Operation Tomodachi Sailors Sue Japan: “Pay $100 Million!”
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Dec 28, 2012 12:19 JST
- Tags: Accidents, Crime, Earthquakes, Fukushima, Litigation, Military, Politics, US Military, USA
US sailors who helped the quake-stricken Japanese as part of “Operation Tomodachi” are now suing them for exposing them to radiation.
8 sailors from the US carrier “Ronald Reagan” who participated in the US military’s “Operation Tomodachi” efforts to aid beleaguered areas are suing the operators of the plant which spewed radiation over western Japan, alleging they have all potentially suffered horrendous radiation poisoning.
They say the Japanese government and the plant’s operator TEPCO (now semi-nationalised as the price for getting out of similar lawsuits) lied about the radiation dangers the plant’s open reactors posed, and consequently caused them to be deployed into unsafe areas.
They are demanding $10 million in compensation for a “lifetime of radiation poisoning and suffering,” along with a further $30 million for allegedly covering up the extent of the disaster, and for good measure another $100 million to provide for any future medical expenses.
TEPCO have so far declined to comment on the litigation, saying they have yet to see the details.
As nobody has formally been held accountable for the nuclear disaster in Japan, let alone actually punished, there does not seem to be much chance of Japanese authorities going along with the suit – nor of much of a payout should Japan’s stingy courts be involved.
So far there have been no confirmed incidences of radiation related health damage as a result of the disaster, although of course large tracts of the prefecture remain indefinitely evacuated precisely as a precaution against this.
Most of the fallout in fact seems now to be poisoning the reputation of the US in Japan:
“Who needs friends like these…”
“Shouldn’t they be suing the US military rather than TEPCO?”
“So this is the real reason for Operation Tomodachi!”
“All for nothing now.”
“Operation Extortion.”
“So the Yanks were just pretending to be our friends all along… How very American.”
“Gangster diplomacy, as usual.”
“This is horrible…”
“And just one idiot can ruin the whole thing. You hairy barbarians, call yourselves our friends!?”
“I would have thought the US military were far better informed about what was going on than anyone else.”
“Nobody would believe they didn’t know exactly what was happening with all their drones and spies.”
“Thank goodness for this alliance!”
“If they actually win this it could open the floodgates for people to get real compensation here as well. Good luck, I hope you get the bastards!”
“What does anyone expect from Americans and their love of lawsuits?”
“How much injury does it take to be considered a victim? Full paralysis?”
“Japanese are weak to foreign pressure. For the sake of the victims here, I hope they win.”
“This lawsuit is to be expected! The naive Japanese played right into the hands of the nuclear power camp.”
“The case is being brought in a US federal court. Somehow I expect they will have trouble enforcing claims made against a Japanese regional power utility.”
“I guess our electricity bills will be going up again.”
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Just as keikaku, I'm sure.
The soldiers knew the risks, and at the same time, they are also required to be given accurate information from our so-called 'friend' about the situation, regardless of whether they are going into danger knowingly or not. This is a matter of mutual trust and information sharing.
Military took emergency measures in a very short amount of time, mobilizing vast resources to help out people of japan in this time of need, which made them take much of what japanese government and tepco said at their word, trusting them that they would be putting through truthful information about radiation and level of contamination.
Americans assumed that japan would place the dangers to its citizens as the priority and attempt to at least secretly transmit the right information to their helpers.
Not only did they lie to their own citizens, they lied to US forces about the dangers present. US military would have picked volunteers to go in anyway, and they did have rough estimate of radiation poisoning. They got their boots on the ground anyway, with marines, sailors, emergency fire departments working alongside japanese people in the same place.
The main core of this problem is not really that these sailors are poisoned or not. The main problem is the japanese attitude of being disrespectful to anyone for the sake of saving its own face, shown clearly by lying to their own citizens, their helpers, and anyone else they felt like doing so.
This is really more of an expression of frustration and hatred towards those japanese cowards who thinks their little pride should take priority over basic courtesy of being at least discretely truthful to those they are supposed to protect (citizens) and their allies (Americans) in times of emergency.
Japanese flaws are on full display, and while I do think these sailors should be reprimanded for making themselves look like this, right now japanese are not looking particularly decent in lying to their own citizens and helpers just trying to recover lost face.
Ughm...
Who the hell do I support?
Nobody. Humans are all assholes!
> 8 people are acting like idiots
> WOW THE US MILITARY IS RETARDED AND HORRIBLE!!! LETS BAD MOUTH THEM FOR A WHILE AND IGNORE THE FACT THAT THEY STEPPED IN AND HELPED US IN A TIME OF CRISIS!
