Anti-War Prez Obama Orders Military Support to … – Victory Girls Blog
Using Syrian President s Bashar al-Assad s reported use of chemical weapons1 (the missing WMD from Iraq?) on his own citizens as a catalyst, a red line Obama said months ago that Syria must not cross or else ! Mr . Obama has finally made a decision .
Months after his ultimatum, the or else has arrived, much to the elation of War Drum Pounder John McCain: In an about face, the most unqualified president perhaps in American history, one who touted himself anti-war as Candidate Obama, is involving us in yet ANOTHER war:
The president has made a decision2 about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the Supreme Military Council . That includes military support, Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes told reporters.
And our military support will be (already is?) siding with the Syrian Rebels, reportedly heavily linked to Al Qaeda3, our mortal enemy in the War on Terror . Now correct me if I m wrong, but isn t aiding and abetting your enemy, one you are currently at war with, treason ?
Ah, but wait . Mr . Obama recently declared the War on Terror over (even though his NSA continues to spy on you and me and every other American citizen .
You know . For our Safety) . How convenient when one wishes to arm their former enemy in an effort to further the Rise of Radical Islam Arab Spring.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort .
No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
Now call me a conspiracy theorist, but I find the timing of Mr . Obama s new-found muscle-flexing interesting . Could it be that he wishes to distract us from the plethora of scandals hanging around the neck of his regime like a stinking, rotting carcass ?
Would he be so callous as to send more of our troops into harm s way in order to deflect our attention, or perhaps as a political move to make himself appear presidential as his poll numbers tank ? I would hope that the answer is no, but given that everything he does seems to have a political motivation, well, I m not holding my breath.
And I find it unconscionable that Mr . Obama is willing to expose our troops to injury and death in a civil war we really have no business entering (we cannot aid every warring country), when he refused to send aid to our four Americans under terrorist attack in Benghazi (reportedly a gun-running operation into Syria4 to covertly arm the rebels), leaving them to seven hours of unthinkable hell .
Mr . Obama has shown no leadership skills . He has no credibility given all the scandals he and his administration are currently embroiled in .
And now he s put himself in charge of yet another inessential war . Pardon me if I don t feel an ounce of confidence in his ability to command our forces, or for that matter, even care about their safety or their needs . The last war we entered morphed into one that still languishes twelve years later, with military casualties in Afghanistan increasing5 under Obama s watch .
Americans are war weary .
The majority do not wish to send troops into Syria .
But what do our voices matter?
Tagged as: al qaeda, barack obama, chemical weapons, John McCain, scandals, Syria, Syrian Rebels6789101112
References
- ^ reported use of chemical weapons (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ The president has made a decision (www.cbsnews.com)
- ^ heavily linked to Al Qaeda (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ reportedly a gun-running operation into Syria (townhall.com)
- ^ military casualties in Afghanistan increasing (www.breitbart.com)
- ^ al qaeda (victorygirlsblog.com)
- ^ barack obama (victorygirlsblog.com)
- ^ chemical weapons (victorygirlsblog.com)
- ^ John McCain (victorygirlsblog.com)
- ^ scandals (victorygirlsblog.com)
- ^ Syria (victorygirlsblog.com)
- ^ Syrian Rebels (victorygirlsblog.com)
The Ongoing Battle to Remove Military Sexual Assault Prosecution …
The Senate Armed Services chair has bowed to the objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and spiked Sen .
Gillibrand’s measure to take the prosecution of sexual assaults in the military out of the chain of command . This, after a day-long military sexual assault hearing that featured mostly men. (KirstenEGillibrand / YouTube1)
As the Senate Armed Services Committee meets Wednesday to take up its version of the Defense Authorization bill, senators will likely devote at least as much verbiage to discussion of sexual assault in the military ranks as they do to the finer points of the Pentagon budget that is the bill s main focus . But missing from the committee s final version of the bill will be the one measure that advocates for survivors of sexual assault and rape say is critical to ending the crisis that grips the military: removing the reporting and prosecution of sexual assault cases from the chain of command.
