Col. Ann Wright: Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?

[babylonsister]

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.”

94 US military women in the military have died in Iraq or during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). 12 US Civilian women have been killed in OIF. 13 US military women have been killed in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). 12 US Civilian women have been killed in Afghanistan.

Of the 94 US military women who died in Iraq or in OIF, the military says 36 died from non-combat related injuries, which included vehicle accidents, illness, death by “natural causes,” and self-inflicted gunshot wounds, or suicide. The military has declared the deaths of the Navy women in Bahrain that were killed by a third sailor, as homicides. 5 deaths have been labeled as suicides, but 15 more deaths occurred under extremely suspicious circumstances.

8 women soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas (six from the Fourth Infantry Division and two from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division) have died of “non-combat related injuries” on the same base, Camp Taji, and three were raped before their deaths. Two were raped immediately before their deaths and another raped prior to arriving in Iraq. Two military women have died of suspicious “non-combat related injuries” on Balad base, and one was raped before she died. Four deaths have been classified as “suicides.”

more...

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

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Lerkfish]

2. obviously, yes.

I wonder at what we're NOT hearing about.

[grannylib]

3. My husband and I were in tears watching a news report on this issue

the other night; I can't remember if it was CNN or MSNBC or maybe even HNN, sorry...
But it's just the most incredible SHIT ever, to think that this is the way our women in the military are being treated.
There are no words for how sick this makes me. And it's not that I'm painting all male members of the armed forces with the same broad brush; I'm sure this sickens and disgusts most of them as well...these could be their sisters, or mothers, or daughters...

[uppityperson]

4. What with waivers given to criminals to enlist, I don't doubt it.

Military is giving waivers to people convicted not only of drug crimes, but violent ones and sex crimes. I was wrong. Steven Green's trial starts 4/27/09, not this week. He was one who was enlisted with a known record, given one of these waivers. k&r for FUBAR.


Edited to add link about his waiver:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/07/sb-six-questions-eli-flyer

2. Don't the military services weed out applicants with criminal offense records who are more likely to get in trouble while on active duty?
Many applicants who are accepted for service have committed serious misdemeanors, and some even have felony convictions, even though the evidence is clear that these recruits are more likely than those with "clean" records to show be behavior problems while on active duty. To enlist with a conviction for a criminal offense, an applicant must receive a "moral" waiver. The process involved in issuing a waiver—evaluating reference recommendations for enlistment—is a weak one that has little value for screening purposes. It needs to be fixed. Since recruits who enlist with a moral waiver generally have higher discharge rates than other recruits, they should certainly receive more intensive screening for enlistment than they do now. A number of the men who have been accused of abuses against civilians in Iraq had histories that should have raised red flags. For example, former soldier Steven Green, who is accused of raping and killing an Iraqi girl and her family, enlisted with a moral waiver for at least two drug- or alcohol- related offenses. He committed a third alcohol-related offense just before enlistment, which led to jail time, though this offense may not have been known to the Army when he enlisted. News accounts say Green was a high school dropout (with a GED certificate) and suggest he was a seriously maladjusted young man. A limited background check during the recruitment process would likely have provided information showing he should not receive a moral waiver. (more@link)

[Richard Steele]

5. Yes. K&R

[intheflow]

6. So disturbing to have to K&R this.

I like to think of the word "recommend" as a positive thing. But this story is not positive, nor is it being reported in the CM, also not a positive thing. But our daughters, sisters and mothers should not be in danger from their co-workers, the men in uniform who are supposed to be "protecting" the country, as the women they're raping also signed up to do. The culture of war is unhealthy any way you look at it, there is nothing redeeming in the gross dehumanization of human beings by the military. :(

[shance]

7. Kick

n/t

[Cerridwen]

8. Kick. n/t