Yeah, seems about right. Hopefully those folks are just the minority; a few buggers on the internet who like yapping at any topic that pops up.
Well, it is the US, lol.
And how much help did the country you live in put forth when japan-land got nailed up the ass, hard and fast with no lube, by a horrible bout of weather?
Do you only watch North American news? PLENTY of other countries helped put during the disaster. The US wasn't even the first country that offered help.
Operation Tomodachi cost about $80-$90 million, and these 8 military men are asking for $100 million in compensation for radiation--I'm sorry for those soldiers for getting poisoned, but one of the comments, "All for nothing now," isn't too far from the truth at this point.
@13:00 I wasn't even talking about
that, more about the relation because I know their isn't exactly the nicest banter between Japan and America among the citizens, iirc and from a bit of experience (albeit judging nationality beforehand.) So all in all, the responses are not surprising. And that was assuming he was talking about the response on the article.
Also, Canada, South Korea helped a lot. :3
But @13:22 is pretty much right. Not too far off.
How are they being idiots?
If these soldiers were exposed to toxic levels of radiation because TEPCO out right lied about the radiation levels, they are well within their rights to seek compensation.
Even if you think $100 million sounds excessive, you have to realize that depending on the severity of the exposure, these men could be looking at a life time of chronic and acute health problems.
Furthermore, someone, ANYONE, needs to hold TEPCO accountable for their blatant disregard of safety when they lied about the radiation levels, and if it takes a group of US sailors to do it, than so be it, if the suit is successful, it will open the doors for other victims to step forward, who have almost certainly been suffering in silence, believing that there was nothing they could do.
Most of the US military refused to even step on Japanese soil and stayed far far away in their ship, not wanting to help... while dozens of other countries had men and women working side by side with the victims of this disaster.
Yes, they may have been exposed to some radiation, but probably more by (for example) playing Angry Birds on the phone than hiding in the seas and later yell "I am the boss for I am America! So awesome! Bow before me, you weak creatures!". And now they demand compensation for it? Yes, they are idiots. I do believe most aren't, but it only takes a few to make all look bad.
Since Sankaku often hate the Chinese, imagine if those were Chinese. Imagine if they demanded compensation for sending humanitarian help (and then just stand there staring for a while before acting). Would you react the same way? Wake up and grow up.
> Yes, they may have been exposed to some radiation, but probably more by (for example) playing Angry Birds on the phone
I was going to provide a lengthy counter argument, but then I realized I could just quote this one line to prove how much of a dumbass troll you are.
>I was going to provide a lengthy counter argument, but then I realized I could just quote this one line to prove how much of a dumbass troll you are.
I was going to provide a lengthy counter argument, but then i realized i could just quote this one line to prove how you just got owned and can't think of anything to rebut the facts that anon posted.
>I was going to provide a lengthy counter argument, but then i realized i could just quote this one line to prove how you just got owned and can't think of anything to rebut the facts that anon posted.
How about the fact that Operation Tomodachi happened in the first place? Talking about a lack of US military involvement here flies in the face of the fact that this lawsuit is even possible.
LOL what a bitch. Watch where you put your mouth and know some facts before bitching like a slut in heat.
US sailors, emergency personnel, all were there right besides the japanese passing out supplies, cleaning up debris, and getting people out of the hot zone. We weren't the ones with soliders like japs who exposed himself in public because he would rather be arrested than go to fukushima.
Who's the pussy? Japs are.
They WOULD be well within their rights, they're seeking compensation from the wrong people. If it was an AMERICAN military operation and they were given faulty information by the AMERICAN military, who didn't bother to verify the information they were given by TEPCO...as employees of the military, it's not on TEPCO. I did my time in the Army, and I don't blame the nation of Iraq for any injuries (mental, physical, etc.) just because they happened to happen in Iraq. If this was because the military screwed them, they're looking to the wrong people for their (ridiculously exorbitant) compensation.
The US military (at the time)had no reason to doubt TEPCO and it makes perfect sense to defer to the local experts who should know more about their plant and the situation. Had TEPCO given the military the correct information, the operation would have been adjusted accordingly. So know, the full blame falls on TEPCO for lying in the first place.
Conduit,
You're wrong. I don't know if you were ever in the military, but that's not how it works. The military is responsible for its own people, and that means *it* is accountable for what happens to them. If you are ordered to go to Point X, you go there. And if that order causes Bad Thing to happen to you, then that's *our military's* responsibility. *That* is how it works.
