Manila: 5 Marines accused of rape

[IndianaGreen]

Winning the hearts and minds!

Manila: 5 Marines accused of rape

Thursday, November 3, 2005; Posted: 8:46 p.m. EST (01:46 GMT)

(CNN) -- The Philippines government will investigate and prosecute to the fullest five U.S. Marines who are accused of raping a Filipino woman earlier this week, the nation's secretary of foreign affairs said Thursday.

"The perpetrators of this heinous crime shall be brought to justice," Alberto Romulo, the Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs, said in a written statement.

"Philippine authorities are currently investigating this crime and we shall pursue this matter with vigor and in accordance with our laws and treaty obligations."

The government has asked the U.S. Embassy in Manila not to allow the five Marines to leave the country and to make the accused "available to Philippine police, investigative and judicial authorities."

Details of the alleged rape were not immediately released.

The United States has forces participating in counterterrorism measures in the Philippines on a rotating basis. The five accused Marines were in the country under the responsibility of the U.S. Embassy.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/03/ppines.marines.rape/index.html

[neuvocat]

1. Uh...who's the terrorist again?

Its getting harder to tell.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Philippine press: 6 US Marines held for rape (USS Essex)

6 US Marines held for rape
Major test for legal provisions of VFA

First posted 00:04am (Mla time) Nov 04, 2005
By TJ Burgonio, Volt Contreras, Patrick Roxas
Inquirer News Service

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT Zone-A 22-year-old Filipino woman has allegedly been raped by six American servicemen in a rented van, in what may well be the first major test of the criminal justice provisions of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement.

Feliciano Salonga, chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), told GMA television news that the driver of the vehicle, a Starex van, had identified the six servicemen. Earlier reports said five Americans were involved in the incident.

<snip>

Salonga said the woman "was hysterical ... without clothes on except a pair of panties."

"It was obvious that she was intoxicated and incoherent," he said. "We gave her a pair of pants to cover herself."

The woman was taken to the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital in nearby Olongapo City for a medico-legal examination. She narrated her story after regaining her faculties.

A complaint filed with the Olongapo prosecutor's office identified the servicemen as Keith Silkwood, Daniel Smith, Albert Lara, Dominic Duplantis, Corey Barris and Chad Carpenter.

First reports said the Americans were from the aircraft carrier USS Essex, which departed yesterday along with the dock landing ship USS McHenry and the amphibious transport dock USS Juneau. The vessels arrived in the Philippines on Oct. 22 to participate in counterterrorism exercises with the Philippine military.

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=55418

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[IndianaGreen]

5. CNN said that details of rape not released, yet the Filipino press...

disclosed the details, including the age of the victims, the particulars of the crime, and the names of the suspects. Why is that? The answer is that CNN, like the rest of MSM, relies on the Pentagon's Public Affairs Office as its source for information, rather than chase the story down.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Pepper32]

11. Huh?

:wtf:

Does anyone else find what this poster saying/implying, very disturbing?

Perhaps it's just me.

[tatertop]

12. just you

[Pepper32]

16. If you say so

Out of curiosity, what exactly did you mean?

Please clarify. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding it, if so I apologize.

[tatertop]

17. I don't read so much into message board chat

On the other hand, the weather is unseasonably warm
in my part of the country.

[Pepper32]

19. hmm

So the noose tying comment wasn't meant to be racist? Just struck me as odd...

Carry on. Enjoy your nice weather. :)

[tatertop]

20. This is cool:

We waited for the stroke of eight:
Each tongue was thick with thirst:
For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate
That makes a man accursed,
And Fate will use a running noose
For the best man and the worst.

[MetaTrope]

3. I thought this was permitted now under the UCMJ?

And isn't it a no-no for a foreign nation to prosecute those American soldiers who may be a little high-spirited?

[Victimerican]

31. They were just a couple of excitable boys! n/t

[Skittles]

7. they should be turned over to their fellow Marines

:(

[tatertop]

14. perhaps

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[merwin]

8. Freaky. I just finished watching the E-Ring about 2 marines accused

of raping a 14 year old girl in Suriname. They turned out to be innocent.

[tatertop]

13. What is E-Ring?

[merwin]

15. New NBC show w/Benjamin Bratt as a pentagon official.

[tatertop]

18. Oh

[Raiden]

9. Disgusting!

Like the US image abroad ain't bad enough--more military rapes

[oregonindy]

10. throw the book at them! or better yet let their bunkmates at em...

they'd tear em apart for shit like that.

