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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (38478)	2/25/2004 10:44:25 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Sex Attacks in U.S. Military Increasing, Senators Are Told By ERIC SCHMITT Published: February 25, 2004 WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — The United States military is facing the gravest accusations of sexual misconduct in a decade, with dozens of servicewomen in the Persian Gulf area saying they were sexually assaulted or raped by fellow troops and then denied adequate medical care and counseling, lawmakers and victims advocates said today. There have been 112 reports of sexual misconduct over roughly the past two years in the Central Command area of operations, which includes Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, military officials said today. The Army has reported 86 incidents, the Navy 12, the Air Force 8 and the Marine Corps 6. In addition, about two dozen women at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas have reported to a local rape-crisis center that they were assaulted in the past year. The Air Force Academy in Colorado is still reeling from the disclosure last year of more than 50 reported assaults or rapes over the past decade. In response to the latest accusations, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered earlier this month a senior-level inquiry into the reported sexual assaults in Iraq and Kuwait, and how the armed services treats victims of sexual attacks. The Army and Air Force have opened similar investigations. The issue came to a boil at a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill today, where Senate Democrats and Republicans grilled the Pentagon's top personnel official and four four-star generals for what the lawmakers said were inexplicable lapses in the military's ability to protect servicewomen from sexual assaults, to treat victims of attacks and to punish violators. Lawmakers said they were particularly appalled by reports that women serving as military police and helicopters pilots had been assaulted by male colleagues in remote combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, where immediate medical treatment and a sense of justice seemed to be lacking. "No war comes without cost, but the cost should be born out of conflict with the enemy, and not because of egregious violations by some of our own troops," said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican on the Armed Services personnel subcommittee. Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, voiced concern that senior Pentagon leaders had not sufficiently addressed the problem. "I don't get a sense of outrage by military leadership," Mr. Nelson said. The Pentagon's personnel chief, David S. C. Chu, assured the lawmakers that the Defense Department was treating the issue very seriously and that "all policies are on the table" as part of the 90-day review, whose findings and recommendations are due by April 30. In an effort to blunt criticism the defense officials were not doing enough to address the issue, the Pentagon moved up the release of a Congressionally mandated survey conducted in 2001 and 2002 that found that the number of servicewomen who said they had been sexually assaulted had declined to 3 percent, from 6 percent in 1995, when the last survey was taken. But that only seemed to anger senators even more. "Why in the world did it take two years to take a survey?" demanded Senator John W. Warner, a Virginia Republican who heads the full committee, noting that politicians routinely order overnight polls for their campaigns. nytimes.com lurqer