“Comfort Women” Resolution Passes U.S. House Committee Vote 39-2

[LeighAnn]

Source: Donga (South Korea)

The House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted Resolution 121, which condemns Japan’s sexual enslavement of women for its army during World War II yesterday, and called for the Japanese Prime Minister’s official apology. The house committee passed Resolution 121, submitted by Rep. Michael Honda on January 31 and signed by 151 members of the House of Representatives, by an overwhelming vote of 39-2.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, a critical figure in taking the resolution to the House floor for a vote, expressed her support in a statement right after the passing of the bill, “I look forward to the House of Representatives passing the resolution and sending a strong message that we will not forget the tremendous suffering endured by comfort women.”


The resolution is highly likely to be approved by a large margin in the full House since the House speaker showed her strong support for the resolution in last February.


The resolution was partially watered down compared to the previous one submitted by Rep. Honda. Chairman Rep. Tom Lantos suggested a partial revision of the bill and Rep. Honda accepted the offer after consulting with some chiefs of the Korean American Association on Monday, said a source familiar with Congress.


Read more: http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2007062854028

---

The first I've heard of this...

[The Stranger]

1. That was 50 fucking years ago -- isn't there a war going on now they can address?

Most likely the current war has "comfort women" currently being enslaved, murdered, tortured, shocked and awed, raped and anything else the Neocons can think of.

[redqueen]

3. yeah but this was easy

no risk of losing $$$$ on this one

[AndreaCG]

9. Hell, US servicewomen are afraid to go to the bathrom at night

For fear of being raped. Not by insurgents but their fellow soldiers.

At least one has died from overheating and dehydration.

[TheWraith]

10. Actually, that's a myth which has been debunked.

Somebody went through all the female casualties during the period when the death had allegedly taken place, and accounted for all of them. The "death by dehydration" story is either a rumor which was repeated as fact, or someone's outright fabrication.

[Exiled in America]

18. I'd like to see srouces for your claim and the claim to which you are responding.

Right now, you're both just saying stuff without reference of any kind.

Not that I don't want to believe my fellow DUers, but you're saying contradictory things. So could someone help point me to source info so I can see for myself? :)

[TheWraith]

27. Here you go.

The original claim is apparently from Truthout, which isn't exactly a reliable source; most of the versions I've seen have been filtered through the Vermont Guardian.

http://www.vermontguardian.com/dailies/022006/020806.shtml

Here's the link debunking it.

http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2007/03/karpinski_salon_lies_and_pitif.php

[Exiled in America]

57. THANK YOU! Reading this tonight after dinner. :)

DU reports. I decide hee hee. :)

[Joe Chi Minh]

45. Why on earth would you believe the official figures put out by this

Administration, particularly as regards casualties and the deaths of service personnel?

I have never done so, since this war's inception, and indeed I believe that the drastic, but routine minimisation of the figures that were being put out are old news.

Would you put such incidents of rape of their own beyond the sort of individuals who would torture, humiliate and sometimes rape the men women and children brought into Abu Ghraib. They probably do it to their own children.

News management is this Administration's speciality, and in relation to a war, the very fact of the so-called "embedding" of journalists tells us all we need to know about the subject.

[TheWraith]

49. Ask the people at ICasualties.org. They'll tell you that that sort of thing can't be covered up.

You can minimize the number by not talking about it, but you can't actually hide casualties. There's simply way too many levels of accounting, too much disclosure, to even think about a successful coverup for more than a few days, maybe a few weeks at the most, and after that you're neck deep in snapping turtles.

Put it this way: every casualty's name is a matter of public record once the family has been notified. How do you think a family would react if their dead loved one's name wasn't reflected on the rolls? How do you think the private funeral parlors would react if they noticed that the cause of death for a given soldier wasn't what it was claimed to be? Or if fellow soldiers emails and messages home mentioned a dead friend who wasn't dead according to the Army?

The only "hidden" casualties in this was are the deaths of civilian contractors and mercenaries, who don't get reported as part of the military casualties.

[Joe Chi Minh]

52. I think you underestimate this Administration's propensity for achieving

its goals by menaces, and overestimate the synthesis of all the data they would have permitted.

[TheWraith]

61. No, I don't. I just don't overestimate them or their competance. NT

[Socal31]

32. Wow....just wow.

I personally know several US service women who are not "afraid to go to the bathroom at night."

Can you please source your information? Or are you just saying that to cause a stir?


Before you piss on our male soldiers (Im positive some are DU'ers children), please provide data to back up your claim.