Despite its bipartisan support and 27 co-sponsors, Sen .
Carl Levin (D-MI), the committee chairman, struck from the bill a measure offered by Sen . Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) that would have moved the adjudication of all serious crimes (such as murder, rape, and sexual assault) into the hands of independent prosecutors in order to create a safer environment and more impartial judicial process for those who have been the targets of assailants in the military ranks.
Levin made the decision Tuesday, replacing the provisions of Gillibrand s Military Justice Improvement Act with a measure that simply requires that any command decision not to prosecute a sexual assault case be reviewed by a high-ranking officer . But as demonstrated in at least one recent case the overturning2 of the sexual assault conviction of Air Force Lt .
Col . James Wilkerson by Lt . Gen .
Craig Franklin the top brass often exhibit the same deference to defendants as commanders lower in rank.
Sen . Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has condemned Levin s decision . They basically embrace the status quo here .
It s outrageous, she told3 the New York Times.
As Gillibrand and others noted in a June 4 day-long hearing on sexual assault in the military, victims often don t come forward because of well-founded fears of reprisal by their commanders . Testimony by victims advocates laid out a picture of a landscape on which retaliation against those who report sexual assaults including being drummed out of the service on the basis of mental-health diagnoses made by military medical personnel seemed almost as common as the assaults themselves.
Citing a recent Pentagon report4 that estimated some 26,000 incidents of unwanted sexual contact experienced by members of the military at the hands of others in the ranks, Gillibrand addressed a panel of top military officials: Of the victims who did report 62 percent said they received retaliation.
Of those estimated 26,000 incidents, only 3,300 were reported, and fewer than 200 went to trial.
Most U.S . allies, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Israel, have altered their command structure to reflect the kind of change that Gillibrand and co-sponsors of her bill seek in the U.S .
Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) . But the Joint Chiefs of Staff don t want it, and Levin is not disposed to make them do it, despite the fact that the Constitution places control of the military under the leadership of civilian elected officials.
Among the measures attached to the bill, which allocates the annual budget for the whole of the armed forces, will likely be several that aim to aid members of the military who survive rape and other sexual violence at the hands of their colleagues, measures that victims advocates applaud but that only deal with the aftermath of assault.
Proponents of Gillibrand s measure contend that because it would encourage rape survivors and assault victims to come forward, and would likely result in a higher number of prosecutions, it could change the current military culture marked by rampant predation on lower-ranking members by their superiors.
On June 5, the House Armed Services Committee included in its markup of the bill some 11 amendments designed to address, in some measure, the crisis of sexual assault that has plagued the military for the last 25 years . They include measures to provide services to victims and to prevent commanders from overturning convictions made by military courts .
But a change to the chain of command structure, proposed by Rep . Jackie Speier (D-CA), was not among them.
Wednesday morning, news came that a measure co-sponsored by Sens . Patty Murray (D-WA) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) that would form a Special Victims Counsel a special military lawyer tasked with assisting sexual assault victims throughout the process of adjudicating their reports in all branches of service had won a thumbs-up from Gen .
Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Where Are the Women?
The day before the House committee took up the authorization bill, in a grand but sparsely-populated hearing room on the other side of Capitol Hill, four people took their seats at the witness table for questioning by members of Senate Armed Services Committee on the epidemic of sexual assaults in the military . On the press tables, a mere smattering of laptops was present; most reporters had already left the day-long hearing to file their stories.
Out of a total 20 witnesses questioned by committee members that day, the two women on the panel, Anu Bhagwati of the Service Women s Action Network (SWAN) and Nancy Parrish of Protect Our Defenders, were the only advocates called to appear before the committee to represent the tens of thousands of individuals estimated to have survived sexual assault by colleagues while serving in the armed forces . Absent from the witness list were any current or former members of the armed forces who had suffered sexual assault by their comrades.
I have not met a woman in the military yet who has not experienced some form of discrimination or harassment, Bhagwati, a former captain in the Marines, told the committee .
