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Recently, scattered around the world, the 865 U.S. military bases have become the epicenter of blatant violence, crimes and scandals. According to an investigation by Stringerskim International Bureau of Investigation (SBRM), instead of the declared Washington “export of democracy”, the U.S. Army actively spreads violence and criminality.
The same fact was confirmed by a recent report of the U.S. Department of Defense, prepared at the request of Congress. It presented the appalling situation in the U.S. Army, touching upon sexual offenses without reference to other types of offenses committed by U.S. servicemen.
According to some of the investigations, made by various commissions in the USA, from 19 to 26 thousand American soldiers have been victims, having suffered from sexual crimes of soldiers and officers of the U.S. Army in the recent year. Up to 70 rapes are daily committed within the numerous military contingents! Most of these cases do not end with an actual imprisonment. In the period from 2005 to 2013, only 244 servicemen were sanctioned for such crimes, two-thirds were able to escape prison, and in 30 cases, the perpetrators simply got reprimands from the authorities.
The statistics provided by the Ministry of Defense on these crimes show that the authorities have different attitudes to punishment and prosecution of such offenses in various American units. Offering examples, in the marines from 270 criminals, 53 were imprisoned for such crimes, in the navy from 203, 15 servicemen were imprisoned, while in the Air Forces from 124 criminals only 21 were imprisoned.
Although the Pentagon pointed out to only 3,374 cases of sexual violence in the U.S. Army, these figures are unlikely to reflect the real situation. This fact was confirmed in the process of an anonymous survey conducted in the U.S. Armed Forces. According to it, 9 of 10 victims simply did not file a report about the incident. Thus, last year, the number of victims of violence among the U.S. Army reached 26,000, and not the 3.5 thousand people!
However, these figures do not include crimes committed by U.S. soldiers on a sexual basis against the civilian population of those countries where hundreds of U.S. military bases are situated. Such cases are not in the thousands, but tens of thousands! Let us analyze an example, what the situation is, in this respect, with the U.S. servicemen in Japan.
Crimes of the U.S. troops in Japan
Currently, there are about 47,000 American soldiers and officers in 94 U.S. military bases in Japan. Agreements between Tokyo and Washington, according to which the United States has the right to place their land, air and naval forces on the territory of Japan and its vicinity, were signed after Japan’s defeat in World War II. In exchange, the American troops were supposed “to provide security for Japan and to maintain peace and stability in the Pacific Rim”. As a result, a whole network of bases, airfields and polygons appeared on a relatively small area (an area of slightly more than 1,200 square kilometers).
According to Yomiuri newspaper, the United States contingent in Japan is the largest, in quantity, in the Pacific Rim” and it occupies the second place after the NATO forces stationed in Germany”.
In Japan, there are:
– The headquarters of the U.S. troops in Yokosuka, near Tokyo. The 7th U.S. fleet is situated there too;
– The airbases Misawa, Tachikawa and Atsue are situated on the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, where F-16 aircraft are based, capable of carrying nuclear weapons;
– Cadena Air Force Base is situated in the south, on the island of Okinawa, where combat aircraft and tanker aircraft are based;
– From Yokota Base, they control tactical nuclear aircraft, located not only in Japan, but also in Korea.
In addition, objects of Air Force and Navy Strategic Command are situated in Japan, which control the attacks of submarines and missile carriers.
Two-thirds of all U.S. military bases in Japan are situated (34 U.S. military facilities, some of which were built in the cities) on the island of Okinawa, the territory of which is less than 1% of Japan, occupied by the Americans at the end of World War II. The closeness of the island to the Korean Peninsula and China helped to make it one of the major outposts for the Pentagon in the region. Here more than half of all U.S. troops in Japan are concentrated (26,000 U.S. troops, mostly marines). Such a density of U.S. military bases and troops on the island even gave birth to a sad joke among the locals that “not the U.S. military bases are located in Okinawa, but Okinawa is located on U.S. military bases”. The behavior of U.S. troops very often causes resentment of the local population, and their crimes almost always give rise to demands for the withdrawal or at least serious reduction of the American military presence.
