Congress Moves to Worsen Problem of Sexual Assaults in the Military

The U.S. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has rejected the reform measure championed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in favor of a version that on its surface would seem to strengthen protections for victims but that in a very important way will probably worsen things. Gillibrand's most important proposal was to take investigation and prosecution of sexual assault allegations against military personnel out of the chain of command and put it in the hands of independent prosecutors. This would prevent what now happens frequently- the quashing of charges by military commanders acting to protect sexual assaulters, and even the overturning of convictions. One of the changes in the current reform measure now set to be enacted into law as part of the Pentagon's gigantic budget bill would mandate the separation from service of those convicted of sexual offenses, presumably dishonorably. It would also take away the power of commanders to overturn convictions. But since commanders would still maintain control of the court-martial process, this gives them an even stronger incentive to quash charges against personnel they favor and would want to retain in military service, especially since they could no longer overturn convictions.

Way to go, assholes.

Of course, Congress has done worse. In a previous military spending bill, they included a provision empowering the president of the United States to brand U.S. citizens “terrorists” on his word alone, and order their indefinite imprisonment in a military dungeon without charges or trial. (This was the handiwork of “liberal” Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat. His party's boss, President Barack Obama, signed it into law. [1]) Previously the U.S. was only “allowed” to do this to that lesser order of beings, non-Americans.

But you don't hear anything about this from the U.S. media. You hear a LOT about how mean the Russians and Chinese are to dissidents, however. Which proves how much the U.S. establishment cares about human rights- so they'd have us believe.

But about Congress' fix for the epidemic of rapes and so on in the military; on the plus side, there are some sops that look good on paper but that in reality will probably do little to combat the plague of sexual assaults in the military. Retaliation against victims who report the crimes would itself be criminalized (good luck enforcing that one- try proving that being given an onerous assignment or a bad performance rating was “retaliation”). And they're going to expand a victims' counseling service. (Maybe put someone in charge of that who isn't a sexual abuser- remember the officer they put in charge of combating sexual assaults they had to replace after he was arrested for assaulting a woman in a parking lot?)

Let's see what Eugene Fidell has to say. He's the guy the media always go to as the expert on military law: “On the one hand, important progress has been made with respect to preliminary investigations. On the other hand, real reform in the structure of military justice [sic] has been put off.” (Fidell is an ex-officer and pro-military guy, by the way.)

In other words, victims will be lured in by the preliminary investigation, and then probably get screwed worse than if they'd never reported the crime in the first place, as usually happens now. Great.

I pity the fools who volunteer to be enforcers for U.S. imperialism. (Aka “defend our way of life.” Against all those third world poor people who threaten it!)

1] The loathsome Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is playing an essential role in the current sexual assault “reform” legislation too, as he controls what bills affecting the military get through his committee, and thus was a key negotiator with the House in agreeing to the sexual assault measure slated to be voted on by Congress.