RAPE OF AN INNOCENT, DISHONOR IN THE RANKS

The scheme took shape, according to Japanese police, early in the evening of Monday, Sept. 4, the Labor Day holiday for Americans. Four U.S. servicemen stationed on Okinawa, home base to 29,000 American troops, met at a disco in Naha, the island's main city, and talked about grabbing an Okinawan girl and having some "fun." One man quickly backed out, but, he later told investigators, the other three, two Marines and a sailor, decided to cruise the seaside boulevards in search of prey.

After a few drinks, but still far from drunk, they left in a rented white Subaru sedan and headed toward Camp Hansen, home of a Marine Corps base, about 25 miles away on the island's east side. At about 8 p.m. they spotted a girl walking alone on a well-lighted stretch of road lined with storefronts and homes. The 12-year-old elementary school student had walked five minutes from her home to buy a notebook for school, which had begun just three days earlier.

The Subaru stopped alongside the girl, and two men got out. They said something to her in English, which she did not understand. Before she knew what was happening, they had thrown her into the back seat of the car, where they bound her eyes, mouth, arms and legs with tape. A little more than half a mile up the road, they parked, pulled their victim from the car and carried her to a deserted stretch of beach. They tore off the tape, and for 15 minutes at least two of the men raped her, before driving away.

The crime was far from the first or even the worst committed by American troops in the half-century they have been stationed in Japan. Nonetheless, the Okinawa rape is the biggest shock to the U.S.-Japan security alliance in years. Last week major Japanese newspapers called for a revision of the agreement governing the presence of U.S. forces in their country, and some even questioned Japan's $4.8 billion contribution to the upkeep of the 94 U.S. military facilities located there.

Masahide Ota, Okinawa's Governor, flew to Tokyo to lodge a protest with U.S. Ambassador Walter Mondale and the Japanese government. Ota and most other Okinawans want the island's 40 American facilities, which occupy 20% of its land, to be moved elsewhere. Now that the Russian threat to Japan has receded, many Okinawans have lost patience with daily live-fire exercises, roaring F-15 jets and rowdy American service members. Polls show that as many as 80% of the islanders want the bases either closed or greatly reduced in size. "The people," says Ota, "are fed up with the problems that go with living so close to huge bases in a small area."

Hardly anyone in Washington or Tokyo believes the current furor will lead to the closing of the bases. They are still important for Japan's defense, especially given tensions with North Korea and China, as well as for the credibility of the U.S. security commitment to Asia. In 1991 U.S. Marines and logistics units based in Okinawa played a crucial part in the Gulf War. Nonetheless, the uproar made U.S. officials uneasy because this week Tokyo and Washington plan to sign a five-year agreement covering Japan's financial contribution to the support of the American troops. In addition, President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama plan to stress the importance of their countries' defense ties during the November meeting in Osaka of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.