When military sexual assault survivors call Susan Avila-Smith, she advises them to keep their mouths shut while she works on getting them home. “It breaks my heart to do that,” she says, “but I want to get them out alive and that’s my main goal.” Since she left the Army in 1995, Avila-Smith estimates that she has helped about 1,200… return to article
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Reader Comments (15)Page 1 of 1 pagesAll patriarchal organizations and societies deny the value of women and treat them as being at fault in any violent interactions with males that may require the male to be punished.
I have never seen the military do any more than render lip service when pressed to correct the situation. Male oficers are very reluctant to punish other males for actions that would require taking the word of a female over that of a male. They will deny that they are being unfair or prejudicial but will proffer the notion that it is quite likely the female instigated the matter or was remorseful after the fact and wishes to see the innocent male punished.
The reasons are multifarious but they remain constant. Females are there to be used/abused by males and must learn to shut up and stop complaining about such abuse. Thus it has been and thus it will be in the US military. Change is neither desired nor will it be permitted or tolerated until there is a sufficiently large female officer corps. It is a boys’ club and women who come into it will be used/abused and discarded if they complain.
Posted by nyboomer on Mar 3, 2008 at 1:28 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 even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women’s latrine after dark.
The latrine for female soldiers at Camp Victory wasn’t located near their barracks, so they had to go outside if they needed to use the bathroom. “There were no lights near any of their facilities, so women were doubly easy targets in the dark of the night,” Karpinski told retired US Army Col. David Hackworth in a September 2004 interview. It was there that male soldiers assaulted and raped women soldiers. So the women took matters into their own hands. They didn’t drink in the late afternoon so they wouldn’t have to urinate at night. They didn’t get raped. But some died of dehydration in the desert heat, Karpinski said.
Karpinski testified that a surgeon for the coalition’s joint task force said in a briefing that “women in fear of getting up in the hours of darkness to go out to the port-a-lets or the latrines were not drinking liquids after 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and in 120 degree heat or warmer, because there was no air-conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying from dehydration in their sleep.”
“And rather than make everybody aware of that - because that’s shocking, and as a leader if that’s not shocking to you then you’re not much of a leader - what they told the surgeon to do is don’t brief those details anymore. And don’t say specifically that they’re women. You can provide that in a written report but don’t brief it in the open anymore.”
Posted by urthsong on Mar 3, 2008 at 4:38 PM “Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration”
Glad you gave the source. It clarifies matters.
If it were true that women were being raped as claimed, why not bring guns to the latrine or go in groups or both? Or simply pee in a container near your bed? Surely no one is stupid enough to die from dehydration due to this sort of thing, when it is so very easy to work around it.
While some men very well might prey on women, many more would happily prey on those who did. But hey, to those who believe that men are bad, women are helpless and the Bush administration is evil, it must be easy to believe such nonsense.
Posted by wolf on Mar 4, 2008 at 2:26 PM Seems like you must have been in Iraq and know how easy it is to urinate in public in front of your tent mates into a can. Nothing to it, as they say.
Surely all male soldiers like to be awakened in the night to escort females to the latrines and stand outside waiting for them to finish. Carrying a gun at all times is also a neat trick.
No one will question a shooting of an aggressive male during the night outside a latrine. It would be assumed that he was being difficult and the woman had no choice but to shoot him. Such occurances are as common as dirt in the normal course of events in America.
All problems have a simple solution which no one will accept because its simplicity steps on their toes.
We should tell females GIs to shoot any male who lays a hand on them and promise not to prosecute them for it.
This proves that there is no problem for females in the military and that only stupid people see problems where there are none. I’m glad that you set us straight whoever you are. You are probably GW Bush’s competence coach.
Posted by nyboomer on Mar 4, 2008 at 3:20 PM Yeah, pee in a can or get raped or die of dehydration - the choice is oh so hard to make! Need a rocket scientist to help? Especially since everyone is asleep!
Do you really think that most men would even allow this to happen to their friends and comrades? Or do you believe that pretty much all men rape, it is only a few that don’t and would intervene?
The story as presented is simply not credible. This is not to say that no one ever got raped going to the latrine (maybe some men did too?), only that if it were a prevalent problem as described, it would be fixed and quickly.
You have no idea how silly your argument is, do you?
Posted by wolf on Mar 5, 2008 at 11:13 AM 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 by urthsong on Mar 5, 2008 at 11:35 AM My argument is backed by personal observations through the years and by medical reports. Female soldiers are raped more frequently than civilian females. This is indisputable via military admissions of cases. One wonders how many times they coerce females into shutting up about the matter?
