Pattern Emerges of Sexual Assault Against Women Held by U.S. Forces

[NNN0LHI]

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=478

Jun 6 - Well publicized images of US soldiers torturing and humiliating male Iraqi prisoners may be overshadowing evidence gathered by several human rights groups and Pentagon investigators indicating US military personnel have raped and sexually abused Iraqi women held at Abu Ghraib prison and other detention facilities.

Amal Kadham Swadi, an Iraqi attorney representing women detainees, told The Guardian she believes that sexualized violence and abuse committed by US soldiers against female prisoners goes far beyond a few isolated cases. It’s "happening all across Iraq," she said.

Women make up a small minority of the total number of Iraqis held by Coalition forces. The US military says 78 women are currently detained by occupation militaries throughout Iraq.

It is not clear, however, exactly how many women the US and its allies have detained since the invasion last year. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 30 Iraqi women were housed in Abu Ghraib last October. That number was reduced to five last month, and finally to zero as of May 29, according to the military.

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[PartyPooper]

1. Well, in war these things happen.

<heavy sarcasm/>

:eyes:

[Voice_of_Europe]

5. The UGLY TRUTH of war

No... it's not sarcasm... it's the plain ugly truth of war!
It happens in EVERY war!

No matter if you're the good guys or the bad guys!
(there are only good guys depending on the point of view)

Those are statistics that "good and morally superior" winners never public, but Rape and Pillage always happen!
Openly if the commanders agree... hidden if they don't...
Every nation thinks they are too civilized for this, but that's wrong

Germany has a huge number of GI "bastards"...
Vietnam has...
Bosnia had their serb rape camps..
Tchechnia has many sovjet fathers...
And happening all the time in the many African civil wars...

FACE IT! This Iraq war will not be better!

And I can understand every Iraqi father who places a bomb on the roadside after his daughter got raped.


The real interesting question here is the WHY?!

This may sound very cold but:
I guess it's a kind of an evolution strategy, it's in your subconcious.

- Men face death in a war, they want to father children, give on their genes to later generations.

- "Replenish" after war. Winner takes the women.

- There's many example when you look at animals. Dominating male who kills the offspring of his predecessor who use up the females ressources then fathers his own.

- Zebras even ABORT fetuses in the womb of the female if it's from another male.


Just a few facts to think about.
I think nobody can actually tell what he/she would do in a war until it actually happens, and the TRUTH might be very ugly.

My last thought here:
Killing people is allowed in war.. but rape and torture is not.. and that's what we call "civilized".

[dumpster_baby]

7. great post!

That is what I have been saying all along (me and the evolutionary biologists!). So many of our behaviors are actually oriented to reproductive strategies.

[CWebster]

13. They rape men and boys too

It has nothing to do with reproduction; it has everything to do with power and hate.

If women ran the world would war go the way of the dinosaur?

[JoFerret]

11. Whatever the rationalizations

....it must be acknowledged as inexcusable. And all the more reason why starting wars is the worst of acts. BushCo is responsile for every single one of these crimes and criminals.

[geronimo]

2. any stats

on previous US conlflicts and women detainees?

[gottaB]

4. I'd be shocked to learn that rape and extortion

occured to such an extent, and with the same level of authorization, in previous conflicts.

I'd be interested in seeing some stats too.

[Abbalon]

6. nothing to this extent

The Japanese were very surprised at the small number of rapes committed during the first months of the occupation. Only five were reported.

The Japanese did go out of their way to provided entertainment to the soldiers. That must have helped keep the numbers low. However I think discipline is the best weapon against the ugly side of human nature.

[JoFerret]

12. Why would you be shocked?

what differences do you see that would lead to that conclusion?

[gottaB]

14. Conspiracy to Commit War Crimes

The Gonzales memo, the glorification of covert ops, the growth in the SAP under Rummy, the increased reliance on for-hire paramilitary squads.

I wasn't but kneehigh to a pipsqueak during the Vietnam War, but I should think if President Nixon for instance had signed a Memorandum of Notification pursuant to Title 50, Section 413b, authorizing the rape and extortion of detainees, it would be widely known.

[WhiteTara]

15. Don't forget Vietnam

Rape of Vietnamese women and turning them into prostitutes was
very common in that war too.

[Journeyman]

3. Well, this isn't like a fraternity anyone I know pledged. . .

n/t

[Barrett808]

8. kick

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. somehow I doubt

the female prisoners are the only one's getting raped.

I'd hate to be a female soldier out there in Iraq right now.

[Just Me]

10. My prayers for the victims,...

,...may they find some sense of justice in an unjust world.

[DarbyUSMC]

16. What happens to these women when they are let out of the prison? If they

go home, which I assume they will, isn't it tradition for the husband to either kill the wife or throw her out into the street for bringing shame on the family? Or is that only done in the extreme, extremists houses? How awful that would be after going through the abuse in prison.

[saigon68]

17. MAYBE THE AIR FARCE ACADEMY CADETS

Can go "straighten out" things at Abu Ghraib