THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511181651
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
``I think that it was absolutely stupid, I've said several times. For the price they paid to rent the car, they could have had a girl.''
- Adm. Richard C. Macke, commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command
The admiral who commands all U.S. forces in the Pacific was compelled to accept early retirement Friday after suggesting the recent rape in Okinawa of a 12-year-old girl could have been avoided if the three U.S. servicemen accused in the incident had paid for sex instead.
The remark by Adm. Richard C. Macke, who spoke to reporters here over breakfast, threw senior administration officials into a fit of disbelief at a time of already strained U.S.-Japanese relations and after a series of publicized disciplinary problems in the Navy involving mistreatment of women.
Speaking of the Okinawa rape, Macke said, ``I think it was absolutely stupid,'' and added: ``I've said several times, for the price they (the servicemen) paid to rent the car, they could have had a girl.''
After high-level phone calls between the White House and Pentagon, Macke tried at first to mitigate the political uproar by issuing a statement saying he ``made a serious mistake'' and attributing his comment to ``my frustration over the stupidity of this heinous and incomprehensible crime.''
But the apology did not resolve the matter for White House officials. Friday night, a Pentagon spokesman announced that Macke had offered to retire early, and Defense Secretary William J. Perry had accepted the offer. It was not immediately clear when Macke would step down.
The three U.S. servicemen, being tried under Japanese law, have been accused of grabbing the sixth-grader off the streets on the evening of Sept. 4 and raping her in the back seat of their rented car. One of the three, a 22-year-old Navy seaman, has admitted raping the girl; the other two, both Marine privates, have admitted participating in the abduction but not the rape.
Administration officials worried the admiral's comments would further inflame relations with Japan, made all the more sensitive this week by President Clinton's decision to forgo a scheduled summit meeting in Tokyo and remain here to deal with the budget impasse.
Another factor in Macke's removal, the official said, was the U.S. Navy's already tattered reputation since the 1991 Tailhook scandal.
The Navy recently called for a one-day stand down, which has not yet been scheduled, for members to reflect on appropriate behavior between men and women.
The stand down was ordered after a drunken male Navy cook allegedly sexually assaulted a female sailor sitting next to him during a commercial-airline flight out of Norfolk. Twenty other Navy personnel were on the flight and they reportedly did little to stop him, despite her screams and curses.
Macke was chosen to lead the Pacific command last year after the Pentagon's original choice, Adm. Stanley R. Arthur, asked that his nomination be withdrawn rather than submit to lengthy Senate hearings over another sexual harassment case.
Arthur, who since has retired, was accused of mishandling allegations that officers retaliated against Lt. Rebecca Hansen because she had filed a harassment case. Arthur concluded after an investigation that Hansen flunked out of helicopter training because of her poor performance, not - as she alleged - because of retaliation by her colleagues. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Washington Post and staff
writer Dale Eisman.
KEYWORDS: SEXUAL HARASSMENT NAVY DISCIPLINE by CNB