You act as if we don't have radiation monitoring equipment and had to rely on TEPCO for that sort of information. Wrong. We have our own stuff. We were perfectly capable of determining the radiation and contamination levels where we deployed our people. I'm sure we *did* do so. This is a frivilous lawsuit because if they were serious, they'd be suing the US Government, not Japan, just like that Agent Orange thing in Vietnam, or the "Persian Gulf Syndrome" from the 1991 Gulf War. The fact that they're *not* suing the US Government for this make it pretty clear that this is a cash grab and nothing more.
Not that I particularly disagree with your comments, but I think that there are many parties involved who all ought to shoulder some of the responsibility. Their combined actions spell a bleak future for the rest of us.
A $100 million is almost small enough to be lost in the noise of what they're probably having to pay out in Japan.
SURE ANOTHER GENETIC BOMB FOR YOU?
Just takes a few to ruin the whole thing huh...
What's with $100 million anyway?
Surely just one would be enough.
I have to admit--that is a lot of money, even for something as important as this. The whole idea of "get them for all they're worth" is just... a bit over the top, don't you think? If you want to make a point, suing isn't a bad idea, but at least choose an amount that doesn't make you look like you're trying to be special and take as much money as possible. Then you stop looking like the victim and more like someone wanting to be a victim. People stop caring about your problems and focus more on your greed.
I mean, there were a ton of people involved in this--not just these soldiers. Can't you at least share the compensation money with others who might even need it more than these guys?
What about that 1 trillion that america owes japan adjusted for inflation. Why don't they just take it off their tab?
Basically everyone owes everyone some amount of money for one thing or another.
Maybe not china.
China also owes vast sums of money to various European banking firms for financing those factories to be built there.
"various European banking firms"
you sound so clueless about the subject.
What about the bomb damage to several US Navy ships in Pearl Harbor? Those battleships are pretty fucking expensive. Plus we're talking 80 years of interest compounded annually.
Also those two atom bombs didn't come cheap either.
Japan plagiarized our funny cartoons and turned them into perverted schoolgirl and incest anime. Oh wait, that's OK. Nevermind.
I..what? No one can possibly be this stupid.
WHAT ABOUT YOU STFU UP SHIT HEAD!
JAPAN OWNS GOD THEIR DEATH AND DEMISE! FOOL!
lol yes, Japan did own God with death and demise.
FUCK YOU SHIT HEAD! LET ME FIND YOUR ASS AND KILL IT!
Anal rape is another topic altogether bro
Sovereign debt =/= private lawsuit debt
People are very ignorant about facts regarding debt policies and national finances when they talk out of their asses about the debt policies.
If TEPCO and the Japanese government lied, it's fair for the victims to seek compensation. Also, the people responsible for the lie should be criminally punished.
Get rich the fastest way scheme. Dammit, why didn't I think of that.
I bet you those 8 sailors didn't even think about suing or anything until some slimy ambulance chasing lawyer calls them up and says "you can make big money".
After an accident gets reported in the local paper it's not uncommon to see a dozen letters from law firms in your mail.
hahaha getting voted down for stating truth. fucking retards
Stating truth my ass. You are being an asshat and that is why you are getting voted down.
how is he being a ass hat?
I'm sure one of the mean suing is thinking "I signed up to blow up brown people, not get radiation sickness from asian people!"
Because there are plenty of middle-eastern terrorists swimming in the pacific.
Idiot US soldier... They could say no to their superior in the first place after the quake besides whose order or command to help them(Japs)anyway?
Kid, when you sign up for the (any) military force you take and follow orders or you get your ass beat. That's how it works. You're a soldier. You're there to do a job, not debate it. You don't get to think until you're older and have put in your time.
Soldier's job is to shoot and kill muslim terrorist ass...Nothing more nothing less oh and get a free unlimited use of Assault rifle that a normal civilian don't have priviledges.:D
Your level of ignorance is astounding. Perhaps you only learn about the military in a FPS game.
You clearly dont know how the military works ota. Stop trying to grow a brain because its useless.
This is so unbelievably dumb and you don't know how the military works at all. LOL. Also they thought it was safe and they stayed a certain distance for safety reasons, but the numbers given to them were complete lies and they were exposed to toxic levels of radiation.
I can tell you never served. The only time you can refuse an order is when it is an illegal order (such as firing on civilians).
This is a small price to pay for the security we provide.
that's more or less what the mafia says
It's pretty much the same shit. Principles of human societal and financial interaction.
u mad?
Full price plus service tax? Certainly ain't small, my dear businessman...
For a government whose debt:GDP ratio is 2.5X ours, I think it is.
I'm glad that you find extortion agreeable.