USFJ General Horrified By Killing of Japanese Woman
Today the top commander of all US forces in Japan, Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright spoke out against the killing of a Japanese woman by a naval serviceman:
Japanese authorities say William Oliver Reese, 21, fatally beat and robbed a Japanese woman of about $130 near a U.S. Navy base southwest of Tokyo on Jan. 3. He has been turned over to Japanese custody.
“The alliance is a partnership,” Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright told a news conference. “This alliance has just been significantly challenged. It’s horrific. It’s horrible.”
Wright, head of the U.S. Forces in Japan, said he would instruct commanders to work harder toward a goal of “zero criminal incidents” involving American service personnel in Japan.
The murder has rekindled lingering concerns over crime related to the roughly 50,000 U.S troops stationed here under a mutual security pact. Such concerns boiled over into huge protests after the rape of a schoolgirl on the island of Okinawa in 1995.
Learning from experience, U.S. officials have been quick to express their regrets. Wright even attended the wake for the slain woman.
All of this talk in Japan is very similar to the debate that has happened here in Korea before in regards to GI crimes. In Korea it is assumed by a section of the Korean public that GI’s commit an inordinate amount of crimes in Korea which is flatly not true. USFK crime is actually much less on average when compared to the local Korean civilian crime rate. However, this fact is not publicized enough in the Korean media to do away with the GI criminal stereotype. Especially, when the few incidents that do happen are so well publicized in the media.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the Japanese public reacts to this case. I don’t foresee mass candlelight vigils or US flag burnings like we have seen here before in Korea, but the Japanese public cannot be to happy with this brutal murder by this thug for $130.
