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October 19, 2012

Muskogee man held in rape in Okinawa

Japan’s defense minister says US should take measures to prevent attacks

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A Muskogee man is one of two men arrested in Japan for allegedly raping a Japanese woman.

The Navy identified the sailors as Petty Officer 3rd Class Skyler Dozier Walker of Muskogee and Seaman Christopher Browning of Athens, Texas. Both are assigned to the Naval Air Station at Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base. Base spokesman Don Ray says both are 23 and enlisted in 2008. They were assigned to the Fort Worth base the same year.

Ray declined to comment on the men’s arrests.

Japan’s defense minister said he was deeply concerned by allegations that two American military servicemen had raped a woman on the island of Okinawa and suggested that the U.S. take more measures to prevent such attacks.

“This is a very serious crime,” Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto told reporters Wednesday. Morimoto said the case follows another sexual assault in August, and he indicated he was considering discussing the matter with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

According to Japanese media, they had been drinking before they attacked the woman, in her 20s, who was on her way home before dawn Tuesday.

The two were in Japanese police custody, according to Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman Takashi Shirado. Later Tuesday, police handed over the investigation to prosecutors to decide whether to press formal charges.

The arrests sparked immediate anger on Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan and has recently seen massive protests against plans to deploy the Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey to a base there because of safety concerns.

Okinawa Gov. Kazuhiro Nakaima, who has been in Tokyo since earlier this week, said the United States should worry about the consequences of repeated crime by U.S. servicemen on the island, where people already resent their presence.

“It could damage Japan-U.S. security alliance unless there is dramatic improvement,” Nakaima said. “We want the U.S. government and its military to take measures that are far severer than a disciplinary measure or something lenient like that.”

Tensions between the U.S. military and their Okinawans hosts are endemic, and base-related crimes are a particularly sensitive issue.

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