The incident in Okinawa occurred on the eve of a Camp David summit between President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Bush expressed U.S. "regret" for the actions of some American service members on the island and pledged to "do whatever we could" to prevent crimes by U.S. military personnel.

Though bilateral agreements governing the presence of U.S. forces here call for Japan to indict an accused soldier before he is surrendered, Woodland was turned over on July 6 because of the nature of the alleged crime and because "we have satisfied ourselves that our U.S. service member will receive fair and humane treatment" in the Japanese judicial system, the State Department said.

In the Okinawa case, Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka questioned why the victim was in a parking lot of a bar frequented by U.S. servicemen at 2 a.m., several Japanese newspapers reported. The reports said Tanaka made the comment at a private dinner with parliament members, in response to a lawmaker's request that she increase pressure on the United States over the rape case.