The Denver Post has been one of the leading newspapers in telling the
tragic and heartbreaking stories of American women soldiers who have been raped while serving overseas. The horrifying experience the women endure is often compounded by the inept, and sometimes calloused, response of the military:
Female troops serving in the Iraq war are reporting an insidious enemy in their own camps: fellow American soldiers who sexually assault them. The women, ranging from enlisted soldiers to officers, have reported poor medical treatment, lack of counseling and incomplete criminal investigations by military officials. Some say they were threatened with punishment after reporting assaults.
Some women may have died trying to avoid being raped, according to a report in
AlterNet:
Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the "Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration" in New York, that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.
The latrine for female soldiers at Camp Victory wasn't located near their barracks, so they had to go outside if they needed to use the bathroom. "There were no lights near any of their facilities, so women were doubly easy targets in the dark of the night," Karpinski told retired US Army Col. David Hackworth in a September 2004 interview.
In fact, that kind of assault was the experience of a military intelligence officer named Danielle, who had just finished guard duty when she was brutally attacked:
[She] was stepping into the latrine on the edge of camp when she was hit on the back of her head and knocked unconscious, she said.
She recalled waking to a man raping her: He had tied her hands with cord, stuffed her underwear into her mouth and wrapped cord around her head, as well. He used a knife to slice off her clothes, cutting her in the process. She was blindfolded. When she began to fight, he threatened to cut open her crotch. He then hit her with an object between the eyes, again knocking her unconscious.
When she awoke, the man, who remains unidentified, had left. Danielle said she ran, naked, bleeding and gagging, into camp. A fellow soldier cut the cords binding her hands and mouth and put his coat around her before waking her commanders.
The Post reports that there have been high rates of sexual abuse and harassment among women troops during past military conflicts. Seven percent of women reported being raped in the Persian Gulf in 1991, and 33 percent reported sexual harrassment, according to a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Over 59,000 women are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the same percentages hold true, that could mean over 4,000 women may experience sexual assault.
The Denver Post has had a series of stories over the years trying to draw attention to the issue of sexual assault against female soldiers.
And they've had blistering criticism of the military:
Scandal after scandal, time after time, experts inside and outside the military have pointed out shortcomings in how the armed forces handle cases of domestic violence and sexual assault. They have offered solutions, pleaded for changes. And, a nine-month Denver Post investigation found, the military's response to suggestions and criticisms has fallen short or fallen flat.
The paper has also tried shaming Congress to keep a promise they made to investigate, without success:
Senate leaders pledged last year to investigate the military's handling of rape and domestic-violence cases after a Post series found widespread problems in the armed services, including flawed investigations, inadequate victim services and leniency for thousands of soldier sex offenders. Although congressional hearings were called for, none have been scheduled.
When will Congress help our women soldiers?
How long will it take the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to do their job?