[humus]

37. What happens on Saturday nite ?

Fraternizing w/ Iraqi women is not allowed yet there are
tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers which are thousands of miles from western culture
What is their outlet? What happens on Saturday nite leave?
Are there imported ladies of the nite and brothels /shanty towns? Oasises?

[donsu]

40. no - R&R is out of the country.

nt

[Nihil]

44. And the punchline springs to mind ...

"Oh no sir - we only use the camel to ride into the village ..."
:)

[Socal31]

48. Concensual sex with a prostitute,

and raping someone are two far different things.

[pnorman]

11. No, this is IMPORTANT, if only symbolically.

Likewise with the actions a while back to compensate the Japanese-Americans for their incarceration during WW2.

War is ghastly enough for the combatants; presumably they "signed up". But a firm line MUST be drawn about civilians --- "freebies" to some combatants. I recall reading somewhere that civilians constituted 10% of war casualties in WW1 --- 50% in WW2 --- 70% in VN --- and 90% in Iraq!

pnorman

[me b zola]

30. Or how about the sex slaves in the Mariana islands?

--oops, that is US facilitated/approved.

[marshall]

35. Hey, what about th e Spanish Inquisition?

My Jewish ancestors were run out of Spain in the 15th century, had to flee to Italy. Then thank goodness the progressive minded Henry VIII hired them as court musicians.

And the family is STILL waiting for restitution or even an apology from Spain!

[The Stranger]

36. Cue the Mel Brooks song from History of the World, Part I.

[donsu]

39. bite your tongue - lots of us women were around 50 yrs. ago and we

are sincerely happy the comfort women (sex slaves) are finally getting acknowledgment and justice.

women are big on justice. we don't forget.

[Solly Mack]

2. hmmmm

hmmmmm

[Miss Chybil]

4. Can we get to something a little more current, relevant and pressing? nt

[Dr. Strange]

38. In a moment,

first we need a resolution that expresses our regret at the loss of the Library at Alexandria.

And maybe something on the Pompeii thing.

[donsu]

41. still today, we mourn the loss of the Library of Alexandria

nt

[Demeter]

5. I Had Such Great Hopes For Nancy Pelosi

I thought she would have the steel to see the job through. My mistake.

She's just a cream puff, a nice little snack for Cheney and W.

What a waste of potential.

[atreides1]

7. The problem

The problem is that those in leadership positions have shown that they possess no leadership abilities.

The ones with courage have been muzzled!

[LostinVA]

6. Good

Japan should be made to pay all of the surviving women mega bucks.

[donsu]

42. agree

nt

[Bucky]

8. Who on earth voted against condemning rape?

Sure, it's symbolic act on one level. On the other level, the Japanese government needs some negative feedback from the world about ongoing right wing attempts to deny Japanese war time atrocities against civilians. Some people who've spoken out in favor of Japan apologizing for the rape of "comfort women" have been subject to terroristic violence (including their houses being burned). Japan faces a small but growing and not-too-underground fascist movement. They need to be shamed into cracking down on it.

And whoever on the US house panel voted in favor of rape needs to be called out.
.

[LostinVA]

12. Not just rape, but enslaved rape

I agree with you. And, to add insult to injury, is the recent spinning of Nippon's government officials saying the women WANTED to be there, they were EMPLOYEES.

UGH.

I'd like to know who the two are, too.

[melnjones]

63. I'm glad someone on DU has some sense.

Thanks for your post.

[MuseRider]

13. Atta girl Nancy!

This must be some of the important work they could not do if they were to worry about impeachment. Why is this country and everyone in it always demanding apologies from someone? Yes this was terrible but does anyone really believe we never did anything like this? Hypocrites all.

I would have been all for a note of condemnation for what they did way back when it was topical but now?

[LostinVA]

16. This is important

[MuseRider]

20. I do understand that

I posted in haste with sarcasm but it was probably not stated as well as it should have been. The point I was really trying to make is that it is hypocritical, I mean who in the hell on this planet would listen to us as a moral authority? I do not think it is our place to do this, just ask the women in the Philippines.

The sentiment is fine and important but the hypocrisy and he timing stink.

[charlie]

23. Sop to China

"Comfort" women and Nanking are still a sore spot between the countries, and it flared up again this last week when a bunch of Japanese ministers claimed the reported numbers of victims was a fabrication.

[LostinVA]

25. Ah -- got it!

[LeFleur1]

43. Important

"This must be some of the important work they could not do if they were to worry about impeachment"

This is important to women everywhere. I suppose it might not be important to all those macho men who don't give a shit as long as they can use the 'comfort women'.

This place reads like a right wing website.

[MuseRider]

54. Did you not bother to read

any more after you read my first post and decided what I said made this place look like a right wing website?

