Sex Crimes Continue to Plague the US Military
TruthOut.org
By Sarah L. Blum
January 15, 2013
A culture of fear, intimidation and entitlement allows sexual predators at all levels and branches of the armed services free access to military women (and men), who often have little recourse.
Do sexual predators have free reign in the US Armed Forces? For decades both men and women in our military have been sexually assaulted. Those crimes were usually concealed and have essentially gone unpunished, in large part, because of a long-standing cover up that includes the military police, the military justice system and the leadership in our armed forces. In an interview with Natalie Morales of NBC News on September 27, 2012, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admitted the military had a habit of “sweeping these issues under the rug.”
Brigadier General Jeffrey A. Sinclair, with two combat tours in Iraq, was and on his second in Afghanistan when he was sent home in May 2012 to face charges of forcible sodomy, multiple counts of adultery and wrongful sexual conduct, according to ABC News. He is scheduled January 22 to be arraigned in military court on those and other charges: engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a major, attempting to engage in an inappropriate relationship with a first lieutenant and having sexual intercourse with a captain, then threatening her if she told anyone. Sinclair was the deputy commander of logistics and support for the 82nd Airborne while in Afghanistan. …
Read on: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13923-a-target-rich-environment-sex-crimes