Perhaps you lack the experience or imagination to be aware of the problems. I don’t know so I can’t comment about your level of intelligence.
Once someone is convinced of the rightness of their position they are called a right wing conservative. They stop accepting any evidence that is contrary to what they believe. So be it. Enjoy your life of certainty. Stay away from any evidence that might diverge from your belief. Be well!
Posted by nyboomer on Mar 5, 2008 at 11:58 AM Jes-
Great article. I think In These Times would do itself and it’s readers a HUGE favor by employing your services more frequently.
The allocation of a special unit to investigate and prosecute rapists in the military is a perfectly reasonable idea. Your article suggest that funding such a unit would be difficult, but if the government is willing to spend trillions of dollars on an unjustifiable occupation of a sovereign nation, how could they say that funding a program that is only necessary as a direct result of said occupation is not only immoral, it’s simply deplorable. I’m sure it could be argued that “acquaintence rapes” occured before the occupation as well, but the fact that the military is actively engaged in acts of war has propelled the situation to the point where it now seems out-of-control.
Posted by willywinstonIII on Mar 6, 2008 at 8:28 AM Hold on...I spent 19 months in Iraq (including Camp Victory). I NEVER heard of any females (or males) dying from dehydration rather than go to the porta-potties. Sorry ladies but that is just crazy. It sucked getting out of bed in the middle of the night and walking 100 meters just to go pee. I used the readily available water bottle, so did my roommates. I assume the women did something similar. Sure there have been rapes in Iraq and in the military: just like in the civilian world. Let’s use only real facts here not sensationalized stories…
Posted by silman on Mar 8, 2008 at 10:53 PM I re-read your post urthsong. Camp Victory is a huge complex, as big as many cities in the US. When I was there in 2004 there was air-conditioning in most buildings, especially the sleeping quarters. It’s not 120 degrees at night either. You have either been duped by this story or you are full of BS. What is your source?
Posted by silman on Mar 8, 2008 at 11:01 PM I forgot that airconditioning came to Iraq on the same day that the soldiers did. It slipped my mind that Camp Victory was built up and ready for the GIs just before they showed up for combat.
I’m sure that the physicians who determined that the deaths were due to dehydration are incompetent oafs hired by GW Bush since he refuses to hire anyone who can actually do a job correctly.
I apologize to all of you who know that reality is not real.
I am also aware that when a scapegoat was needed for Abu Ghraib the only one that could be found was a woman who was overloaded with work and kept out of the loop. How typical?
Once again, I am sorry about that pesky reality. It really should be banished maybe Bush can write a presidential directive to that effect. ( As soon as he learns how to read and write English.)
Posted by nyboomer on Mar 9, 2008 at 4:35 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 such as Black Water.
Men need to understand that those prone to sexual abuse and attacks do not do it openly. They get the women alone. A part of this victimization is the knowledge that the women will have little or no recourse. If that isn’t abetting the original crime(s) I don’t what is. This sort of thing has been going on for a long time in our military. Recall the Tail Hook scandal.
Unless and until our military decide to forbid these crimes and be even-handed in resolving compalints, it will be a festering sore that impairs military functioning. Abusers returning to civilian life will take it as a green light to continue. The fabric of our society is being shredded by this abetting conduct.
Posted by urthsong on Mar 9, 2008 at 7:14 AM So now it is 2003 and not 2004. You just change the facts as they suit you. If there were no a/cs then there would be no porta-potties or latrines either. You ever heard of a straddle trench? I am not arguing that no rapes take place in Iraq. I’m not saying that there haven’t been many people die from the heat. However, I doubt this story very much. Anyway, you will believe what reinforces your point regardless of the actual truth. Have a good day ladies, I’m gone…
Posted by silman on Mar 9, 2008 at 11:01 AM I heard that rape was actually required of all military men, in order to prove that they could preform in 150 degree heat at night. In fact, for a woman to even use a bathroom she would have to submit to this and pretend to enjoy it. Note that over 99% or all men are evil (some are too disabled to qualify), whereas each and every woman is good, but victimized, unless she is scapegoated instead.
(To the crazies who participated in the thread above, feel free to quote the paragraph above. After all, if is it written down on the internet, no matter how absurd, it therefore must be true!).
Ha ha ha ho hee! Have fun day, youse guys.
Posted by wolf on Mar 10, 2008 at 10:32 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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