Yup, a rabid RWer here. :eyes:

[LeFleur1]

62. Offending

Re: Right Wing. I wasn't just referring to the comments concerning the unimportance attached to the forced prostitution during an earlier time. The sad thing about this issue is that kind of thing concerning women is going on today, and probably worse in the middle east, due to the Bush trade off for support in the Islam world. Condemning it during an earlier time is very very good, but how about a little condemnation for today's repression and torture of women.

The right wing comment was made because of the tone of DU lately. Discussion is good, but tearing down candidates in a right wing manner is not. It lowers the debate...as Elizabeth Edwards so eloquently told Nasty Ann.

[dkofos]

14. Seems like a waste of time to bother with this 60 yr old crap.

[LostinVA]

19. I'm sure survivors of the US internment camps would disagree with you

Or POW survivors who are still trying to get some redress.

[Henny Penny]

22. Seems like. ...to some.....but isn't....

Those women and their families still care.

And besides that, by not condemning this previously the US was aligning itself totally with Japan. Now it has recognised the atrocity it is also recognising the inportance of China's interests.

This issue is a very big one in China and has supposedly been a constant barrier to good Japanese/Chinese relations....

So it is very important to those involved personally and an interesting straw in the wind...

[Exiled in America]

15. Look, I want to be sensitive to the past, but there are several reasons why this pisses me off.

First -- its JAPAN. What the fucking hell is our Congress wasting time with a pointless resolution about another countries 60 year old affairs?

Second -- in light of the critically URGENT matters our Congress should be taking up on behalf of THIS COUNTRY I am understandably irritated that somehow this is what our congress is choose to "get done." Our representatives won't stand strong on a timetable for ending our criminal occupation of a foreign country, but they will pass a (and I'm sorry that this is the case) totally meaningless resolution about something another country did sixty years ago.

I'm sorry, but that irritates me. I think it is very important that we remember humanities history, and that certainly INCLUDES drawing important attention to the tragic circumstances of women enslaved. But I DO NOT think it is the job of Congress to do this!

[LostinVA]

17. Global crimes and injustices against women are important

Especially when a sovereign nation with excellent ties to the US refuses to acknowledge what they did wrong.

[Exiled in America]

21. My God, do people around here *EVER* read?

How many times did I say in my post that I know its important???

Of course its important. Does that mean a meaningless gesture wasting the time of congress is the best way to show just how important global crimes against woman really are?

hell no.

In fact, it ought to be seen as a patronizing insult to women by a do-nothing congress that would rather pass arbitrary and pointless resolutions about other countries rather than focusing on the problems of our own!

What would be much more meaningful, is the focus of historians, historical organizations, and international human rights groups on lasting, meaninful ways to draw attention to the historical can continuing epidemic of violence and exploitation against women globally.

I'm sorry, but this stupid resolution from Congress doesn't do that. It only "draws attention" to what a fucking disappointment this Congress is.

[LostinVA]

24. Yes, I do read and did read what you wrote -- you don't need to be so condescending

And, I still disagree with you that it was meaningless. Obviously you read MY post and disagree with it, so why can't I read YOUR post and think you're completely wrong?

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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

[Exiled in America]

55. you just said you're not convinced its important.

...and you're responding to me?

"Does not sound like a ringing endorsement of its importance"

Right, ignoring the jackass comment, I would say you're dead on. Because its NOT important. The issue of violence and oppression against women is very important. Which is what I said. That doesn't mean Congress is the appropriate body to do something significant about it, or make a meaningful remembrance, or anything of the sort.

I listed plenty of alternatives that would do much much more to honor the memory of the brave women who were so painfully abused by the Japanese Amry during the war.

Congress should be only about the business of saving this country from total disaster right now. But since it has not guts or balls to do anything necessary to stop the war, or to hold this runaway criminal administration (Cheney anyone?) accountable, it has PLENTY of time to focus on this stuff.

Just because a person like me things that congress is the wrong body at the wrong time to be focusing on this, doesn't mean the issue isn't important. Anymore than the fact that I don't fault the National Football League for failing to have a campaign in remembered of the human rights abuses endured by "comfort" women in the second world war. It's a very important topic perhaps not best addressed by the NFL.

I feel similarly about Congress right now, at this particular point in our nations history where everything teeters on the edge.

That's not "flailing." That's reasonable.

[Chovexani]

29. Resolutions like these are never meaningless.

Symbolic gestures can be powerful statements. This is shedding light on what is a forgotten chapter of history to many people--it just isn't taught in schools (I know I didn't learn about it until I was older).