The Okinawans especially insisted on the closing of the Futenma Base with the airfield, located in a densely populated area of Ginowan, surrounded by schools and homes. Base personnel were known for their love for drinking and brawling. There often occurred rapes of girls in the vicinity.
Examining the situation in Japan, SBMR reports that, according to the prefecture of Okinawa, just in the period from 1972 to 2010, each month occurred 23 incidents involving U.S. servicemen, 13 of them were criminal. However, due to the local tradition, these incidents did not reach the Japanese police. In the Land of the Rising Sun, there is nothing worse than the shame of past humiliations, and because of this, many victims hide the fact of rape their whole life.
This is the reason the rare investigations are conducted by the American military police, while such cases are sent by it to a military tribunal under the Agreement “On the status of U.S. forces in Japan and on the crimes of American soldiers who are on leave outside military bases”. In particular, the Agreement provides that if the soldiers return to base, they be imprisoned by the American side. However, the U.S. military justice system is so “humane”, that of the 45,000 incidents, involving U.S. soldiers that have occurred in Japan, including 512 incidents with fatalities, none of the servicemen got an actual prison term! Moreover, 40% of the perpetrators of the incidents did not suffer even an administrative penalty.
Civilian investigations of such cases take place in Japan very rarely, being made mostly after the victim is seriously injured and arrives unconscious in a hospital. One of the most famous cases occurred in 1995, when an American naval officer and two marines beat and raped a schoolgirl from a primary class, then 90,000 Japanese got out into the streets. However, even though there was raised the issue of the withdrawal of all U.S. military bases from Japan, the situation did not change…
Unbridled behavior of American soldiers, who feel on Japanese soil very free, leads to resentment of the Japanese people. Particular aversion in Japan is the fact that most American soldiers who have committed crimes manage to escape punishment, as the armed forces of the United States and their dependents are exempted from Japanese laws. It is not surprising that the military commanders’ loyalty to criminals, as well as diligent conflict concealment by the Japanese authorities have repeatedly led to anti-war and anti-American demonstrations.
Besides this, the U.S. military presence is deteriorating the economic and social situation of the Japanese territory, on which the U.S. military facilities are situated. This is typical for the island of Okinawa, which is now considered the poorest and economically underdeveloped prefecture of Japan. Due to the fact that up to 20% of arable lands in the central and southern parts of the island are occupied by objects of military infrastructure, the shortage of farmland is felt severely. By the way, almost all lands occupied by military installations were taken away during the war or immediately thereafter from private owners and these lands are still their legal property.
In addition, the Okinawans suffer from the constant noise that is created by constantly taking off and landing of military aircraft, from environmental pollution: the soil and water channels of several areas of Okinawa are severely polluted by fuel leakage of jet engines and other harmful substances.
The recent disclosure of U.S. Department of Defense, at the request of Congress, about the sexual offenses of U.S. servicemen sparked a new round of anti-American demonstrations in Japan, including in the local media. Here it is especially noted that more than two-thirds of the perpetrators are never punished or get too lenient disciplinary punishments.
The growth and impunity of U.S. troops’ sexual abuse in Japan exacerbated the Japan- USA contradictions in historical issues, which also reflect the difficult nature of the dialogue between the two countries. Thus, in mid-February of this year, more than a dozen Japanese NGOs sent a collective message to the White House, where they accused Washington of the absence of an official apology in connection with the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, as well as, the stubborn refusal of U.S. President to commemorate the victims on certain memorials.
In general, Japanese society is now actively reassessing the bilateral cooperation. The people are becoming aware that the negative aspects of the U.S. military presence (primarily economic and environmental damage to them, caused by numerous military bases and a variety of military equipment, the growth of military crimes, etc.) increasingly outweigh the individual benefits from the alliance with the United States. In particular, here it is necessary to cite U.S. protection in case of aggravation of relations with China, including the territorial problem as well.
(to be continued)
Vladimir Platov, expert on the Middle East, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
