SEX IN THE SANDBOX - a tough topic

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Recently, a conversation with a returning marine turned toward the topic of sex. In Iraq prostitution isn't wide-spread and fraternizing with female troops is forbidden. Baghdad isn't Paris during WWII, where hoards of hookers hustled to serve servicemen or Saigon, a city built on a war-time mentality that included prostitution. In Baghdad the easiest date is with death.

What do troops do for sex in Iraq?

IRAQ: Focus on increasing cases of abused women
BAGHDAD, 14 September 2005 (IRIN) - Jamila (not her real name), aged 28, is too afraid to leave her home, in fear that she will be raped again. She says she constantly relives the nightmare she endured three months ago at the hands of an unknown attacker on the streets of Baghdad.

“I’m afraid that if I leave my home someone will attack me again and I feel dirty. I tried to commit suicide but my mother stopped me,” Jamila said. “It was the worst day in my life and I lost something that I will never get back again – my virginity and dignity.” Jamila has been psychologically scarred and is pregnant with the child of the attacker and will soon to undergo an abortion.

She is just one of hundreds of cases of sexual abuse in the country that have taken place since the US-led invasion in 2003 when thousands of criminals were set free from the prisons, officials say.
http://irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=25476

Home abortions soar in Iraq as unwanted pregnancies rise

In a makeshift clinic behind locked doors, a nervous young woman sits on the edge of a bed preparing herself for an operation that will rid her of one unintended consequence of Baghdad's new atmosphere of freedom.

The austere room belongs to Samira Ali Baddria, a midwife turned backstreet abortionist, one of dozens of medically trained people who now offer an illegal escape from pregnancy to the city's women. The nervous young woman is her latest "patient".

In Iraq, a Muslim country, abortion has long been illegal - and socially taboo - except in medical emergencies. But since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule turned the established order on its head, Baghdad has witnessed an upsurge in promiscuity - and the emergence of a practice too risky to carry out under the former regime, with its network of spies. Abortion has become readily available.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F10%2F26%2Fwirq26.xml

Rape in the military: Female troops deserve much better
More than 59,000 female troops have been deployed overseas to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have flown combat missions, served on ships and, in 12 cases, died in Iraq — stark evidence of the equality women have attained as soldiers.

Yet, when several reported sexual assaults in the combat zone during the past year, equal treatment vanished. They say their complaints were ignored or spurred mistreatment by male superiors.

Thirty-seven women who have served in Iraq and Kuwait in recent months have reported to a civilian group that they were sexually assaulted by fellow troops or superiors during their assignments overseas. They or their families contacted the Miles Foundation, a Connecticut-based organization known for championing the cause of abused military women.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-02-05-our-view-usat_x.htm

[Jeffersons Ghost]

1. it's a tough topic but it deserves some exposure

[SoCalDem]

2. Most men always want sex.. take them away from their wives & girlfriends,

dump them into a war where they may die at any time, and you have a recipe for all kinds of terrible things happening to the "local women" and the fellow female soldiers..

DISCLAIMER... I know that MOST men are probably honorable and DO NOT abuse women, there are enough who DO, to make the whole thing ugly ugly ugly

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. All war is dirty business but in a sexually repressed area it's worse

Will we turn a deaf ear to atrocities?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. thanks for the recommendations... I reluctantly posted this OP

WAR

[dysfunctional press]

7. they should find the right medication to slip surreptitiously to the troops...

in ww2, they used saltpeter.

due to my spinal condition, i've been taking about 50mg or more of methadone daily for chronic pain for the past 10 years- and that stuff really plays havoc with your libido...it isn't there, but you don't really miss it, and you don't really notice or think about it.
if there was a way to medicate to get that effect without getting them addicted to narcotics, it might be one way to go.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

25. many are on their 4th or 5th tour. another way is to bring them home

[dysfunctional press]

28. gee...ya' think?

.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

44. thanks for the kick

[seabeyond]

60. there you go ghost

gave you a couple more kick...

oooosh, and one more along the way.

wink

[Jeffersons Ghost]

66. it's good to see you again...

:pals:

[Xenotime]

65. Don't they do tests or something?!? This is horrible!!

We should be ashamed!