When that is the average experience of a woman in the military, a culture of harassment is created, and sexual predators will thrive in that culture . These serial predators that are entering the ranks, they re hitting a target-rich environment.
Nancy Parrish shared the stories of several assault survivors, including some who were pushed out of the service, tainted with a mental-health diagnosis after they reported assaults a pernicious form of retaliation, since it often deprives victims of benefits they would otherwise be entitled to through the Veterans Administration, and leads to the revocation of security clearances required in the victim s area of vocational specialty.
Both Parrish and Bhagwati cited this sort of retaliation as common.
Unit Cohesion?
Parrish read part of a statement her organization collected from a woman soldier serving in a combat zone who said she had tried to file a rape report several times against a higher-ranking member, only to be rebuffed at each turn . The soldier s immediate supervisor told her not to speak ill, Parrish said, of the man she said had raped her, and when she took her complaint to the next commander in the chain, the soldier said she was told that she would be charged with adultery if she tried to file an official report.
The woman was a truck driver, Parrish said, tasked with moving supplies over terrain laden with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the homemade bombs that have killed countless soldiers and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Parrish then quoted a snippet of the soldier s first-person account, where she tells of how, after being raped by a higher-ranking member of the force, her rapist continues to seek contact:
He comes to my truck as I m getting it ready for another mission . I shut down inside . I m the lead driver in our convoy, and I kept hoping to hit an IED after that.
Parrish paused for a moment, and then asked, Unit cohesion ?
Good order and discipline ? This young soldier tried four times to report her assault . And what was her thinking at that time when she was getting ready to get in her truck to lead the convoy ?
I hope I hit an IED . What would that do for mission readiness and unit cohesion ? It s undermined every day by disbelieving the victim.
Asked by Sen .
Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who is sponsoring a measure that would prevent military commanders from overturning sexual assault convictions rendered by courts martial, whether women rape survivors were being offered emergency contraception at base hospitals, Parrish responded, Not in our experience.
So you re saying, Ms . Parrish, that in the medical facilities on bases, they do not have a rape protocol ? McCaskill asked.
Well, if they do, the victims that we ve talked with don t know it, Parrish replied.
The Senate hearing was prompted by Gillibrand s proposed Military Justice Improvement Act, as well as number of other measures proposed by lawmakers to address various aspects of the problem, all spurred by a spate of recent news reports on assaults in all branches, just as the Pentagon released its report on sexual assault.
Those news reports included the arrest of Lt .
Jeffrey Krusinski5, then head of the Air Force s sexual assault prevention unit, for sexually assaulting a civilian in a shopping mall parking lot; the investigation of an Army sexual assault prevention officer for allegedly running a prostitution ring6 at Ft . Hood; the alleged rape7 of a woman midshipman at the Naval Academy; and the surreptitious videotaping8, by a male sergeant, of women cadets in the shower at West Point.
Stripes and Ribbons (or Where Are the Women ? Part II)
The late-afternoon panel on which Bhagwati and Parrish spoke was a markedly different scene from the one that took place earlier the same day in that very room .
Then, a witness table of epic length was graced with the dress-uniform sleeves of every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with the those of the top lawyers of each branch of service, in addition to the commandant and judge advocate general of the U.S . Coast Guard.
Every member of the 12-member panel, save one, was a man.
Throngs of photographers clicked their shutters in flurried bursts and reporters bumped elbows at the press tables, as each ribbon-bedecked witness declared that to deprive commanders of the right to adjudicate sex-crimes cases would lead to the breakdown of good order and discipline in the ranks, a breakdown that Gillibrand and other women on the committee concluded had long ago occurred, given the statistics offered in the May Pentagon report.
It is imperative that we keep the chain of command fully engaged and at the center of any solution to combat sexual assault and sexual harassment, said Gen . Raymond T .
Odierno, chief of staff of the U.S . Army . Command authority is the most critical mechanism for ensuring discipline and accountability, cohesion and the integrity of the force.
