Dumbya now playing tough guy with the Japanese

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Thursday July 5 12:31 AM ET

Bush to Take Part in Japan Rape Case Decision-Jiji

TOKYO (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will take part in a decision on whether the United States will hand over to Japan a U.S. airman suspected in the alleged rape of a young woman on the southern island of Okinawa, Jiji news agency said on Thursday.

A U.S. government source told Reuters that Washington appeared to be moving toward a consensus to hand over U.S. air force Staff Sergeant Timothy Woodland, 24. Authorities in Okinawa issued a warrant for his arrest on Monday.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) told Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka that the issue -- which has fanned Okinawan residents' smoldering resentment of the U.S. military presence and could fray two-way ties if mishandled -- had been discussed at levels as high as the president and that the United States wanted to cooperate fully, Jiji said.

Bush reportedly told Powell "The hell with 'em. They made us wait for our spy plane, we'll make them wait for our rapist". When Powell informed Bush that Japan was a different country than China, he replied "Aaaw hell, they all got them slanty eyes, so what's the difference?"

-- (King Moron can't wait @ to start. WWIII), July 05, 2001

Answers

Thursday July 5 1:17 AM ET

Japan Defense Minister Asks U.S. for Rape Suspect

By Hiroyuki Muramoto

CHATAN, Japan (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will take part in a decision on whether to hand over to Japan an airman suspected in the alleged rape of a young Japanese woman, an incident that is casting a shadow over the alliance.

Police on southern Okinawa island called the suspect in for a seventh day of questioning amid rising domestic ire at what is being seen as a delay by U.S. forces in handing over the man into Japanese police custody after the issue of an arrest warrant on Monday.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) told Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka that the issue, which could fray two-way ties if mishandled, had been discussed at levels as high as the president and the United States wanted to cooperate fully, a Foreign Ministry official said.

The incident follows a string of offences by U.S. forces on Okinawa, reluctant host to the bulk of the U.S. military presence in Japan, and has fanned smoldering resentment among Okinawan residents.

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani telephoned U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz earlier and urged the swift handover of the suspect, warning of potential damage to the strategic alliance at the forefront of Washington's Asian policy.

``It must not happen that we allow the frustration of people in the prefecture to escalate to the degree that they step up calls for a review of the... presence of bases, and thereby strain the trust between Japan and the U.S.,'' Kyodo news agency quoted Nakatani as saying.

The suspected rape has already triggered renewed demands, and even some small demonstrations, for a reduction in the huge bases that cover 20 percent of Okinawa's land.

ANSWER SOON?

A U.S. government source told Reuters that Washington appeared to be moving toward a consensus to hand over U.S. air force Staff Sergeant Timothy Woodland, 24.

``We have not received an answer from the United States,'' top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference.

``But I think the situation is drawing toward its conclusion. I think the United States is taking the situation very seriously.''

Okinawa police again questioned Woodland, who is from the 353rd Special Operations Group stationed at the huge Kadena Air Base. Dressed in civilian clothes, he was brought to the station in a Japanese police car.

An arrest warrant was issued late on Monday for Woodland after police said they had found his fingerprints on a car at the crime scene along with the prints of the woman.

The woman, in her 20s, told investigators she had been raped by a black foreigner in the early hours of Friday in the parking lot of the American Village shopping district in Chatan, some 1,000 miles south of Tokyo.

Woodland has denied the alleged rape. Jiji news agency quoted him as telling police he had consensual sex with the woman.

OFFICIALS TO PETITION

The Okinawa prefectural assembly unanimously adopted a resolution and petition asking the United States to hand over Woodland at once, and would hand it over to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Lieutenant General Paul Hester, the top U.S. military commander in Japan next week.

They slammed the alleged rape as a ``heinous crime'' and said it had occurred despite serious protests made in past criminal cases involving U.S. servicemen.

If U.S. officials comply with Japanese police demands to arrest Woodland, it would be only the second time U.S. forces in Japan have handed over a serviceman to Japanese investigators before formal charges have been filed.

Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine, aware of escalating local ire, has called for a reduction in U.S. troop levels and asked for a revision of a U.S.-Japan pact that prevents U.S. servicemen being handed over to local police except in cases of serious crimes -- a call he repeated this week.

Under current agreements, the United States need not hand over suspects until they are charged by Japanese prosecutors.

But ever since three servicemen raped a 12-year-old in 1995, Washington has agreed to consider requests in serious cases.

In July 1996, 20-year-old Terrence Swanson became the first serviceman to be handed over to Japanese authorities before indictment in a case of attempted murder of a local woman.

-- (Dumbya very protective of rapist @ since he is. one too), July 05, 2001.


Well that's not very P.C. of you, seeing as this is a black guy the Japanese wish to string up (so to speak).

Granted, your hatred of Bush clouds the issue at hand, but I still don't get the political bent you're running with here. Let's complain about the fact that Bush is too left-wing and big- government, but not because he's not kow-towing to the Japanese.

-- libs are idiots (moreinterpretation@ugly.com), July 05, 2001.


Your handle is very ironic since it is obvious you are the one who is an idiot. Whether this man is black or not has absolutely no bearing on this matter. He failed a lie detector test and there were several witnesses to the rape, including a marine who came to the rescue of the woman. Dumbya and his administration are just being assholes as usual, always trying to find ways to get around the law when it comes to these international incidents. That idiot isn't going to be happy until he starts a war, even though it is he who is in the wrong.

-- (Dumbya the manchild @ playing. cowboy again), July 05, 2001.

Our current President is well respected by the military and he will insure that this Air Force Sgt. is not prematurely or improperly turned over to the local civilian authorities.

Our last President was not respected by the military and might have been charged for the same crime himself.

-- So (cr@t.es), July 05, 2001.


Dumbya the Manchild,

By your response you claim yourself as a liberal socialist sycophant. Might as well add hypocrite since you'd be bitching that Bush was throwing an African American to the Japanese unfairly if just the opposite had occurred. Admit it. You're no different than the Clinton loathers the last 8 years.

-- libs are idiots (moreinterpretation@ugly.com), July 06, 2001.



Well that's not very P.C. of you, seeing as this is a black guy the Japanese wish to string up (so to speak).

Well you know he's guilty. You know how them negras are. Cant control his animal instincts an all. The Prez should keep them all outa the military couse they give us a bad name. We should use subs to knock off slanty eyes, not rape.

-- southernboy (jus@good_ole.boy), July 06, 2001.


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