Posted on 02/18/2005 1:51:50 PM PST by 68skylark
(CBS) The words "zero tolerance" used by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to describe the military's policy on sexual assault ring hollow in the ears of former Lt. Jennifer Dyer.
In her first interview, Dyer tells Correspondent Steve Kroft that she was treated like a criminal by the Army after accusing a fellow officer of rape.
Dyer's interview will be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"[The Army has] done nothing but lie to me and treat me like a criminal," says Dyer, now out of the Army, which granted her request for an honorable discharge after she spoke to 60 Minutes.
"I don't believe [the zero tolerance policy]. Zero tolerance would mean that I would not have been treated the way I've been treated."
Dyer says she reported the rape "within 10 to 15 minutes," and after emergency medical treatment, was then sequestered for three days without access to a telephone.
Instead of offering her counseling, Dyer said military investigators doubted her charges and her command seemed indifferent to them. Dyer was granted two weeks convalescent leave and told to report back to Camp Shelby in Mississippi.
"I was told that if I didn't return on time, they would send MPs to my door and have me arrested," she tells Kroft. "They stated that two weeks was enough time to recover from such an incident."
But Camp Shelby is where the rape allegedly occurred and the alleged perpetrator still resided. Dyer went absent without leave for two months rather than return to the base.
"I was fearful of my health and safety and sanity," says Dyer, a law enforcement officer in civilian life.
The incident occurred last August while Dyer, an eight-year veteran of the New Jersey National Guard, was on active duty at Camp Shelby. She says another lieutenant raped her after a night of drinking at the base's officers club. The accused officer, who is being court-martialed for rape, maintains the sex was consensual.
Dyer says, "I don't feel it's possible to misinterpret 'No, don't do this,' or 'stop.' Those are the words that I used again and again."
The Pentagon declined to be interviewed by 60 Minutes, but announced last month, under pressure from Congress, new sweeping policy changes regarding sexual assault.
Among them: mandatory education on sexual assault for all armed service members; a victim advocate for every military command; confidentiality for rape victims until formal investigation begins; and a general who will oversee the entire process.
If you type "medal of honor" into the FR search box, I think you'll get several good stories about this. Let me know if that doesn't work for you and I'll post links here.
Finally editing should be done about the same time as the hit piece on Sandy Berger.
Wonder if the accused and/or his attorney will be featured at all.
These are difficult cases.
Can a woman who indulges in a friendly, all-nite drinking session with a guy be raped?
Of course she can.
Can she consent to sex and then regret it? That is also quite possible.
Can she consent to sex and not regret it? All too likely.
That will be determined by the court martial. That's how it is supposed to work. An accusation is made. The charges are investigated. If the convening authority feels there is sufficient evidence that the charges are true, a court martial is empaneled. The court hears the evidence and determines legal guilt if appropriate. Trial by jury it's called in the civilian world, although in this case the court is more judge and jury, although they have a JAG officer to advise them on the law and regulations. The convening authority (IE. the local commander) and the accused both have counsel representing them. However the "prosecutor" isn't generally anywhere near as confrontational as a civilian prosecutor would be.
"A Few Good Men" aside (It was made by and full of liberals after all), the military justice system is about justice, at least as much, and probably more so than the civilian system. For one thing, the members of the court, who act as jurors, get to ask questions of the witnesses.
When will they have Juanita on 60 minutes?
Of course Dan Rather thinks rape is a mans personal sex life.
Sex would occur. It would (likely) not be rape. And self-control is a two-way street.
Yes but, and I'm not kidding when I say this, if it's on 60 Minutes I'm not going to believe it.
True. However, this woman goes on national TV to state her side of the story. What happens to this man if, and that's IF, he is cleared. She will have ruined his good name. Only, assuming, that he may be cleared. I certainly not saying he is innocent, I wasn't there. But until the decision is made...
Men should only have one thing on their minds.
DOD doesn't seem to have learned the lesson. Eventually we'll get a President or DOD secretary who will blast the hundreds or thousands of careers necessary to force institutional change.
When military homophobia goes down, IMO the most immediate cause will be Don't Ask Don't Tell's use as a vehicle for oppressing and raping female personnel. They're accused of being lesbians unless they put out unwillingly, or in retaliation for reporting rape.
I don't know if she was raped or not. But notice how CBS has to tie this in with Donald Rumsfeld in the first sentence?
Ahhhhh..the MSM...forever pushing their agenda.
Sad story but how will CBS tie it into Vietnam and Iraq, that is the reason for the story right?
They shouldn't be.
Woman goes to a private place with a man not her husband, and it should legally be considered as good as agreeing to sex.
And doing it after a night of drinking doesn't make it any better (women shouldn't drink, let alone with a man).
That's how it was in the old days.
And it is a very practical approach: there was no need for our legal system to get embroiled in countless he said/she said cases.
And no chance of convicting an innocent man.
There are (were?) some African tribes where the entire marriage ceremony consisted of a woman entering the man's hut alone. And that was that. That made them married. Simple.
Enter a man's hut, and don't come crying to us.
This clearly explaines a common female view of expected sexual decorum involving mixed sex people living in extremely close proximity.....Remember the USS Love Boat with all the pregnant females?
Women in the miltary in all but front line positions...Yes
Equal treatment....Yes....BUT in Submarines...NO!!! It would destroy the weapon.
"Among them: mandatory education on sexual assault for all armed service members; a victim advocate for every military command; confidentiality for rape victims until formal investigation begins; and a general who will oversee the entire process."
Is anyone now perturbed by the fact that we are going to have sexual assault commisars in "every military command?"
I don't think you'd want sex -- willing or not -- and the resulting soap oprea on a submarine.
Yeah, I noticed that too. This has been a problem for quite awhile -- certainly through the Clinton years. But the story is sure to pin the blame on Sec. Rumsfeld.
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