U.S. Forces' mere apology won't remove incidents and crimes by U.S. military personnel - Akahata editorial, April 10, 2001

Activities by U.S. Forces personnel stationed in Japan are threatening local residents' safety and lives.

U.S. soldiers' crimes and environmental pollution caused by the U.S. Forces are not new to us, and the present problem is that the apology which U.S. Forces make for each incident is no more than an empty statement and also that they are rather defiant to criticism.

Pollution by toxic materials

U.S. soldiers' crimes are on the increase in Okinawa. Recent incidents include a shooting by a Marine, car thefts by drunken Marines, and hit-and-runs by U.S. soldiers, which followed gang rapes and arson.

Pollutants were detected in the soil and rivers. Live-fire exercises caused wild fire. Gasoline that leaked out of a filling station on a U.S. Marines base contaminated underground water in which ten times the permissible level of cancer-causing toxins was detected.

Live and used ammunition used in exercises for field combat were found illegally dumped.

Live-fire exercises by the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa, which have been held in mainland Japan since four years ago, are the source of local residents' concern, as are crimes by U.S. soldiers.

The recent crash of an F-16 fighter aircraft in Aomori Prefecture again showed how dangerous it is for U.S. military aircraft to routinely carry out bombing training over populated areas.

These facts show clearly that the U.S. Forces in Japan are threatening the people's safety instead of defending the peace and security of Japan.

The thing is that the U.S. government and the U.S. Forces have apologized for the delay of information, but they never express remorse; on the contrary they are defiant.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld complained to visiting Japanese parliamentarians about politicians and reporters making a fuss over U.S. soldiers' crimes. A U.S. military official made similar comments, enraging Okinawans.

An apology by the U.S. Forces would always be followed by another incident. This is because the U.S. government and the U.S. Forces, based on the same thinking as that of Rumsfeld, do not see reason for them to feel remorse for such incidents.

On the recent entry into Sasebo Port in Nagasaki Prefecture without advance notice by a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine, a spokesman for the Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in Japan said, "Providing notification is a 'courtesy agreement' between the Navy and the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and can be bypassed when operational factors warrant." The U.S. is thus blatant enough to renege on what it promised to Japan, to give prior notice of U.S. nuclear submarines entering Japanese ports in order to avoid a possible danger of radioactive contamination from nuclear submarines.

Local residents as well as municipalities are severely criticizing the U.S Forces for their reckless and illegal activities, and are demanding that the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) be revised.

However, the U.S. Forces have been obstinately refusing to revise the SOFA. The Japanese government has never officially demanded a revision.

Now, the revision of the SOFA is the minimum demand Japan can make to avoid further damage and lessen the people's suffering .

South Korea recently reached agreement with the United States on the revision of the U.S.-South Korea SOFA, and the revised agreement came into effect in April. This was made possible by the strenuous movement of the people who rage against crimes by U.S. Forces personnel and protest against toxic materials leaking out of U.S. bases, and by the tenacity of the South Korean government in negotiating with the U.S.

The Agreed Minutes of the new U.S.-ROK SOFA include additional provisions that the U.S. will respect the South Korean environmental protection laws and that Korea has the right to hold in custody any U.S. Forces personnel arrested by South Korean police. These are provisions which are not included in the SOFA between Japan and the United States.

Pressing task

How should Japan end its miserable state as a nation structured on U.S. military bases? This is a major political question which calls for, among other things, the revision of the SOFA. This view is shared by a broad spectrum of public opinion and citizens' movements, irrespective of attitudes toward the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

The Japanese Communist Party, while maintaining its call for the abrogation of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty as the ultimate guarantee to end illegal U.S. activities in Japan, is now tackling the urgent task to make Japan cease to be a nation structured on U.S. military bases. This is the most urgent task which can't be postponed even one day. (end)