[bloom]

37. Would they really?

or would their bunkmates cheer them on with "excitable boy" comments like the one upthread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1899192

I think the rapists being answerable to the criminal justice system of the country they are in - is the best possible outcome.

[Judi Lynn]

21. The article I found also says there were six rapists.

6 US soldiers charged with gang-raping in Philippines

www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-04 16:18:18

MANILA, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Philippine authorities said that the evidence is strong against six US service men accused of gang-raping a 22-year-old Filipina at Subic Bay north of Manila, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
(snip)

"She's staying until the preliminary hearing," he said, adding that the woman's brother have already arrived in Subic from their hometown, and with their parents expected to arrive this weekend.

On Thursday, the six US Marine service men were barred from boarding their departing ship after a witness identified them as the culprits in the alleged gang rape on the All Saints' Day.

Authorities earlier said in a statement the alleged victim was in a karaoke bar when she met the Americans who invited her to go with them in a rented van. A few hours later, witnesses said they saw the woman being dumped unconscious from a van on a road.

The woman is said to be from a well-off family in the southern Philippine province, according to a foreign affairs official who asked not to be named. He added that the six accused Americans arenot officers, but enlisted personnel.
(snip/...)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-11/04/content_3731118.htm
(very slow loading)

[IndianaGreen]

22. In post# 2, the Filipino press names the rapists

and as in your post, provides details of the rape. Contrast that with the assertion by CNN that no details were provided. CNN failed to tell its readers that it was relying exclusively on US military press releases. CNN is taking dictation from the Pentagon instead of doing journalism by chasing the story.

[callady]

23. Cops of the World

Boys will be boys
And guns will be guns

This is of course disgustingly all too common.
Why do they hate US(of A)?

[Judi Lynn]

25. It's CNN's way to ignore the interests of the public, and the very purpose

of journalism. They have also broadcast the very stories shared with them by the right-wing opposition tv and print news outlets in Venezuela for several years.

CNN lies. They do it deliberately. They completely misrepresent the truth of anything important to the public. They have unlimited time for gossip and utter drivel. They mock their profession, but they please the White House.

Had this victem's family NOT been prominent in the Philippines, we no doubt would have never known this happened. They have the clout to make a noise. God knows how many similar acts have happened with absolutely no consequences whatsoever.

[uniden]

39. "rapists?"?

they were found guilty already?

[rainbow4321]

24. US Marines could face death penalty

All the crap that the 24/7 cable news puts on yet 6 US citizens facing a potential death penalty in another country doesn't even get to be a blip on the media radar? Oh, yeah, they are too busy telling us that Natalee is still missing

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2005-daily/12-11-2005/world/w17.htm

MANILA: Six US Marines who have been accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipina student could face a possible death sentence in the Philippines, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said yesterday. "Rape is a heinous crime punishable by death in this country," Gonzales said. He said the Marines can be tried and sentenced in a Philippine court even if they leave the country as long as the country gets jurisdiction of the case.

The American servicemen have been charged by a prosecutor in northern Philippines’ Olongapo City with raping the woman whom they met in a karaoke bar in Subic, a former US Navy base. Based on the testimony of the woman and the driver who says he witnessed the incident, the Marines allegedly brought her to a van where she was raped. The Department of Justice had sent the summonses for the investigation to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which will serve them to the US Embassy.

The alleged rape had been met with public outrage in this former US colony. The latest incident involving American servicemen had left US diplomats working overtime to control the fallout.

Yesterday, a senior American diplomat, Eric G. John, arrived in Manila amid the fracas over the reported rape incident. John, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will engage with Philippine officials in marathon meetings during his two-day visit

[IndianaGreen]

26. Rape case vs GIs 'strong,' says lawyer

Thank you for updating this story, rainbow4321. As you pointed out in your post, you should know that an out-of-breath Rita Cosby spent most of this week reporting on the latest breaking news on that "missing blonde in Aruba" on her fluff of her show on MSNBC.

Rape case vs GIs 'strong,' says lawyer

First posted 00:50am (Mla time) Nov 06, 2005
By Tonette Orejas, Volt Contreras
Inquirer News Service

Information gathered by the Inquirer showed that the rape victim graduated from the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City two or three years ago with a management degree. Her family reportedly runs an eatery inside the Southern Command (Southcom) in Zamboanga City that also caters to US personnel.

Apparently, the soldiers invited the woman away from her sister, Cruz said.

Timoteo Soriano, the driver of the group's rented Starex van, had stated that one of the soldiers pulled at the woman and forced her to ride with them.

