Letter from Jason Moore

Jason Moore wrote

I too feel that the
marines should be prosecuted in the philippines for
this case. If it were a
training accident, then i think perhaps things might
be different, but this
is no accident. Like many people worldwide, crimes
against women and
children committed by men truly anger me like
nothing else can. It doesnt
matter if they are marines, a senator, or just a
private citizen. I do see
some problems about this though, for one, this has
barely made a blip in our
news coverage here. I doubt many people are aware of
what happened outside
of the filipino communities. Unfortunately, this
isnt something that would
make big news here. Secondly, the sentence for rape
is life in prison or the
death penalty correct? Here, its not anywhere near
that severe, and a rapist
can find himself back on the streets after a few
years in prison and some
“treatment” while in prison. There aren’t many
politicians with the courage
to look anti-military by letting 5 or 6 of our
troops be tried in a foreign
country where the punishment is so more severe than
our own punishment.

There was a case in Japan in 1995, where some
sailors raped a twelve year
old girl, and that caused alot of tension in
us/japan relations, and i
believe the trial was held in Japan because the
japanese governement refused
to let the case go, but i believe the japanese may
have arrested the sailor
first and had custody of him. I’m not sure of that
though. That case was on
the news several times then, and was in the publics
eye. I remember the case
from a high school class i was in at that time that
focused on world
affairs. So i think what should be done, is for more
people to pester the
news companies here, and the outspoken ones would be
best, Gloria Alred is
an attorney here who attaches herself to many causes
like this, and while i
dont always agree with her, she is very vocal, well
recognized, and manages
to get on the news all the time, so she would be a
good person to contact
in trying to raise awareness of this. I dont know if
she does it out of
personal goodwilll, or for some other personal
reason, but i must admit, she
has taken up for those that lack the resources to
take a corrupt
organization on. I have emailed my Senator, making
her aware of this case,
and asking her to if she has the opportunity, to
exert pressure on letting
the case be decided there.

> My personal interest in this case is a bit complex.
> First because it offends
> me on a personal level, no matter where it happens.
> Secondly, i have been in
> the philippines 3 times in the last year and a half,
> and am engaged to a
> woman that lives near manila, and i’m looking
> forward to another christmas
> and new years season spent in the philippines. I
> fear that these men thought
> that they could get away with it, since the
> philippines is reguarded as a
> third world country, and that they were do to leave
> so quickly. I hope that
> a message can be sent that just because someone may
> be poor, it doesnt give
> anyone the right to abuse the rights and spirit of
> another person.
Jason Moore
>

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 13th, 2005 at 4:48 pm and is filed under VFA & Subic Rape, INQ7 Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.