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Lawsuit claims Pentagon turned blind eye to military rape victims
MSNBC/NBC News ^ | February 15, 2011 | Michael Isikoff

Posted on 02/15/2011 2:13:35 PM PST by Tennessee Nana

Sexual abuse reports rising The lawsuit, being filed by civil litigator Susan Burke, is an attempt to shine the spotlight on what Pentagon officials have acknowledged is a serious problem — a steady increase in reports of sexual abuse within the U.S. military. Last year, the Pentagon reported there had been 3,230 complaints of sexual abuse by members of the military services during fiscal year 2009, an 11 percent increase over the year before.

SNIP

The lawsuit alleges that the Pentagon has failed to crack down on the sexist culture of the military services or implemented policies that would insure aggressive investigations of those accused and bar retaliation against service members who file complaints.

SNIP

The lawsuit specifically names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, as defendants, charging that both have failed to take aggressive measures to deal with the problem or follow edicts from Congress.

Delays with reporting complaints? It charges, for example, that Rumsfeld in 2004 delayed naming members to a commission mandated by Congress to investigate the military's handling of sexual assault cases and resisted congressional oversight of the issue. It accuses Gates of violating the plaintiffs' constitutional rights by permitting military commanders to use "nonjudicial punishments" for accused rapists — and failing to meet a congressionally mandated deadline for creating a database that would centralize all reports of rapes and sexual assaults.

"Sexual assault is a wider societal problem and Secretary Gates has been working with the service chiefs to make sure the U.S. military is doing all it can to prevent and respond to it," Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press secretary, wrote in an email to NBC.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crime; military; pentagon; troops
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To: Godzilla

The military turns a blind eye to it, tacit approval.


21 posted on 02/15/2011 3:28:42 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.stink-eye.net/forum/index.php for FR backup site!)
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To: GeronL

Like WIKI is the goddess of truth lol

Not once in the artcle does it support your claim - “US military actively encourages prostitution . . “ Not there, nada, zip.

Do prostitutes work around these bases - well duh, but their presence is a function of the SK gov’t, not as you claim “US military actively encourages prostitution . . “ It may be hard for you to separate the two, but try as the latter is subject to UCMJ.


22 posted on 02/15/2011 3:29:51 PM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Tennessee Nana
I don't believe that rapists get NJP only.

I don't buy it.

There's a lot more to this story.

Where sufficient evidence exists for prosecution at Courts Martial, I'm certain that's what happens.

When it's a female sailor that comes back from shore leave and says another sailor took advantage of her while she was drunk...no marks...no witnesses...well, that's another story.

23 posted on 02/15/2011 3:30:37 PM PST by Mariner (USS Tarawa, VQ3, USS Benjamin Stoddert, NAVCAMS WestPac, 7th Fleet, Navcommsta Puget Sound)
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To: GeronL

What part of UCMJ do you not understand

What part of declaring a site “off limits” in conjunction with the UCMJ do you not understand.

That is hardly a ‘blind eye’

That is not actively encouraging it by any stretch of the imagination (except possibly your own)


24 posted on 02/15/2011 3:32:06 PM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Tennessee Nana

It was bad enough when the military had women thrown in with them, it will get worse now that the Government is throwing in the peter puffers.

Is this all a part of the plan to destroy the military?


25 posted on 02/15/2011 3:34:45 PM PST by Venturer
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To: GeronL
please tell me exactly what activity is performed by the Military that "actively encourages prostitution"
26 posted on 02/15/2011 3:45:48 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: Chode

camptowns only exist because the military allows them.


27 posted on 02/15/2011 3:57:01 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.stink-eye.net/forum/index.php for FR backup site!)
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To: GeronL
You keep using the words, "Actively Promote". I do not think it means what you think it means...
28 posted on 02/15/2011 4:22:40 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: GeronL

Your answers and thought process show an obvious lack on knowledge as I stated.


29 posted on 02/16/2011 2:28:10 AM PST by maddog55 (OBAMA, You can't fix stupid...)
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To: GeronL
The US military does encourage it. Where do they think all the condoms are going? (the commissaries sell out of condoms fast)

I don't know the current practice but local leadership tries to promote local industry. I remember in 1981 a Caribbean island official proudly asking me at a shipboard reception "Have you visited our guest houses?" Guest house on this island referred a bar with hostesses and some upstairs bedrooms and a not to helpful name like Bruce's Supper Club.

30 posted on 02/16/2011 3:53:26 AM PST by jimfree (In 2012 Sarah Palin will continue to have more relevant quality executive experience than B. Obama.)
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To: Clock King
"I just kind of panicked, froze. I didn't say anything,"

I'm not sure how the guy forced himself on her if she froze and didn't say anything.

31 posted on 02/16/2011 4:09:40 AM PST by Hacksaw (Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy” — H.L. Mencken)
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To: jimfree

Local industry means destroying the lives of generations of girls... nce.


32 posted on 02/16/2011 6:29:12 AM PST by GeronL (http://www.stink-eye.net/forum/index.php for FR backup site!)
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