[catnhatnh]

5. Boy, do I ever wish you hadn't posted this...

Anyhow, I'll make a few points and take the flaming I'm sure will follow.

Tours are up to 15 months.In Vietnam R&R was a given and was deliberately designed to drop soldiers (if they wanted) into close proximity with prostitutes.

Most of the men involved are in their peak sexual years and inhibitions are lowered with the nearness of violence and the possibility of death and dismemberment.

The failure is a systemic failure of the government to provide the possibility of sex for the men so affected due to fundy horseshit.

At 18 I wanted sex, sought sex, and (eventually) got sex....If I had been dropped into a place that promised only sorrow or death with no hope of sex and they handed me a rifle.....

I endorse nothing but understand a ton...your post is important but doesn't even ask the question.I guess because it isn't PC....

[orleans]

15. what question? (you can pm it to me...?) n/t

[Jeffersons Ghost]

30. the question?

If you're reluctant to post the "question," PM me too please.

I was reluctant to post ANYTHING on this matter. The OP and stops short of presenting the complete conversation with that Marine because his comments were not verified by outside sources.

[ismnotwasm]

39. Hmm

I don't entirely agree, I think men are perfectly able to control themsleves sexually but are taught they are entitled to sex, that they are "less than a man" without sex, and that women should provide it. This hasn't changed. The sick ones take it farther. The sense of entitlement turns into a nightmare of violence.

The high stress state of war, coupled with young men with raging hormones and that sense of entitlement rather than respect for women as human beings would add to the situation expotenially.

However, I have a question, and maybe you can help. One of my favorite stories about my daugther when she served in Afghanistan was when "The Hooters Girls" came to entertain the troops. It bothered her, but she said the "girls" were very nice. (I got a phone call, "MOM, the Hooters girls are in my shower!")

Anyway, I know men in the Vietnam war when had an "entertain the troops" show, it wasn't just Bob Hope, right? On occasion there would be attractive "sexy female" type of entertainment. My understanding is that any kind of "entertainment" was too little, and not often. Do you think that particular type of entertainment was helpful? Or does it feed the sense of the lack of sex you were talking about?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

47. IMHO it feeds the problem

[ismnotwasm]

48. That's my impression

I don't know answers, but the word "honor" comes to mind. An old fashioned word perhaps, but it's not honorable to disparage and objectify women wartime or not.

Rape as a war crime has had, and continues to have horrible repercussions.

I've posted this elsewhere, sometime back, but I was taking an ACLS class with a medic who worked as an independent hire for some company in Iraq. He said Viagra was available all over the place. How did he know? He ran into a situation where he needed nitroglycerin for chest pain. There wasn't any available to him at the time, so he got some Viagra somewhere and used it as the original purpose for was a nitro like product.

I found that extremely sad, and very scary.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

49. "Rape as a war crime has had, and continues to have horrible repercussions. "...

PTSD resulting from rape is rarely recognized by the government and very hard to prove months after the incident.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

61. STILL not an excuse for rape

So young guys get horny. Big deal. No one ever died of it.

Most young men don't rape, no matter how horny they get.

Rape is one of the most common war crimes. It's a crime of power, not of sex.

When the Soviet army entered Berlin in 1945, they raped every female they could find, from little girls to patients in hospitals to elderly women. (One of my relatives lived through this, and yes, she was one of the victims.) You're telling me that they raped terminally ill patients in hospitals because they were horny?

That lame excuse, that young men can't control their sexuality, is selfish and self-serving, ESPECIALLY in Iraq.

In that culture, getting raped can be a death sentence, since the victim's family will consider her to be a shame upon the family.

[dysfunctional press]

6. i've often wondered how the troops get serviced in an arab country...

simply because prostitution is SO taboo...and at that age, it's gotta be rough- especially in a combat environment. and there's a lot of people who would rather just bury their heads in the sand, than to admit that it has almost ALWAYS been a big part of the wartime..."experience"(?). that is to say, there have always been prostitutes in the area, or brought in, or civilians forced into it.

and since i don't know anyone in the military, let alone someone who's rotated thru iraq to explain it, it's something i've always been curious about, illegal iraq war-wise.

[tkmorris]

10. "Get serviced"?

Really?

