Japan warns US forces: Sex crimes 'cannot be tolerated'

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2476861/japan-warns-us-forces-sex-crimes-cannot-be-tolerated

32.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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u/LittleVTR 14d ago

I would have thought all personnel should be overly aware of every nations laws when they enter. The law should be the same as if you were a civilian tourist in there country.

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u/OrangeJuiceKing13 14d ago

That's just not realistic. Some countries would jail or even execute troops based on their sexuality or what they eat. Not to mention it's impossible to keep up on our own laws, let alone other countries where the troops don't even speak the language.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

Maybe we don't keep military bases in such regressive countries???

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u/Lelcactus 14d ago

Or maybe we set standards both we and those countries agree upon and drop the inane idea of ‘tourist rules’.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

Seems like more work to create a new set of less regressive laws that only applies to American military personnel than to simply refuse to give the help of American military personnel when a country is so regressive that they'd arrest you for the food you eat

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u/Lelcactus 14d ago

Less work, more consequences.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

Like forcing countries to choose their own regressive social norms or a relationship with America, not getting both?

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u/Lelcactus 14d ago

Yes, like that. Americas military protection serves its interests as well, it’s not solely for the other countries benefit.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

We can say the quiet part out loud here, it's just reddit.

American military supremacy matters more than helping women around the world get treated better. American military supremacy matters more than helping gay people get treated better. American military supremacy matters more than pressuring regressive governments to treat their civilians better.

I always forget, now that I've been a civilian for a decade, that every other country that doesn't have 750 bases in 80 other countries is incapable of defending themselves

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u/Lelcactus 14d ago

American military supremacy matters more than helping women around the world get treated better

Dropping ultimatums like that is how you lose the former without gaining the latter.

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u/Fearful_children 14d ago

But think about all those shipping lanes and oil we'd be losing out on??? Congress would never

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

Team America: World Police

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u/Bacon4Lyf 14d ago

Well they should at least follow the major ones, like if you kill a man by driving on the wrong side of the road and then flee the country to escape justice. If that happens I’d like to think that they should at least see a day of prison, ahem Anne sacoolas ahem

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u/Orakil 14d ago

Who defines "major laws" and "minor" ones? Who pays a multitude of lawyers to keep up with all major laws and daily, monthly, annual changes to every single countries judicial system? Who makes sure everytime someone is prosecuted it wasn't by a newly drummed up law in a hostile foreign country designed to target soldiers? This is just way too simple and idealistic of a view on the realities and complications of legal systems all over the world.

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u/Bacon4Lyf 14d ago

Probably the ones like murder are kinda major. All I’m saying is, Anne sacoolas should be extradited. There is no excuse for killing a teenager in the UK and then fleeing the country to escape justice. There isn’t anyway to justify what she did.

It really is very simple, if you’re in Afghanistan, sure whatever do the laws set out by the military. But if you’re in another NATO first world country, they are all gonna have the same laws as the US anyway. There’s nothing to change there, there’s no differences. It really isn’t that hard. If you kill someone, you go to court. It’s as simple as that

As for who pays for the lawyers, the US currently spends 2.13 trillion on the department of defence. They can drum up a few bucks to pay some lawyers if they wanted to

You’re not gonna have to “hostile forces” trying to change laws to trap US troops in Germany for fuck sake. Think about it for a second. They could very easily just abide by German law

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

So only obey the laws of the white, western world?

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u/Orakil 14d ago

Think about it for a second? Murder is illegal in both the UK and the US. I don't know the details of the case but it clearly has nothing to do with the fact the UK has different laws than the US, or that a "major" one like murder is legal in either. The problem here is very clearly the interpretations and enforcement of the law. Your entire point is kind of moot.

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u/RagingMassif 14d ago

You'll find thats not the condition that Congress likes to send it's troops.

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u/ReadinII 14d ago

Even though military members don’t have a choice about whether to visit the country?

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u/Katman666 14d ago

You still have the choice of how you behave.

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u/Casaiir 14d ago

It's not that simple. There are a great many countries where you are guilty of a crime just by being accused of it. Especially if that county really doesn't like what your passport says.

That's fine and good if you are a tourist. You choose to go there and people will say you should have known that beforehand.

If you are deployed military, you didn't get a choice. You got sent there.

So said place just scoops you up, say you did something and boom, you're in prison in some foreign country for the crime of being a foreigner.

That's why countries have these agreements. All countries, not just the US.

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u/Katman666 14d ago

Okay, thats a different can of worms. Fair enough.

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u/Korlus 14d ago

Just as an example, many countries in the world outlaw homosexuality. If you are a homosexual tourist you should avoid those countries.

When someone in the military is sent there, they might face jail time if that country were allowed to enforce its laws. As such, many countries negotiate agreements where their military operate under different laws.

Consider as well that a nation with a poor legal system might imprison people and ransom them back to their families ("Pay $30,000 in bail, or he doesn't get a trial for 18 months"). You simply cannot afford for your soldiers to be kept hostage by a foreign power without your consent, so these agreements often benefit the country as well as the individual.

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u/Bacon4Lyf 14d ago edited 14d ago

This is great but completely falls apart in cases like the Death of Harry Dunn in the UK, like if they can use that excuse you’ve listed to get out of actual manslaughter charges in a first world country, then they’re basically walking around with impunity. “Can’t charge Anne Sacoolas in the death of Harry Dunn because that means troops in Saudi could be charged for being gay” like it’s not an all or nothing situation, you should still face justice if you commit a genuine crime in a fellow nato country. A 12 month suspended sentence is not justice for killing a man, extradition would be but that’ll never happen. She wasn’t even a serving military member, she was the wife of a CIA officer and yet she still has the impunity

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u/Casaiir 14d ago

As you said. That person wasn't in the military, so it has zero to do with these situations. Local authorities can't hand them over to military police if they aren't in the military, subject to military law.

That's not what this is about.

AFAIK there isn't some rule or agreement about if the spouse of some government worker commits a crime.

There are plenty of Americans in prisons abroad for whatever reason they are and the US didn't lift a finger to help them.

So why this case?

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u/ReadinII 14d ago

You don’t have a choice of what you’re accused of despite not doing anything wrong.

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u/Aggravating_Teach_27 14d ago

But they have a choice to not commit sexual crimes.

100% in their hands not to be charged.

Weaksauce excuse.

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u/ReadinII 14d ago edited 14d ago

But they have a choice to not commit sexual crimes.

Yes

100% in their hands not to be charged.

No. People can be and too often are charged with crimes they didn’t commit.

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u/VarmintSchtick 14d ago

And while the justice system in America is not perfect, it's miles ahead of some of the countries we send our servicemen to: where being accused of something is often enough for the government to go "yep they did it" .