OKINAWA CITY, Japan – The new U.S. envoy to Japan offered President Bush’s “sincere regret” today for the alleged rape of an Okinawan woman, as police waited for the formal go-ahead to arrest the Air Force sergeant accused in the incident.
A court issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, Timothy Woodland, a staff sergeant stationed at Kadena Air Base, on Monday. Woodland, who has denied involvement, was brought in for a fifth day of questioning Tuesday.
Police said they hoped to arrest Woodland as soon as possible, but must await completion of diplomatic procedures for him to be officially turned over by the U.S. military. It was unclear how long that process might take.
Meanwhile, the new U.S. ambassador to Japan, former Sen. Howard H. Baker, told reporters upon his arrival at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport that Bush promised his “full cooperation in finding out the facts and dealing with” the incident, which occurred Friday in a popular tourist area of Okinawa.
“President Bush said that we express our regret, our sincere regret,” Baker told reporters on the tarmac after his plane touched down from Washington.
Baker said Bush had made the remarks to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during their summit in the United States last weekend.
The case has revived concern over the conduct of the 26,000 U.S. troops stationed on this small island on Japan’s southern fringe that has for decades been key to American security policy in Asia.
According to police, Woodland, 24, forced the woman up against a car in a parking lot of American Village, a trendy tourist area, on Friday at about 2 a.m.
Police said he then began raping her. Other Americans were nearby, and may have intervened on behalf of the victim, police said.
They said the other Americans, also service personnel, were not suspected of wrongdoing.
“This is a vicious crime that violates human rights, and is absolutely unforgivable,” said Keiichi Inamine, Okinawa’s governor.
Complaints over military-related crime are endemic here, and Japanese officials, concerned that anger on this southern Japan island could escalate, have called for swift action.
Yasuo Fukuda, Japan’s top government spokesman, said in Tokyo that Japan has formally requested that Woodland be handed over and was awaiting a response from the United States.
Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, the senior U.S. officer on Okinawa, visited the Okinawa prefectural government office and apologized for the incident.
“We are very disappointed, and deeply and sincerely regret that this concerns the U.S. troops,” he said, adding that he had directed commanders to instill discipline. “We have been working closely and cooperating fully during the investigation, and I assure you we will continue to do so.”
Okinawans have long complained that the bases, while making a considerable contribution to the sagging local economy, cause crowding and create fears of possible accidents.
Crime is also a long-standing source of friction.
In 1995, a 12-year-old schoolgirl was raped by three U.S. servicemen, touching off huge anti-base demonstrations that eventually led to an agreement to streamline the military presence on Okinawa.
So far, the current case has not generated such anger.
A group of a few dozen protesters, mostly leftist labor union members and college students, held a peaceful demonstration outside the Kadena Air Base gates Tuesday, but there were no other protests and no reports of any incidents.
The 22-member town assembly in Chatan, where the rape allegedly occurred, on Tuesday adopted a resolution of protest condemning the crime. The resolution also included a request to the U.S. military for a nighttime curfew in the town covering troops and a ban on alcohol.