[dysfunctional press]

12. really. the world's oldest profession is definitely a service industry.

especially to the armed services.

[genie_weenie]

20. Troops masturbate furiously.

On several bases there is a large repository of pornographer easily accessible and the tight living quarters are not a deterrent to stimulating oneself.

[conscious evolution]

26. Combat jack

That is how I heard one vet put it.
I dont know how true this is but I heard once that the Army chartered several cruise ships that served as floating bordellos in order to provide a little R&R for the troops.
I have to admit it sounds like an urban legend.

[seabeyond]

24. being prostitute is such an honorable service. girls "brought" in ....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2849488&mesg_id=2850930

for the service of men. ok, well lookin like you have your girls being brought in. arent those soldiers the lucky ones, yet still.... they rape. but then when a man is so out of control, unable to control.... i know that would make me feel oh so virile

[dysfunctional press]

27. .

:eyes:

the hang-ups some people still have...:sigh:

[seabeyond]

29. you are right, gathering up young girls from different countries

for men to fuck.... i just cant get over the fuckin hang ups. did you read the article. to have a woman that willingly sells sex to men is one thing. if i have a hang up with that shake your head to hearts content. but maybe a little education on your part, a little insights wont make you look such the fool

[dysfunctional press]

31. i don't feel a fool at all.

i'm aware of history, and it's something that has always happened, and always will- as long as wars are fought.
and i'm not condoning rape and/or forced 'pleasure girls'.
it's one aspect of the iraq debacle that isn't touched upon at all, except perhaps for the few stories of rape of american and/or iraqi women that have come out.
vietnam was a whole different situation, with prostitution being much more rampant, and probably even more 'acceptable' in some respects to the 'host' society.
but in an arab country it's extremely taboo. and i'll admit to being curious as to how that aspect of a wartime situation has been handled/addressed in this conflict. someone started a thread. i joined in out of that curiosity, not to be judgmental -because it's an aspect of war that is ALWAYS going to be present as long as there are wars.
and if you want to strut in and plant your flag of righteous indignation- hey, that's your perogative too. go for it. but it isn't going to sway and/or impress me one way or the other.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

51. that response certainly isn't foolish

[Jeffersons Ghost]

33. there are no visible prostitutes in Iraq and no current articles on this issue

It's one of many invisible problems with the occupation of Iraq

[Squatch]

38. My wife would send me weekly picture installments of herself while I was deployed.

I'm getting deployed again in 9 months and I can't freaking wait...

[cherokeeprogressive]

54. Looking back, it seems funny...

When I was deployed onboard the USS America, my wife sent me pretty much the same thing. Thank God for Polaroid I guess. I even got Pubes once, in a letter, in between pieces of Scotch tape ala a lock of hair. I can remember working the flight deck with the one thing in mind; getting back to my rack and rubbing those hairs against my cheek LOL.

Kept me honest, it did.

[seabeyond]

59. post 58

is for you too.

and i really really appreciate hearing from you on your post lower in the thread.

thanks

[seabeyond]

58. hey....

really dude, i dont know this should be one of those things we pat on the back for, cause really it should be an expected kinda thing. i am saying, when i get a pat for being a good mom, i think wtf..... my job, lol. but

with what i have read lately, i really just want to say, thank you for your post. it does my heart good, and i appreciate and value what you shared. i was wondering if i was in an alternate universe of something. i needed you post. thanks

and thanks for what you are doing. sorry it is so fucked up that you gotta do, but appreciate you doing

[ismnotwasm]

40. Saudi Arabia

That great Human rights violator does quite a bit of business in human trafficking. Poor women from all over are collected. Prostitution may be taboo, but you can't sell yourself if you don't own yourself.

I have a friend who sent his nephew in Iraq a blow up sheep. Hope it helped.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

50. "blow up sheep?"

I've heard it all now

[seabeyond]

8. i dont believe it is about 18 yr olds simply doing without sex

too many of the men are NOT raping. i believe it is squarely on war and what it does and is right there with the people that broke and did the tortures and those that broke and murder the innocent like animals. the longer this goes, the longer the men stay on tours and the more break down in our military and the whole situation, the more o.k. this will be allowing larger masses to commit rape and seeing these people as animals losing all site in their humanity.

even with the prostitues and the other cultures in our other wars there was always the rapes going on.

