In These Times

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• • 05 Mar 08
  • 12:35 pm

  Good grief! This is not open to opinion. Some female soldiers died of dehydration in their sleep. Obviously, they didn't believe that they would die or they would have done something else like urinate in a bottle, if they had one. It may have been a situation singular to Camp Victory. Nonetheless, it seems to be factual from the reports. So, it can be concluded in this instance at Camp Victory, the men did not rally around the women and protect them.

  Posted to Silenced in the Barracks

• • 03 Mar 08
  • 5:38 pm

  From Truthout came this report: Monday 30 January 2006 In a startling revelation, the former commander of Abu Ghraib prison testified that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former senior US military commander in Iraq, gave orders to cover up the cause of death for some female American soldiers serving in Iraq. Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or …

  Posted to Silenced in the Barracks

• • 09 Mar 08
  • 8:14 am

  Silman- nyboomer makes excellent points. These deaths were, as I understand it, earlier on in 2003. My source is this article and a previous article some considerable time back about the same thing, I believe from the same military sources. Perhaps it is ancient news. But there is now such a significant body of reports from military women spanning the years that it is estimated something in the neighborhood of 28% of all have been sexually abused or raped, sometimes multiple times. And there are female employees coming forward about sexual attacks including gang rapes while working for private corporate contractors …

  Posted to Silenced in the Barracks

• • 10 Feb 08
  • 6:39 am

  From what I gather, making these drugs illegal was what they needed to replace Prohibition to keep the G-men employed. Now, of course, we have many privatized prisons which make big bucks for their corporate owners. It's become quite an industry with lobbyists and all. I read a quote circa 1997 by a leader in the prison industry who talked of stepping up efforts to fill more beds. Recidivism is profitable. Thus there is a disincentive to rehabilitate. In states where felons lose their voting rights, there is a political motive to arrest and convict black offenders. It's another way for …

  Posted to Women Behind Bars

• • 30 Jun 08
  • 2:53 pm

  Additional waste is the children left behind in crisis while their parents, especially mothers, languish in prisons. These lost children will contibute mightily to the next generation of school dropouts, homeless and future incarcerated.

  Posted to Women Behind Bars