Word: woodlands
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...truth is just as maddeningly irrelevant. No one but Woodland and the woman he was with knows what exactly went on that night. Both parties' allegations are firm, if irreconcilable: she says rape, he says consensual sex. Ideally, the case would come down to police work, lawyers' arguments, witness testimony and an impartial judiciary. But this is Okinawa in 2001, and a black American serviceman stands accused of raping a Japanese woman. Which means an already murky case has been churned into a raging whirl by nationalist politics, screaming media, a half-century of dammed-up local grief and?roiling...
...rest of the world, the central question of the trial seems clear: did Timothy Woodland rape her, or didn't he? But in Okinawa, nothing is ever so simple...
...consent, nor are her sexual history or any particular proclivities or preferences. In the U.S. today, a woman's lifestyle and sexual history wouldn't be relevant. Here, they can invalidate rape charges altogether. Given what we know about the events surrounding the incident, the case against Timothy Woodland may never even have led to his indictment. If Timothy Woodland were a Japanese...
...Timothy Woodland was born in 1976, and grew up in Hampton Roads, Virginia. He enlisted in 1995, and, after a stint on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, was shipped out to these islands four years ago. Woodland lived and worked on Kadena Air Force Base as a member of the Air Force 353rd Special Operations Group. His duty assignment was to select the best-suited aircraft to fly each mission scheduled at the base. His military record is unremarkable except for an achievement medal awarded in 1997. "He was a pretty quiet guy, and he was always playing...
...Incensed over the perceived foot-dragging after the accusation against Woodland was aired, hundreds of Okinawans protested. The uproar reached all the way to President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, upsetting their first summit meeting in Washington. Okinawan politicians, sensing an opportunity, lunged once again for the brass ring: they demanded the SOFA be revised. Koizumi agreed it needed work; U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a visit in mid-July, flatly refused. Outrage mounted to a point that it seemed almost an offering to better U.S.-Japan relations when the Air Force did, eventually, give...