[babylonsister]

9. I pull my hair out. There are so many things we should be so appalled about,

and so many people don't have a clue or forget. Thank you for posting. It pays to remind people as often as possible.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

11. K & R. The painful truth.

:cry:

:kick:

On edit, thank you for posting.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

32. thanks for all the K&Rs

[MrSlayer]

13. War and rape go hand in hand.

Always have, always will.

[Virginia Dare]

34. And since this really isn't a war, but an invasion and a hostile occupation..

I can only imagine what's going on. I CAN imagine, but I don't WANT to. I shudder to think about the things that will eventually come out.

[FirstLight]

14. Kick & Rec!

This is the third thread today on the atrocities that the Bush govt/military machine has foisted on the Iraqi people.

" A Tidal Wave of misery is engulfing Iraq"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2849452

"Car Bomb gas leak cuts power to.."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3177538


I don't know what else to say except to ask that we DO talk about the tough subjects, we HAVE to if we are to break through the illusion of "us & them" because I tell you, the longer we sleep and allow this to happen because it is not in our own backyard...the more likely it is to come to our backyard!

Here are the nightline Articles I dug up on this, I knew I had seen it on TV not too long ago...

- snip -

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR calls it "survival sex," a desperate way to cope for Iraqi refugees whose savings have run out since they escaped the violence at home.

The idea repels many of the 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria, but the struggle to make ends meet has forced some to share tiny apartments with other families in the slums of Damascus, put their children out to work or marry off teenaged daughters.

Sometimes such early marriages are simply a cover for prostitution as young brides are swiftly trafficked, according to Hana Ibrahim, head of the Iraqi Women's Will Association.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4067737

- snip -

AND THIS

- snip -

At'outa, a blonde in her late 30s whose nickname means "little kitten" in Arabic, agreed to tell her story but refused to give her real name for fear neighbors or her children would learn what she does.

Last year, she fled Iraq with her son and two daughters, all teenagers, after her husband was gunned down by militants in Baghdad's volatile Ghazaliyah district.

After a few months in Syria, her late husband's savings were running out. She tried working as a tailor and a housemaid, but could not make ends meet, she said. Then, a man offer to cancel a $250 debt in exchange for sex. Since then, she has regularly met other dates at the al-Rawabi club, where sex earns her enough money to pay the bills.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that around 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries since 2003.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/WireStory?id=3768415&page=2

-snip-

Having been a victim of domestic violence, this is the same issue -times a hundredfold! we have an entire society that is set up so there are no basic rights for a woman to raise her children after losing her family's male members (who are the only ones allowed to OWN anything)...so they are forced to succumb to this. I don't pretend to understand Islam, but I do think that prostitutes in France during WWII, even while not having the best conditions, at least had a "tad" more freedom than these women do....

Thank you Jeffersons G for keeping the Issues REAL and giving us this info!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

57. thanks for your meaningful input... "real" isn't easy sometimes n/t

[readmoreoften]

16. Rape is not normal soldier behavior and those making excuses for it are apologists.

The notion that men just "can't help but rape" the enemy's woman is the biggest crock of shit excuse of all time. Most men don't rape in the battlefield. Those who do are the same depraved fuckheads who date rape and assault women over here except back home the lame excuse is beer.

Newsflash: Prostitution has absolutely nothing to do with rape because rape isn't about sex. If there are prostitutes, they get raped first because prostitutes more easily accessible to them and less socially valuable.

If you'd rape women and children because you're about to face death, then you're not worth much as a human being anyhow. Plenty of people have faced death with honor and dignity throughout the whole of human history. The reality is: when the pressure's on, you see what you're made of. And if you're a selfish, violent fuck who's been masking your selfish, violent fuck nature your whole life through trash-talking with your pals over brewskies and drunken date rapes after high school pep rallies then guess what? When you're in a war zone you're the kind of guy who rapes little Iraqi girls and makes excuses. If you're a decent kid with a conscience and honor, sure you might break down; you might no longer care who your bullets hit when you're trying to protect yourself and your buddies from return fire...you're going to go through psychological hell... but raping women is not NORMAL SOLDIER BEHAVIOR as much as we'd all like to make excuses for it.

