US military abroad - era of "welcome" unraveling?

Title: Message

While this particular incident may be dust because it is insignificant in itself, the accumulation of such sentiments (into historical sediment) in different places will continue to be a factor against the US lever of change toward world-empire.  NATO's expansion, is a factor in the opposite direction.

Elson

 

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Asia/2002/11/21/1037842727.htm

 

Military acquittal of U.S. sergeant roils South Korea

2002-11-21 / Associated Press /

DONGDUCHEON, South Korea

A U.S. military jury yesterday acquitted an American soldier of negligent homicide charges in the road deaths of two South Korean girls. Activists angrily dismissed the trial as a sham and said they would hold protests.

Sgt. Fernando Nino, the commander of a mineclearing vehicle that hit the girls, smiled and hugged his wife, Trishia, after he was found not guilty in a three-day court martial. The prosecutor, Capt. Sean Kilkenny, shook Nino's hand and said, "Congratulations."

Nino would have faced up to six years in a U.S. prison if convicted in the deaths of the 14-year-old girls on June 13 near the border with North Korea.

Col. Kurt Stein, one of the seven members of the jury, announced the verdict after three hours of deliberations. The prosecutor cannot appeal. Nino's driver, Sgt. Mark Walker, will be tried on the same charges beginning today.

South Koreans had earlier held protests to demand that the two men be tried in a South Korean court, saying the legal code that governs the 37,000 U.S. soldiers in South Korea allows many GI crimes to go unpunished.

"We expected the military court to acquit Nino because the case was not thoroughly investigated and prosecutors did not have enough evidence," said Lee So-hee, spokeswoman of a civic group called National Campaign for Eradication of Crime by U.S. Troops in Korea.

"The trial was a superficial stunt designed to diffuse rising anger among South Korean people," Lee said.

Choi Keun-ho, another activist, described the court martial as "a trial of an accomplice by accomplices" and said 10 activists planned a weeklong protest outside the White House beginning Dec. 2.

This week, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard and Gen. Leon LaPorte, the U.S. commander in South Korea, apologized for the deaths of the girls and said the trials would show the fairness of the U.S. military judicial system.

The vehicle was going uphill and around a bend in a rural area when it hit the girls. The U.S. military often conducts exercises in and near civilian areas, which is sometimes a source of tension in crowded South Korea.

In a closing statement, the prosecutor said Nino wasn't paying attention and did not notice soldiers in an oncoming Bradley fighting vehicle who were shouting and signaling at him to stop. He also said Nino had at least 10 seconds to stop the vehicle before it hit Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun.

But the defense lawyer, Maj. Robert Broughton, said there was no evidence that Nino was not paying attention and that he had tried in vain to warn Walker through the vehicle's defective communication system.

The trial was held at Camp Casey, a U.S. military base north of Seoul.

Soldiers in mineclearing vehicles, known as AVLMs, communicate through helmet microphones because of the loud engine noise. The system also allows them to communicate with company commanders.

Nino, whose hometown was not released, and Walker, of Acworth, Georgia, belong to the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division.

Under a bilateral defense treaty, the U.S. military has jurisdiction over American soldiers accused of crimes while on duty, though it can allow South Korea to try them on a case-by-case basis.

Elson Boles
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Sociology
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center
Saginaw MI, 48710