Regarding Billy Fanska's March 9 letter, "Negative rhetoric defeats everyone": Fanska may be right in pointing out that the U.S. military in Japan has the lowest crime rate of any population group in Japan. So much so that he takes outright umbrage at the nation's over-reaction to the recent case in which a U.S. serviceman was suspected of rape.

And as Fanska suggests, it may also be true that "U.S. military people are very dignified and honorable."

However, Fanska should consider the fact that U.S. troops are in Japan supposedly to protect security and freedom for the Japanese people just as law enforcement carries out such functions in society at large. Suppose law enforcement officials, in the face of a social uproar over a criminal act committed by one of their own, countered that people should not get upset because police officers as a whole have "the lowest crime rate of any population group in our society"!

Can't Fanska visualize the sit-com that is played out by the U.S. forces based here when they tout themselves as "invited guests" and "good neighbors"?

yoshio shimoji