UNITED STATES ARMY: BAD BEHAVIOUR FORCES JAPANESE AUTHORITIES TO IMPOSE CURFEW

United States armed forces have been stationed in Japan since the Second World War. Until recently, the world’s press heard little or nothing about the relationship between the Japanese population and the military representatives of the only country to have actually used atomic weapons – twice – against Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki). For a number of years, there have been rumours about bad behaviour from US troops stationed in Japan but no concrete evidence was produced. International interest was awakened recently due to the case of a US sergeant raping and killing an Albanian girl in Kosovo…now, it is the Japanese who insist on a curfew for US troops in Japan, due to continuous unacceptable behaviour. Okinawa Municipal Assembly released a report complaining about the behaviour of American troops stationed in its municipality: “The public’s lack of respect for the American forces has reached the highest point in Okinawa after recent events with American soldiers, which include a count of harassment against a girl, a series of fires, practical jokes in bad taste and an offensive e-mail against the government and the government office of this island”. It should be remembered that three US Fusiliers were involved in the rape of a 12-year-old local girl in 1995 and that the American military authorities imposed a curfew after midnight on their own troops. This curfew was lifted in 1999 at the request of local traders, who saw a negative impact on their business. It would seem that the Japanese traders now have to choose between a fat bank balance at the end of the month and funeral arrangements for their loved ones, especially under-age teenage girls, raped and murdered by the US armed forces. It would seem that this rabble would be better inflicting themselves on their own population, inside the borders of the US of A.

TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.RU LISBON