Kudos to Al-Jazeera for this report. The US corporate lapdog press will rarely lift the curtain on these horrifying conditions inside the US military. The Al-Jazeera website has many fine reports, videos, and documentaries free for the watching, many of them covering the gross inequities and serious social problems that infest US society. Thanks to CD for posting selected Al-Jazeera videos from time to time.

As a kid I was always taught that American soldiers never committed untoward acts of any kind; once I was old enough to hear the word "rape" in a classroom our Men in Uniform were always compared favorably to those awful Soviet soldiers, who raped everything in their way. Well, I suppose that's all still true . . . after a fashion . . .

The U.S. military is a force of death, hate, and doom.

Failure to prosecute the Crimes of torture and of murder makes said crimes a Policy of said Government.

Failing to prosecute for rape inside of a Military makes it policy.

Several weeks ago a reader here took exception when another suggested "Rape as Policy" inside the US Military. This defender of that Military claimed incidents of rape as anomalies.

I disagree with that point of View. Just as with the Soviets and "The Rape of Berlin" and the Japanese in Nanking (Both of those nations had laws that forbid the members of the Military from committing rape) the stand of the US Military to these crimes mean it is policy to allow them to occur.

What do people think war is , honor, super hero status, saving people, glory, God like Justice, Righteous Behavior.
The Bible does not say war mongers "inherit the Earth " it says " the meek: for they shall inherit the earth "
Do you know why, because when its all over, and the war mongers unleash hell on each other, the meek smart enough to hide and wait for the after math will be left standing.

War is not rule of law, it is force serving the few to enslave the rest of us.

These are wars to occupy and take the middle east, and these are the slogans for we the people to believe we are righteous in our imperial conquests.

" Support the Troops "
" Freedom is not Free "
" United we Stand "
" These colors dont Run"
" You are either with us or against us"
" If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about"
" See something,say something"
" Kinetic action of violent intervention for protecting people from Violence"
"WMD, IED,Reaper Drones,Viper Units, FEMA CAMPS, Fast and Furious"
" Airport Scanners, Shoe Bombs, Underwear Bombs"
"Pat downs,Patriot Acts, Warrant less Surveillance, Check Points"
"Infragard, Fusion Centers, Community Watch Stasi"

Where are the other men in all this, the ones who aren't assaulting or raping? Is there some kind of omerta?

How come the women don't know how to protect themselves, surely they too are soldiers? I'd carry a gun at all times.

Myself, I couldn't care less about going through official lines , it's all about survival and getting better.

The women should be organising both while in the service and when out. Blogs would be a good idea.

Huu-ahh!!

They know they have a 1 in 3 chance of being raped, yet they still enlist.