If any soldier sexually assaults a fellow soldier or Iraqi national, that scumbag needs to be charged to the fullest extend of the law. No excuses. And, for god sakes, no fucking sympathy.

Instead of boo-hooing over the poor prostitute-deprived rapists, let's shed a tear or two for the courageous young men who stand up for their fellows (female) soldiers, the ones who come forth as witnesses with no "immunity" because they've done nothing wrong, the ones who risk their own personal safety trying to stop these kinds of attacks. You know the type: normal, decent guys

[inanna]

17. Wow....

Excellent post.

[seabeyond]

18. Instead of boo-hooing over the poor prostitute-deprived rapists

thank you readmoreoften. i was bothered with the acceptance and worse of this behavior from some posters as if it is just so very hard for a male not to rape if there wasnt a willing woman at hand. the absurdity ....

[varelse]

23. Excellent post!

Every war has produced the same upsurge in violence and sexual abuse toward women and children. I'm saddened but not at all surprised that this war has had the same effect on Iraq.

However, as you so eloquently pointed out, most (the vast majority) of our troops are decent people doing their best to stay that way in a brutal and violent enviromnent where it is difficult to trust anyone.

I'd like to also add that not all of the violence toward women and children in a war zone is perpetrated by the foreign soldiers there. There is surely no shortage of local opportunists taking advantage of the chaos to force their will on others. Only yesterday, another poster linked to an article about a teenaged Iraqi girl who suffered an attempted rape by a boy near her own age - her attacker, now on trial, did not think anyone would do anything about it "because she is a Sunni".

[Virginia Dare]

35. Agreed, rape is about power and intimidation..

it's used as psychological and physical punishment and as a weapon of war.

[knitter4democracy]

36. Rape is a war crime. You're right.

The UN classifies rape as a war crime. When Turkey last invaded Greece, their soldiers raped Greek women, telling them they would have Turkish sons. It was one of the few times in the Church's history that it gave out allowances left and right for abortions. It was considered a war crime and that a woman didn't have to carry the child of her attacker.

If our guys are doing it, and it looks like some are, then it's a war crime and needs to be prosecuted.

[ismnotwasm]

42. Thank you

And Amen.

[cherokeeprogressive]

55. Veteran here, in 1000% agreement with your post. ^5

[Jax]

56. Wish I could nominate this post

I was about to throw my computer into a wall reading some of these apologists.

"prostitute-depraved rapists" indeed. You nailed it readmoreoften.

:thumbsup:

Alyce

[Hippo_Tron]

63. I agree, but is it possible PTSD might have something to do with it?

[KharmaTrain]

19. A Military In Real Conflict...

Yes, this is the dark side of the Iraq invasion/occupation that is and will be ignored. It was in Vietnam as well. While we heard about some prostitution and drug problems, the depth of it wasn't really revealed until after our troops came home. Who knew what an Amerasian child was back then other than their father? And the hell those children went through is still an embarassment of the Vietnam war that never has been fully addressed.

This ugly war has stressed our troops in ways that all but beg for all types of abuses. A local Iraqi vet spoke about this a while back...he'd just returned from another tour and said that the tension there are heavy at all times...and those pressures build up and have few places to release. The military hops up 18-22 year olds...mixing killing with testosterone...and without a release of one or the other, rapes, murders and other violent crimes are very likely. It doesn't help with extended tours and re-deployments that increase those pressures and tensions.

The Pentagon and this regime has worked hard to cover up all the crimes...calling anyone who speaks out a "traitor", but the rest of the world sees and occasionally hears of the hell that is Iraq...and they know who created this mess. Here's hoping that one day those responsible are forced to confront their victims and crimes in the Hague.

[iamthebandfanman]

21. i dunno if id go so far as to say its all troops

im sure there are alot of sick minded males trying to take advantage of the non-enforcement(or i should say the lack of ability to enforce) of laws.

[flashl]

22. Repost

The Rape Of Iraq And Other Sexual Matters

By Suki Falconberg Ph.D.

