The Senate Armed Services Committee hears from top officials of the Air Force, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, right, and Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley, left, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. Besides funding for next year's Pentagon budget, the Air Force is dealing with controversy over sexual assaults and how the military justice system handles it.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Alan: Prudent politics depends on perspective and proportion. Whatever the Obama administration's shortcomings in relationship to the 2012 Benghazi attack in with four Americans were killed, that scandal shrivels-to-invisiblity when compared with the ongoing outrage of rape and sexual degradation in the American military. The litany of horrors is long. Not only does "brass" cover up, excuse and ignore thousands of life-shattering crimes, these crimes are three hundred times more frequent (per capita) than they are in the general population. Annually, 20,000 cases of rape and abuse come to the attention of military authorities, although just 5% are prosecuted. Why? The military knows full well how to impose exquisite pain on "complainers." Furthermore, GIs who do bring sexual grievance to military court sue successfully only 7% of the time as opposed to 40% success rate in civilian court. Listen to "Sexual Assault In The Military" and learn how generals can -- and do -- overturn guilty verdicts "just because they can." These generals operate with the same disdain for justice that long characterized "good ol' boys" in the days of Southern segregation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_assault_in_the_United_States_military
And sex crimes in the U.S. military are ever more numerous.
A new report indicates sexual assault cases in the military increased more than 30 percent in two years. Diane and guests discuss pressures on the Pentagon to prosecute offenders and prevent future crimes.
Source URL: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-05-09/sexual-assault-military
And sex crimes in the U.S. military are ever more numerous.
A new report indicates sexual assault cases in the military increased more than 30 percent in two years. Diane and guests discuss pressures on the Pentagon to prosecute offenders and prevent future crimes.
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Source URL: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-05-09/sexual-assault-military
Guests
Susan Burke
D.C. lawyer representing military rape victims.
Tom Bowman
NPR Pentagon correspondent.
Maj. Gen. Bill Nash
U.S. Army-Retired.
Rebekah Havrilla
former Army sergeant (Jan. 2004 - Sept. 2009) and plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Pentagon.
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