Japan Press Weekly

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2008 April 9 - 15 [US FORCES]

JCP Dietmembers protest U.S. over frequent occurrence of U.S. military crimes

Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers on April 8 visited the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to lodge a protest against the series of crimes committed by U.S. servicemen in Japan.

JCP Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji and three other JCP Diet members met Raymond Greene, chief of the Political-Military Affairs Unit at the U.S. Embassy and requested that the United States to take the following steps:

1. Fully compensate the families of the victims and make available immediate reports to the Japanese government on U.S. military deserters in Japan;
2. Revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement;
3. Reduce and dismantle U.S. military bases in Japan, cancel the deployment to Yokosuka U.S. Naval Base of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft and the ongoing U.S. forces realignment taking place nationwide.

Greene, on behalf of the U.S. government, expressed “regret” over the string of crimes committed by U.S. military personnel and promised to convey the JCP Dietmembers’ representations to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Thomas Schieffer, the U.S. government, and to the U.S. Forces in Japan. He also promised that the United States will do its utmost to prevent crimes from recurring.”

Kokuta pointed out that crimes are occurring despite the repeated promises the U.S. Forces in Japan have made every time U.S. servicemen committed crimes to take steps to prevent the recurrence of crimes and to impose tighter military discipline.

He said that in order to reduce and eventually eliminate U.S. servicemen’s crimes in Japan, a drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Force Agreement is necessary to require the U.S. Forces in Japan to turn over suspects to Japanese authorities, and to reduce and close down U.S. bases in Japan.
- Akahata, April 9, 2008