I just e-mailed the following paragraph to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Refugees International, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and two women journalists at CBS news, Katie Couric and Lara Logan (foreign correspondent in Iraq):

I would like to know more about the sexual assault on women in Iraq:

• rapes by American and coalition forces;
• rapes by the Iraqi police and military;
• rapes by Iraqi civilian men;
• rapes of women and girls detained in prisons;
• gang rapes;
• women forced into starvation prostitution—either for the occupying forces or for Iraqis;
• the increase of brothels in Baghdad and Basra as a result of the occupation;
• the trafficking of women and girls into prostitution by criminal gangs, either within Iraq or in surrounding countries;
• the way families are forced to sell daughters for survival;
• any ´survival sex´ women and girls are engaged in due to desperation;
• ´survival sex´ forced upon the refugee population (2 million in Iraq--2 million in surrounding countries);
• the trafficking, by U.S. military contractors, of Filipina and Chinese girls into brothels in the Green Zone;
• the role of the U.S. Military Police in the pimping of Iraqi women and girls;
• the physical and psychological state of the prostituted Iraqi girls trafficked into the Green Zone for paid rape;
• the rape of female military personnel by their own men—and anything else you may have seen going on in Iraq.

For Couric and Logan, I appended: "This aspect of Iraq has been overlooked by CBS news." For Amnesty International, I added, "I would also like to know about the trafficking of girls into Guantanamo Bay to service the U.S. military there. Your organization is involved in the rights of detainees there but has overlooked this other class of tortured beings."

This is the year I would like to see the sexual exploitation of women in the wars America indulges in finally covered rather than ignored—in reparation for not having done so from the Revolution forward—the Civil War (with its wandering bands of syphilitic camp followers, mostly women widowed by the war); the Spanish American War and the two Great Wars and Korea and Vietnam and Desert Storm and Panama and Afghanistan and now Iraq—not a whisper from the whore in the dirty alley, offering it up for a few dollars due to hunger, or the hunger of her children. It is time. Katie Couric and Lara Logan (the latter journalist has been ´embedded´ with the troops over there), it is time you report on all the women and girls, in Iraq, and all the Iraqi refugee women and girls in surrounding countries forced into survival sex. It is time you profiled the 14-year-old Iraqi refugee girl sold by her family in order to feed her younger brothers and sisters.

American Chronicle

[fenriswolf]

37. I spent a year in iraq +2 months on a boat

with my equipment. No sex. Masterbated furiously and I came out fine. I would hate myself if I felt the need to do something like that to another human being for my own gratification.

[semillama]

41. This is horrifying, and it's just Iraq

Take a look at Afghanistan and it's even worse in terms of child prostitution and rapes.

My good friend who did a tour over there in 2004 told me about driving through villages filled with young boys in make up and women's clothing. Not a good thing for the psyche to witness, and it really made him question the level of commitment we had to really helping the people of Afghanistan.

[uppityperson]

43. War is Hell. Rape is a war crime. Here is what is ALWAYS handy and not harmful...

[lumpy]

45. All I know is that we are not that far removed from our cousin,

the Bonobo ape.

[lumpy]

46. All I know is that we are not that far removed from our cousin,

the Bonobo ape.

[riderinthestorm]

52. The Middle East is not some paragon of virtue

I'm not sure why everyone believes that these cultures don't/didn't have prostitution, rape, abortions, child molestation, spousal abuse and every other social ill that exists in Western countries long before "we" arrived. Sexual slavery is particularly rampant in the ME....

They did and obviously still do have these problems - their exposure is going to grow from here on in (if we're lucky as this is a good step towards changing these behaviors).

Historically they have/had faulty reporting mechanisms and have done a damn fine job covering it up. The ME cultures are so patriarchal that oppression against women and children has never had a socially acceptable way of dealing with/reporting/obtaining justice for these social ills since so many were/are just considered part of the ownership of a woman/children by their men.

I'm not at all surprised that American soldiers are getting caught in that mix - I am actually just surprised the military has been able to keep a lid on what is surely a much greater problem than we are being led to believe exists.

[Elspeth]

53. ...

....

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

62. I'm going to throw-up, now. *CRY*

[Yavin4]

64. And If You Don't Support The Dem Nominee and McCain Wins

There will be 100 more years of this and new wars in Iran as well.

That's why this election is too important to worry about your pet politician or issue.