Should this resolution be the end of it? No, of course not. But it's not without merit, nor is it a waste of time. No gesture acknowledging wrongs perpetrated against any member of the human family is a waste of time, IMO, no matter how simple it is.

[Exiled in America]

56. It loses meaning when it is done by the wrong organization.

See my post above.

At this time in our nations history, Congress is the absolute dead wrong body to be taking time away from what its one and only agenda should be - saving this country before its destroyed by lunatics. Doing so amounts to total negligence of its constitutional duties, which do NOT include passing ceremonial resolutions chastizing other countries, but do include defending the sanctity and integrity of the constitution of the united states of America, providing checks and balances to the executive and judicial branches, and seeking to enact laws that will promote and defend the principles of the constitution.

When we're not in the middle of a crisis, then congress may once again have time for cerimonial or sentimental gestures. But right now, focusing on this instead of on the fact that our country is being demolished from the inside out by a corrupt and vile administration that refuses to follow the law is tatamount to criminal negilgence of their duties.

In the meantime, I strongly believe there are many organizations both nationally and internationally - organizations that are chartered to do this kind of work, who can do a much better job of both chastizing the Japanese if needed and honoring and remembering the tragic circumstances of these women.

[Caution]

26. This is IMPORTANT. There are still women alive who suffered through this

and the current Japanese Prime Minister basically got into power because he denied this abhorrent practice ever existed. This was a war crime and it should be explicitly apologized for by the Japanese government.

[Screwfly]

33. I sure the surviving women

will be impressed by the crocodile tears coming from Washington. This is just typical of our fucking government; wait half a century or more to acknowledge some crap after most of the people involved are already dead.

[Nihil]

34. Yeah right ...

> This was a war crime and it should be explicitly apologized for by
> the Japanese government.

Let's hope it gets through so that in 60 years the US government has
to abide by precedent and apologise for the current war crimes that
neither Congress nor Senate care about.

:eyes:

As someone else said upthread, you can tell that there are no votes or
lobbyist dollars riding on this topic ...

[David__77]

31. Lantos helped water this down.

He supports the criminal aggression against Iraq and has other terrible foreign policy views, and now he does this to insult the Korean people and downgrade the crimes of Japan. I sincerely hope the people of his district find better representation soon.

[Freddie Stubbs]

47. He won the Democratic primary and general election by landslides last year

Primary:

Robert M. Barrows 5,401 7.3 %
Tom Lantos 61,510 83.3 %
Kevin Hearle 6,973 9.4 %

http://primary2006.sos.ca.gov/Returns/usrep/1200.htm

General:

Tom Lantos (Dem) 138,650 76.1 %
Michael Moloney (Rep) 43,674 23.9 %

http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/usrep/1200.htm

[brentspeak]

58. Weren't you tombstoned for all your bizarre rants and Democrat-bashing?

How'd you get back on here?

[David__77]

60. I'm a Democrat and I support Democrats.

I will retract what I said with regard to Rep. Lantos. If the Korean representatives were OK with it, as they indicated to Rep. Honda, then I suppose it's fine. But I think the original resolution was more appropriate and did a better job of respecting those who were victimized as sex slaves.

[mountainvue]

46. Wow. I'm glad we got that one out of the way. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

50. So has the U.S. apologized yet?

In the early months of the American occupation of Japan, U.S. servicemen took full advantage of those same "comfort women."

[VLC98]

51. So, I'm not losing my mind then.

About a month ago, I read about US troops using these women. I'm quite sure it was on CNN.com, but when I went back to look for it, I couldn't find anything of the sort. Do you have any links?

[Bonobo]

53. Here. "Post WW II history: U.S. role in providing 'comfort women"

The U.S. occupation leadership provided the Japanese government with penicillin for comfort women servicing occupation troops, established prophylactic stations near the RAA brothels and, initially, condoned the troops’ use of them, according to documents discovered by Tanaka.

Occupation leaders were not blind to the similarities between the comfort women procured by Japan for its own troops and those it recruited for the GIs.

A Dec. 6, 1945, memorandum from Lt. Col. Hugh McDonald, a senior officer with the Public Health and Welfare Division of the occupation’s General Headquarters, shows U.S. occupation forces were aware the Japanese comfort women were often coerced.

“The girl is impressed into contracting by the desperate financial straits of her parents and their urging, occasionally supplemented by her willingness to make such a sacrifice to help her family,” he wrote. “It is the belief of our informants, however, that in urban districts the practice of enslaving girls, while much less prevalent than in the past, still exists.“

http://www.insidenova.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=ISN%2FMGArticle%2FISN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173351046669&path=!news

[VLC98]

59. Thanks for the info...

even though reading the article made me feel sick.