Yes, considerable kudos to Al Jazeera for this coverage, though, apart from presumably updated statistics, there are no surprises here, and isn't it interesting that this story does get coverage every so often, but the problem only worsens, and that we know that the White House bloody well does pay attention to Al Jazeera - witness Hilary Clinton's recent praising of Al Jazeera, and criticism of domestic news organs.
While there is this lie being shoved down everyone's throats that the U.S. is in two 'wars', when of course it is in two illegal, immoral and murderous invasions/occupations; while the U.S. as a country or nation is rotten to the core with the militaristic propagandizing of the minds of its people and the elevation of the entire military mythos to 'patriotic' obligatory state-religion status; while the U.S. is a culture with a filthy, obscene level of testosterone-poisoning in almost every aspect of its realization and dynamics as a society and a culture; while the whole military thing is relentlessly defended and expanded; while there's such a psychotic level of fetishizing of such things as American football - a thorough mental conditioning and seeding ground for the militaristic mindset if ever there was one (listen to Chomsky on this); while the hypermasculine suppresses and demonizes the feminine principle in the American notion of itself and in the construction and operation of virtually all of its institutions; when the so-called president is ham-strung to do anything to change or downsize this military shit - assuming he'd want to - because there's a gun to his head; when the military exists in the first place ONLY TO PROMOTE AND FORCE THE SUPREMACY OF THE MALE PRINCIPLE (or as Ken Wilber puts it in 'A Brief History of Everything': the male imperatve is 'fuck it or kill it'), it is rank absurdity to expect any ramping up of policing and prosecution of sexual assaults, to expect an adherence to or faithfulness to existing policy or the formulation and enforcement of new, more stringent ones.
These crimes against humanity will continue as long as there is zero tolerance in the wasteland of American society for gender variance, and as long as there is institutionalized endorsement of the victimization and brutalization of anyone or anything, including ideas, that is opposite to or contradictory of the crudest and most vile expressions of the male and the masculine.
There is a systemic ideological and cultural problem in the national identity and in the world-wide, species-wide 'approved' gender duality at the root of this military problem, and it will not be solved by an about-face in policy-enforcement or even an increase in prosecutions, though we might hope and want that to be so.
The people perpetrating and continuing the American military writ large can do absolutely nothing right, including the conducting of their two 'wars', which have both failed. They can do nothing except contribute to the destruction of the society. The only short-term solution is to abandon the lies and propaganda and brain-washing about how there's anything righteous or honourable about belonging to the U.S. military, sacrifice what economic gain you might get because your life-choices are limited, and CREATE OTHER CHOICES, and boycott and desert the fucking mess as fast as your two legs can carry you.
What is also incredibly nauseating and ought to be criminalized is the county's and the military's references to 'God' and 'Christianity' to reinforce and underpin the military and its actions. While those stinking evangelical officers and DoD superiors are busily 'christianizing' the military and proselytizing the Afghans and the Iraqis, are they paying the slightest attention to the plight of women in the military. Of course not, because the subordination and vilifying and blaming of women for their own assaults is part of the definition of the 'Christian' shit that infects the military, and the society as a whole.
But, as the signs and omens portend, this society as a whole will most likely collapse, the United States be destroyed and a cold wind blow across the real estate that it once was before there's a paradigm shift.
I should like to think that our Occupy movements and many of the progressive things happening now might usher in even a small chane for the U.S. to save itself, but I'm convinced that the American people are variously too stupid, too apathetic and too attached to their cartoon ideas of themselves and what's left of their country to manage any real, mass enlightenment in time to save themselves.

As a woman, former Marine, and survivor of extreme abuse and sexual assault, I can clear up a few things for a few people here:
There was never a reason for me to think that a brother in arms would ever see fit to harm me in any way. I knew many military men prior to enlisting and they were fine, upstanding people. It never crossed my mind that people who choose to enlist in the armed forces to serve and protect our nation could be driven to do and say horrific and horrendous thing to their colleagues. I was not schooled by my recruiters about protecting myself from my male colleagues. It never occurred to me that I would become their enemy or that I was seen in such an inhuman way by so many of them. I'll never know if my recruiters were wise to what happens to so many women in the military, but if they did know, they surely never let on that I needed to be aware and armed.
In my case, I endured extreme, head-bending verbal and emotional assault nearly every day. I was sexually assaulted twice by members of my unit. And the chain of command was rife with abusers. I didn't dream of complaining lest I tip the apple cart and bring more scrutiny, abuse, skepticism, etc...The burden of proof was well upon the victim and I knew it was best to lie low and say nothing. I was safer knowing the devils I knew than to approach an unknown that may turn on me.
The idea of forming a sorority of supportive military sisters is lovely and completely misguided. The favorite tactic of abusers in the military is divide and conquer. Once you have been victimized, it is impossible to know who is safe and who isn't. There are plenty of apologist women in the military who are the way they are out of misunderstanding of what other women have endured or out of the wisdom of knowing that by standing by the men in their unit, they warranted a twisted form of protection.
One's sense of safety and perceptions of intentions are completely warped - destroyed - after trauma and by the experience of knowing someone who has been harmed.
All the coverage and enlightenment, education and disciplining of perpetrators does nothing but inflict more harm upon the already victimized. I served during the Tailhook era. Tailhook was a highly covered, high-profile example of men in uniform behaving in dehumanizing, derogatory and discriminatory ways against their female colleagues. Frankly, Tailhook was rather tame in comparison to what I saw - think "Courage Under Fire," if you have seen the film. Tailhook was seen as an opportunity to educate the military masses about sexual harassment and work place equality. The result was turning the military in to a steaming pot of resentment...it confused all with respect to personal boundaries and appropriateness and lead to an environment of latent hostility and tension.

