Charges Dropped Against Okinawa Rape Suspect Hardnott

For non-specific reasons, the family of the girl that was the alleged victim of rape by the Okinawan marine has dropped the charges. The family cited reasons such as wanting to maintain privacy, and not wanting to go through the trouble of pursuing the case as reasons for dropping the charges.

It may be that the long drawn out process would probably also involve bringing the girl’s lifestyle, and other issues into question which could cause the family some embarrassment. If Hardnott is telling the truth and the girl overstated what happened to her, there could also end up being other consequences or civil suits against her family similar to what would happen in the US.

We’ll probably never know what really happened. I just feel bad for all the military folks in Okinawa who got locked down and curfewed because of this.

One other comment I’d like to make is that I am still uncomfortable with the idea that government officials in the US, including Condoleeza Rice have been apologizing about this incident for a while. Obviously somebody did something wrong, and this poor junior high school kid had something scary happen to her… but I don’t think it’s appropriate for people to be apologizing after just an accusation. It kind of goes against the whole idea of someone being innocent until proven guilty. Diplomacy before individual rights?