Following the tragic rape of a 12-year old Okinawa school girl by three U.S. servicemen in 1995, Secretary of Defense William Perry, perhaps the most respected member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet, invited former Ambassadors Mike Mansfield and Richard L. Armitage to have lunch with him and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Perry, an eminently decent man, was distraught by the tragedy and sought advice of two senior Americans trusted by many Japanese.