These People Give Us A Bad Name!

[tinybear]

Manila issues rape case subpoenas for U.S. troops


MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine prosecutors issued subpoenas on Tuesday to question six U.S. soldiers accused of gang-raping a Filipino woman in a van after military exercises earlier this month.

Jovencito Zuno, the chief state prosecutor, said the suspects had 10 days to respond with counter affidavits and that he hoped an initial investigation would be completed in 60 days.

The six soldiers, who have not been charged with any offence, remain in U.S. custody in the Philippines after their colleagues aboard the USS Essex left when the military exercises ended.

Manila is a major ally to Washington in the region and both sides say the alleged attack on a 22-year-old woman in the Subic Bay area on November 1 will do nothing to hurt relations.

Still, leftist and women's groups have called for a visiting forces agreement between the two countries to be scrapped and the six U.S. soldiers to be brought under Philippine jurisdiction.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...1.htm&sc=rontz

[brien]

Quote by: tinybear Manila issues rape case subpoenas for U.S. troops MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine prosecutors issued subpoenas on Tuesday to question six U.S. soldiers accused of gang-raping a Filipino woman in a van after military exercises earlier this month. Jovencito Zuno, the chief state prosecutor, said the suspects had 10 days to respond with counter affidavits and that he hoped an initial investigation would be completed in 60 days. The six soldiers, who have not been charged with any offence, remain in U.S. custody in the Philippines after their colleagues aboard the USS Essex left when the military exercises ended. Manila is a major ally to Washington in the region and both sides say the alleged attack on a 22-year-old woman in the Subic Bay area on November 1 will do nothing to hurt relations. Still, leftist and women's groups have called for a visiting forces agreement between the two countries to be scrapped and the six U.S. soldiers to be brought under Philippine jurisdiction. http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...1.htm&sc=rontz

I understand the "outrage." These groups seem not to understand the idea that people are "innocent until PROVEN guilty? At least here in the US. It seems to me that some people here are not waiting until the facts are proven in a court of law. I am NOT writing in defense of guilty people. Just the opposite, I am writing in defense of innocent people who are immediately held responsible and incarcerated for a crime in which they may or may not have commited. I also understand that the Phillipines is not an extension of the Constitutionally protected America. I think it prudent to allow the law to take its course before condemning innocent parties and prematurely calling for agreements to be "null and void" until the "ALLEGED" perpetartors are proven guilty in a court of law.

Phillipine law is obviously different than here in the US. Perhaps the officers of the USS Essex should have taken custody of the alleged rapists and conducted their own court martial but I don't know the law there and whether that was an option. However, the article does state that they are in US custody. What this means we don't know. Are they jailed or just confined to Subic Bay? Perhaps, restraint and a absence of a rush to judgement is the order of the day in this case.

Do you know who are the "leftist and womens groups" cited in this report? I love vague interest groups.