No amount of hand to hand combat training can protect you from the nature of sexual assault in the military. You see, we were all trained in the same capacity...but the men have the added benefit of actual hand to hand combat training 12-13 weeks beyond my own level of training. 1:1 with equal training might mean a small chance of self protection. 1:1 with a man, in his peak of fitness and better trained than you means little chance of fighting ones way out. And weapons are not permitted in barracks.

Rape me; they would die!
I don't understand why these women do not kill these mongrels.

If this is how women in the same army are treated, imagine how the women in the countries that they are occupying are treated!

US: force for good in the world --- only in your nightmares!

Well, of course posting a comment like mine would draw an apologist, a dismisser, a marginalizer out of the woodwork.
Mato48.wordpress.com, it is slightly puzzling why you claim to be glad to read my and Common Dreamgirl's comments, when you're quite dismissive of mine in what can certainly be interpreted in a sarcastic manner, and in both cases address nothing of the substance of the comments, except inasmuch, and very obliquely at that, as your notion of a female-only army would be preferable to a largely male one.
The issue of a paternalistic society and testosterone as the driving force of history is not popular, even in 'progressive' circles? Firstly, I could care less whether or not it is popular - popularity or its absence is no barometer of the worth or importance of an issue. I did not write what I did under some misapprehension that thousands of CD readers would instantly discuss or endorse my view. Because, you see, it is not about 'my view'. It is about reality, which you apparently think is immutably and therefore legitimately in favour of the paternal, the patriarchal and the male principle. The actual reality is that human history - in how it has played out over many thousands of years, and how the rather perverse little American corner of it is now playing out, and I refer to such developments as the new Republican attempt in Congress at what's been dubbed a 'Kill Women' bill, along with the relentless military adventuring - now expressing itself increasingly in domestic law enforcement - has been skewed and unbalanced (consult the series of films airing in the U.S. via PBS 'Women, War and Peace', beginning with 'Pray The Devil Back To Hell') in favour of the male, the aggressive and the dominance principle for long enough.
Secondly, while you dismiss my comment as merely a 'rant', you skate completely over several very serious, pertinent and vital points it makes on your way to patting me on the head and thanking me for 'taking the time and speaking out.' Upon whose behalf do you claim to thank me? Your dismissal, while couched in superficially polite terms, is emblematic of the anti-intellectualism and marginalization of serious thought and confronting of issues that characterizes much public discourse in the United States, and certainly its entire political discourse, with the exception of contributions by Nader and a few others. You're evidently of the mind, if that's what it can be called, that since points I raise, while spoken saucily or angrily or what-have-you at times, are very scary points with very scary substance behind them, it is best to ignore them and attempt to make me look a fool, and then pretend that your verdict of ranting fool is shared by the CD masses. I should think this a very foolish thing to do, as it reveals an underlying misogyny - you see a comment by someone with a female name which takes the piss out of the male-domination in a society dooming itself with its fetish for aggression and the alleged supremacy of the male principle - out of which you say 'there there girly, you're obviously hysterical - you know that the paternal alpha males run it all and aren't going to take crap from any females, so here's your scrap of equality in my thanking you for coming to the show, and I'm sure someone will sympathize with you, but now go away, because Daddy Knows Best.' When I refer to the impoverished public discourse, and the contempt for serious thought and deep, critical honesty about America and its affairs, I refer to such matters as the almost-total exclusion of Noam Chomsky from the national discourse, except of course for his publishers, Democracy Now, Alternative Radio, and precious few other outlets. I refer to such spectacles as the recent Republican tv 'debate' (a contradiction in terms, of course) in which Ron Paul had some brutally honest things to say about American imperialism and how the country's foreign policy and actions were inviting attacks upon it, while the nation rots from within, while the gob-smacked imbecile to his right on the screen (to his left in the studio) had a look on his face that seemed to me reminiscent of the looks the most cowardly kids in class would get when another kid is making all the noise, and at any moment the teacher or principal will show up, 'and boy will that kid get it, but I'll keep my mouth shut and make sure I look as though I think the noisy kid's an idiot, so I won't get in trouble, and the principal will know I'm on his/her side.' We can't be having any revelations like Ron Paul got on with, that blow apart this cozy idea that all's right and righteous with the way America does things.
I refer. mato48, to the manner in which the U.S. administratyion makes all kinds of noise about supporting democracy, but marginalizes and demonizes the Occupy movement now.