. serviceman, despite our repeated request to the U.S. military for disciplinary and preventive efforts," Inamine said in a statement. "It is extremely regrettable and we feel enraged."
After the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen, which outraged Okinawans, the United States agreed to be more flexible in handing over criminal suspects to Japanese authorities before they are indicted so the police can carry out their investigation. It is not compulsory for the military to hand over suspects, however.
Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi called U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker Tuesday to protest the incident, request U.S. cooperation with the investigation and to ask for disciplinary and preventive measures, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said.
Baker replied he still wasn't aware of the facts of the case, but said the United States would cooperate fully with the investigation, Kawaguchi added.
Crimes involving the U.S. military are a sensitive issue on Okinawa, where residents have complained about misbehavior among soldiers and noise from nearby bases.
More than half of the 47,000 American military personnel in Japan are stationed on Okinawa, 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Sempers,
Roger