Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?

[Echo In Light]

Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
by Ann Wright

The Department of Defense statistics are alarming — one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. The warnings to women should begin above the doors of the military recruiting stations, as that is where assaults on women in the military begins — before they are even recruited.

But, now, even more alarming, are deaths of women soldiers in Iraq, and in the United States, following rape. The military has characterized each of the deaths of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from “non-combat related injuries,” and then added “suicide.” Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide, strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters. Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of “non-combat related injuries,” with several identified as “suicides.”

Continued:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8564/

[Slit Skirt]

1. there was when I was in........

happened twice in 3 years...in my unit alone.

[PDJane]

2. Yeah, there is.......

and has been for some time.

[Echo In Light]

3. The comments section on that should be read as well...

[AnneD]

4. Another one of the

military's dirty little secrets.

[Echo In Light]

5. Bump

[ensho]

6. yes

some justice would be nice

[EFerrari]

7. K&R

[seabeyond]

8. echo, appreciate the post. i dont think it is a secret, but ignored.

not a whole lot to say on it cause we know it, are disgusted by it and outraged that it is happening and being ignored.... but appreciate you posting it as a reminder, once again, our women are raped and we look the other way.

basically a kick and recommend

[Echo In Light]

9. Dark motives, indeed, for ignoring.

Ghastly.

[BeHereNow]

10. And just think! With the increased "moral waivers" the numbers will GROW!

Now that the military is allowing more Steven Green's to enlist,
including sexual assault offenders, rather that spend time in prison, I'm sure the crimes
against female soldiers will diminish!
NOT.

BHN

[lonestarnot]

11. Gag!

:puke: :spit: :hurts:

[marshall]

12. Didn't it happen in World War II?

I remember reading about how the female soldiers were encouraged to "service" the men and that illegal at the time abortions were routinely provided.

[Breeze54]

13. "They call Camp Arifjan 'generator city' in Kuwait.... if a woman screams she can't be heard,"

The private war of women soldiers

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/07/women_in_military/

Many female soldiers say they are sexually assaulted by their male comrades and can't trust the military to protect them.
"The knife wasn't for the Iraqis," says one woman. "It was for the guys on my own side."

Editor's note: This story has been corrected since it was originally published.

By Helen Benedict

March 7, 2007 | As thousands of burned-out soldiers prepare to return to Iraq to fill President Bush's unwelcome call for at least 20,000 more troops, I can't help wondering what the women among those troops will have to face. And I don't mean only the hardships of war, the killing of civilians, the bombs and mortars, the heat and sleeplessness and fear.

I mean from their own comrades -- the men.

I have talked to more than 20 female veterans of the Iraq war in the past few months, interviewing them for up to 10 hours each for a book I am writing on the topic, and every one of them said the danger of rape by other soldiers is so widely recognized in Iraq that their officers routinely told them not to go to the latrines or showers without another woman for protection.

The female soldiers who were at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, for example, where U.S. troops go to demobilize, told me they were warned not to go out at night alone.

"They call Camp Arifjan 'generator city' because it's so loud with generators that even if a woman screams she can't be heard," said Abbie Pickett, 24, a specialist with the 229th Combat Support Engineering Company who spent 15 months in Iraq from 2004-05. Yet, she points out, this is a base, where soldiers are supposed to be safe.

More...

It's abhorrent that this crime isn't being scrutinized and reported more in the media and by the Congress!

K&R