"That soldier threatened to break the van's windshield if she didn't ," Cruz said.

This was Soriano's account, according to Cruz:

The van moved slowly along Dewey Avenue inside the freeport. At one point, the group told the driver to park, ordered him to get out and locked him out.

"Magulo, maingay,"(Agitated, noisy) was how the driver described the clangor he heard from outside the van.

"F--k! F--k!" the driver heard the soldiers yelling to the woman, who by that time was shouting for help.

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=55598

[rainbow4321]

27. This must be on the chimp-to-the-media "don't cover this" list

Cuz for the past 24 hrs all they have been talking about is:

Aruba
The on-the-cell-phone bank robber
The lady with the baby stroller that got caught in a subway door <baby and mom are fine>


Silly me...I would think having a single American civilian facing the death penalty in another country would be breaking news, never mind five AMERICAN MARINES. Chimpass just doesn't want yet another international crisis in the news. Maybe instead of doing her dog and pony act in Iraq this week, Condi should have gone to the Philippines.

-------------

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=56232

THE alleged rape of a 22-year-old Filipina by six US Marines on All Saints' Day is the 14th incident involving visiting US military personnel in the Philippines between 2000 to present, Senator Manuel Villar said Friday.

-Vehicular accidents in Zamboanga, Davao del Sur and Puerto Princesa
-An accidental shooting in Zamboanga
-Alleged human waste spillage and oil spill in Subic Bay
-Opposition of the Subanen tribe to the holding of military exercises in their area in Zamboanga
-Involvement of US forces in a firefight with Abu Sayyaf members
-An emergency landing of US helicopters that destroyed a rice field in Zambales
-A mauling incident in Cebu City where three American sailors beat up a taxi driver over fare altercation.


All of these VFA-related incidents were resolved with the Americans simply paying for the harm or damage they had done, he said.
-------------------

Looks like they have <allegedly> now done a crime that they cannot "simply" pay their way out of....

[IndianaGreen]

28. Our troops's rap sheet in the Philippines reads like the one in Okinawa

The ugly American usually wears a military uniform.

[MADem]

29. From looking at all of these reports, I wonder if some of those idiots

weren't going by war stories from grizzled old bastards from back in the day when Olongapo was the wild, wild west (no doubt about it, it was pretty disgusting by any standards). Nowadays, even with Subic converted to the Freeport, it is still not a very savory area of town, but nowhere near as rude and crude as it was back in the day.

No excuse for their behavior, in any event. But then, we aren't recruiting geniuses nowadays, either...

[rainbow4321]

32. Palace denies clearing transfer of 6 U.S. servicemen to Okinawa

Looks like there may be a tug-of-war going on w/ the accused servicemen..I know nothing about the local/national politics over there but I would think having them stay in the country where the alleged attack took place makes sense...especially since other countries don't exactly trust the US nowadays, they sure as hell probably don't want the accused guys back in the hands of a US military base in a different country.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS_FLASH111320054193_2.htm

Malacañang flatly denied Saturday that it has given the green light for the transfer to Okinawa, Japan of the six US servicemen accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipina at the Subic Freeport Zone last November 1.

"The reports that the Palace has cleared the transfer of the accused US marines to Okinawa are erroneous and I ask that they be corrected in the interest of fairness," Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said in a statement this morning.

Bunye reiterated that the trial of the rape case would be held in Olongapo City and the Philippine government has not wavered on its stand to relentlessly pursue justice for the victim in Philippine soils.

Gonzalez added that the President also gave marching orders to the prosecutors handling the rape case "to protect the dignity of the country." The US government, through its Manila Embassy Charge d’Affaires Paul Jones, has expressed willingness to cooperate in resolving the case and indicated it has no intentions of transferring the accused to their Marines base in Okinawa.

[kiraboo]

33. What does intelligence have to do with the violence of rape?

I suspect you didn't mean to make that connection. These are men trained to destroy. How surprising is it that they feel free to do just that?

[Name removed]

34. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bloom]

38. People like the story where the American is innocent

and it's people from another country who are the bad guys.

That's how they want to see the world.

LA LA land.

I'm not going to see the Marines as victims. No matter what punishment they get.

[VegasWolf]

30. Bush can ill afford to lose 5 GIs. Pardon in the works. nt

[MADem]

35. If they are tried in the PI, he has no power to pardon them n/t

[chenGOD]

40. I don't think the Phillippines will ever get jurisdiction...

The military will fly them back to the states and then discharge them.

[maddezmom]

41. locking

No longer latest breaking news.