No victims attend sex assault meeting at Heidelberg

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No victims attend sex assault meeting at Heidelberg
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, October 2, 2008

HEIDELBERG, Germany — In its fifth stop on a worldwide fact-finding tour of U.S. bases, the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services met with a disappointment: No victims attended.

Despite publicity about the task force meeting and an invitation for sexual assault victims to inform the task force by telling the members of their own experiences, none arrived in the two days the task force was in Heidelberg this week.

"To tell you the truth, I wondered what the response would be. If I were a victim and the system had worked against me, how willing would I be to come and tell my story?" said Louis Iasiello, task force co-chair. "This is an evolutionary process. We may decide there’s another way to reach out to victims."

He said some victims did meet with the task force at other bases.

The task force tour is designed to assess the effectiveness of programs to address sexual assault prevention and response.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57832