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Army Spec. Swift Chooses Court Martial Over Signing Agreement

Army Spec. Suzanne Swift made news in June when she went AWOL and refused a second deployment to Iraq. Swift's refusal came about because she was the victim of sex crimes. According to Swift, the seargent who told her mother, "Don't worry, M'am, we'll take good care of your daughter," went on to make her "his private" by coercing her to have sex with him. Swift says that several of his colleagues pressured her for sex, and refusing them led to increased sexual harrassment.

Swift reported the harrassment and abuse to both her team leader and her equal opportunity representative, but nothing was done other than to transfer one of the perpetrators. After she went AWOL, Swift was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, a diagnosis which the Army disputes. The Army did its own evaluation and concluded that Swift suffers from stress, but not from PTSD.

The Army has offered Swift a deal--that she will receive an honorable discharge if she agrees to serve another nineteen months. According to her mother, Swift was inclined to accept the deal until she learned of a caveat--she would have to sign a statement claiming no sexual harrassment ever took place. Swift has refused to sign this statement and is now prepared to accept a Court Martial. Her case has been placed under special Court Martial rules that will restrict her punishment to no more than twelve months.

Many Americans are familiar with the more dramatic cases involving sexual assault and sex abuse and harrassment in the military--such as the 1991 Navy Tailhook case (referred to by Jesse Ventura as "much ado about nothing"), the 1996 Army Aberdeen case, and the 2003 Air Force Academy case. But the problem is chronic: In 2005, the U.S. Armed Services received 2,374 reports of cases involving sexual assault alone.

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Why are we surprised when we hear that another female soldier, sailor, or airperson has been molested or raped? Our armies, like most throughout history, rape and pillage; sometimes their own. One notable incident from GulfWar 1 involved the rape of a female soldier by 5 of her colleagues. She was told "This is what happens to women in a war zone."
More recently, American soldiers raped a child in Iraq...then murdered her family to cover it up. Where was the so-called "liberal media" when these soldiers pled guilty to this crime? What of the 2 US marines who raped a 12 year old child on Okinawa in the late 80's? Had these crimes not been reported, would we be honoring and respecting these troops?
We expect the propoganda ministry at FOX and the mis-named "EIB" networks to keep silent on pedophiles in our military...where is the voice of NPR? of CNN? Certainly enough has been said about pedophiles in the church.

What of Lynndie England, photographed torturing inmates at Abu Garhaib? If soldiers truly do nothing without orders, who did the ordering?

It is time for the US military to take full responsibility for their actions, as well as the orders given to the troops...even those orders given by CIA agents in military garb. Power to the people!!!

Posted by: CD Sutton II on 12/04/06 at 8:25 PM

I certainly wouldn't expect to hear the voice of CNN, which I consider to be only a half-tone less conservative than the voice of Fox. CNN has done "news by omission" for many years now.

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Army Spec. Swift Chooses Court Martial Over Signing Agreement

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