The war on women is real and it is being waged on many fronts.
The Invisible War is a documentary exposing the systemic coverup of the rape of U.S. military women by U.S. service members.
There is something very, very wrong with our military. I suspect it is related to being “all volunteer” when it is actually a military maintained by an economic draft that feeds off of the ever increasingly institutionalized socio-economic inequality in the United States.
We have never been a society of equals. We have always had an underclass that has not been allowed to have self-determination, be allowed to vote, have equal access to resources, and so on. Slaves, original peoples, women, immigrants, and so on have made up the underclasses. Only landed men originally had a say in the colonies. It has been less than 100 years that women have had the vote. Our country changes. How? Either by allowing change to happen or by attempting to influence the change that happens.
I suggest you watch this trailer:
What kind of a society allows and, by refusing to address it, sanctions rape? We create society. We can change it. Your tax dollars support this. Please do not ignore this atrocity. There is a Facebook Group, check that out to find out more.
And you definitely NEED to sign on to the call for action and investigation by House Member Congressman Michael Turner.
To find out a little bit more you might watch Retired Colonel Ann Wright’s talk from a couple years ago about how individuals totalling one-third of women in the military are raped and about some of the culture of abuse within the military. She is someone whom I have met many times and for whom I have very much respect. She never makes a situation seem less complex than it is, but neither does she give up on attempting to change what she knows of that is not right. Her book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience, is a damn good, but disturbing read if you don’t know the back stories of what really goes on in the ruling of our nation. Her talk does cover some of the things you can do to get involved in ending this horrific practice, but please do also click the sign on link above for Turner’s call for immediate action.. You cannot do too much.
Note: Updated 26 June 2012 with the Congressman Turner info! And for those of you in Tucson, Director KIRBY DICK will participate in The Loft’s post-film Q&A’s at the 7:00 p.m. shows on Friday, July 20th and Saturday, July 21st!
Repeal Day, Now We Just Need to Repeal a Couple More Things
Happy Repeal Day! 12:01 a.m. today, a few hours ago, the right of all citizens to serve serve in the military and defend the Constitution and the people of United States has been restored. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell finally goes away. A person’s sexual orientation is no one’s business, and yet for the last 18 years any non-heterosexually oriented person had to hide their sexual orientation or risk expulsion from the military, punishment, and loss of benefits. Obama has kept another campaign promise.
Right now the military is doing better at promoting and protecting constitutional basics than the society at large. Just look at the recent Top Air Force Official Issues Religious Neutrality Policy in Wake of Truthout’s “Jesus Loves Nukes” Exposé that caused the Air Force to pull all ethics training in order to scour the use of biblical justifications from ROTC pilot training in the use of nuclear weapons. When this came to light, “Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz said, “Leaders … must balance Constitutional protections for an individual’s free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and its prohibition against governmental establishment of religion.””
Now perhaps we can get down to the real sex problem in the military of rape and sexual assault. An amazing woman I have occasionally had the honor to work with in the peace movement over the last few years is Retired Colonel Ann Wright, one of three diplomats,who resigned from the diplomatic corps in March 2003 when we invaded Iraq, has written on and spoken about this topic extensively. I recommend starting your read on this topic with her on the site, U.S. Military Violence Against Women. The site is an essential reference in any discussion of sexual violence in the military including the use of rape as a weapon.
We still have a long way to go. We as a country are still allowing the execution of people, a barbaric medieval practice, even in cases where there is significant doubt that the murder conviction would not stand in a fair trial. Troy Davis is the current news making death row inmate with no appeals or recourse remaining who is most probably innocent. WTF.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month…
The SAAM Day of Action, observed this year on Thursday, April 3, 2008, is recognized nationally as a specific day to focus awarness on sexual violence prevention, and to do my part, I’m highlighting the intolerable acceptance of rape by U.S. mercenaries and the military and governmental institutions that shield them. KBR, yet again, appears to be sheltering violent rapists.
Women in the military and women in companies with a presence in Iraq — do not volunteer to go to Iraq, do not allow yourself to be sent there.
The old CODEPINK chant, “Haliburton, Kellog, Brown and Root. Go to Iraq to loot, loot loot.” needs to be updated to “Haliburton, Kellog, Brown and Root. Go to to Iraq to rape and loot.” If they do this to their sister medics just imagine the brutality of attacks on Iraqi women and girls.
Write your Representatives. Include a link to the article. Tell them to get the hell out of Iraq now. Ask them to immediately have mercenaries withdrawn, followed by all National Guard, then those that have been Stop Lossed, then Reserves, then Regular Military. And while you are at it tell ’em to get Impeachment Proceedings started now (Pelosi’s smoke-filled room agreements are not legal nor binding) or Bush will pardon everyone in his administration before leaving office and justice will be much more difficult to mete out to them. There are two ways to do this. Go to Wexler’s site to support hearings. Or go to Kucinich’s site and support HR 333 — as we really don’t need any more hearings, just House Impeachment so the Senate can then have Hearings.
Mercenaries need to be held accountable for their violent sexual assaults and the Bush administration that created this war and bears ultimate responsibility for all this death and violence must also be held accountable.