From yesterday's Marine Corps Times:
Curfew On All Personnel In Okinawa
The U.S. military will slap a curfew on all military personnel in Okinawa from 7:30 a.m. Wednesday following a series of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen, such as an alleged rape of a Japanese junior high school student by a Marine, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said late Tuesday.
U.S. Forces Japan also will designate Feb. 22 as a “Day of Reflection” for all U.S. military facilities in Japan while setting up a “Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Task Force” as part of its efforts to make sure similar incidents do not happen.
Readers may recall a similar incident in 1995, when US Marines were convicted of raping a 12 year old girl. At the time, the incident almost caused the removal of the sprawling US camp; the commanding admiral was "retired" for making a very unhelpful comment that further inflamed local feelings. See my review of Lt. Col. Mark Gillem's recent book, "America Town: Building the Outposts of Empire" for a full discussion of the impact of American bases on local cultures.
Consider this, next time you hear of Bush Administration plans for "enduring bases" or "Status Of Forces Agreements (SOFA)" for American troops in Iraq: if the rape of school girls can cause such a stir in Japan, what could it possibly do in a future Iraq? SOFAs ensure American due process for military offenders, but do nothing to erase what many "host nations" feel as American encroachment on their sovereignty. And how can you "negotiate" a SOFA when your armies occupy the other party's country?
Perhaps the United States should have its own "Day of Reflection" on how we want to interact with the world. I suggest that it be on November 4, 2008, when Americans will get to choose their next president. I hope it's a choice between "more of the same" and "change."