As Odierno faced often-withering questioning from the senators, his jaw hardened .
He was hardly alone among his colleagues, who, like Odierno, conceded that a terrible problem plagued the military in the form of sexual assault, but bristled at the notion that commanders should give up their jurisdiction over such crimes in order to make it safer for victims to come forward.
Sen . Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) reminded Adm . Jonathan W .
Greenert, chief of Naval Operations, that the military services of the United States closest allies had changed their military justice codes along the lines that Gillibrand proposed, and suggested he confer with his counterparts in those services to see how removal of sex crimes from the chain of command was working for them . Thanks for the tip, Greenert said, flippantly.
Gen . Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Shaheen he hadn t had time to confer with his counterparts in the United Kingdom or Israel or Australia, where serious crimes committed by service members were no longer handled through the chain of command, but through independent military prosecutors .
He said he d get right on it, though.
That led Sen . Roy Blunt (R-MO) to label the brass answers to Shaheen s question as stunningly bad, and seemed incredulous that they made their case against Gillibrand s bill without knowing how similar measures undertaken by U.S . allies had affected the operation of militaries in those countries.
When asked by Sen .
Jack Reed (D-RI) how many commanders had been held accountable for allowing sexual assault to proliferate in their units, most of the military chiefs drew a collective blank, except for Odierno and Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp . Odierno said more than 20 Army commanders had been relieved of command or discharged for not punishing sexual assault, and Papp remembered having the same done to one commander in the Coast Guard . Later, Marine Corps Commandant Gen .
James Amos and Air Force Chief Gen . Mark Welsh corrected the record to note relieving the commands of a total of three commanders, though it seemed from the commandant s description that the commanders relieved under Amos s leadership were for sexual misdeeds of their own, not for failure to punish others.
But military brass are said to have supported the overturning of Lt . Wilkerson s sexual assault conviction by Lt .
Gen . Franklin, and when asked by Stars and Stripes for a reaction on Franklin s decision to throw out the court martial verdict, Welsh refused to comment9 . Welsh also made waves last month when he blamed the military s assault problem on a civilian hook-up mentality that recruits brought into the service with them.
All About Power
The one last option Gillibrand has for getting her chain-of-command measure into the final Defense Authorization bill is to renew it on the floor of the Senate .
It would be an audacious move for the junior senator, but one that observers are betting on.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, while standing their ground on maintaining a commander s power to adjudicate sexual assault claims, seem willing to accept a prohibition on overturning court martial convictions, a measure also supported by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
But given that the United States closest allies have made the kinds of chain-of-command changes that Gillibrand and her allies seek, one has to wonder what it is the generals and admiral fear.
In Israel, Gillibrand noted at the hearing, reports of sexual assault have increased by 80 percent since reporting and prosecution of those crimes were taken out of the chain of command.
References
- ^ (Open in new tab) (youtu.be)
- ^ (Open in new tab) (www.stripes.com)
- ^ (Open in new tab) (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Pentagon report (rhrealitycheck.org)
- ^ arrest of Lt .
Jeffrey Krusinski
(rhrealitycheck.org) - ^ (Open in new tab) (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ (Open in new tab) (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ (Open in new tab) (www.armytimes.com)
- ^ (Open in new tab) (www.stripes.com)
North Coast congressmen call for changes in wake of military sex …
Military commanders should be removed from the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults in the armed forces, Reps . Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman said. The system they have now has been ineffective, said Thompson, D-Napa, a Vietnam war combat veteran with the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Thompson, whose district includes Santa Rosa, said he has talked to many female veterans who have been victims of these terrible crimes. One is too many, he said. Thompson and Huffman are among the 145 co-sponsors all but one Democrats of a bill by Rep .
Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, that would remove the military chain of command from handling sex crimes. President Barack Obama has called the prevalence of military sex assaults shameful and disgraceful, and Gen . Ray Odierno, the Army’s top commander, described it as a cancer within the force last week in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
But military leaders rebuffed New York Democratic Sen . Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposal to turn sex crimes over to independent military prosectors, similar to a provision in Speier’s bill, which is called the STOP Act. The Pentagon said last month that there were 26,000 incidents of sexual assault in 2012 but only 3,374 were reported, leading critics and military officials to the conclusion that many victims feared retaliation for reporting the crimes.
The military itself admits the problem, said Huffman, D-San Rafael, who represents the North Coast in Congress. Speier’s bill would insulate sex crimes prosecution from the pressures, biases and dysfunction of the military chain of command, he said. They’re just not up to it, Huffman said .
It’s really time to get them out of the way. On Friday, the Army said that a two-star general who commands forces in Japan had been suspended from his duties for allegedly failing to report or properly investigate an allegation of sexual assault. Steve Countouriotis of Petaluma, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served served two tours in Afghanistan and two in Iraq, said he agreed with the generals who testified last week.
Without reservation, I think it needs to be the commanding officer (who is responsible for criminal prosecution), said Countouriotis, whose daughter and two sons served in the military. Maintaining good order and discipline is, in all respects, a commander’s responsibility, he said. Countouriotis acknowledged the volatility of the sex assault issue, and said the military must maintain zero tolerance for it.
Absolutely, he said . There’s no place for it in the military. Women make up about 15 percent, or 202,400, of the military’s 1.4 million active personnel, the Pentagon said in January .
More than 280,000 women have deployed in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade, it said. During his tour in Vietnam, Thompson said the only servicewomen he saw were assigned to the hospital and he wasn’t aware of any incidents of sexual assault at the time. But women are now allowed to serve in combat, and Thompson said the sex assault scandal is a very sad chapter in the history of the military.
Speier’s office said the STOP Act is expected to reach the House floor this week.
(You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or [email protected])
Army suspends general linked to sex-assault case
-
FILE: In this image provided by the Army, Maj . Gen . Michael T .
Harrison Sr., left, commander of U.S . Army Japan and I Corps (Forward), stands aboard a craft near Tengan Pier in Okinawa, Japan, during a tour of some of the 505th Quartermaster Battalion s facilities on Chibana Compound.AP
WASHINGTON A two-star general who commands U.S . Army forces in Japan has been suspended from his duties for allegedly failing to report or properly investigate an allegation of sexual assault, the Army said Friday.
Maj .
Gen . Michael T . Harrison was suspended by the Army chief of staff, Gen .
Ray Odierno, and Army Secretary John McHugh, the Army said . It provided no details about the alleged sexual assault case.
Until the investigation of Harrison’s role is completed, Maj . Gen .
James C . Boozer will take his place in Japan, the Army said.
Harrison already had been selected to become deputy commander of the Army component of U.S . Central Command, based in Kuwait .
That new assignment was publicly announced in February by the Pentagon, which said at the same time that Boozer would replace Harrison as commander in Japan.
Typically, an officer who has been suspended rather than relieved of command could be reinstated in his job if cleared of all allegations . But this won’t happen in Harrison’s case because Boozer already was scheduled to take over the command in Japan next week, which is sooner than the investigation is expected to be completed.
Harrison, a 33-year Army veteran, began his assignment in Japan in October 2010.
Amid increased political pressure to crack down on sexual abuse in the military services, the Air Force said Friday it is expanding the office responsible for sexual assault prevention and placed a female two-star general in charge.
Maj . Gen .
Margaret H . Woodward, who ran the U.S . portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011 and is one of the Air Force’s brightest stars, is running the reorganized office .
She will report to the vice chief of the Air Force.
The move won praise from the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep . Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., who called Woodward a “breath of fresh air.”
The office previously was run by a lieutenant colonel, Jeffrey Krusinski, who was arrested in May and charged with sexual battery . That incident escalated public debate over whether the military was taking seriously the problem of sexual abuse.
The House is scheduled to vote next week on a defense policy bill that would take away the power of military commanders to overturn convictions in rape and assault cases .
The legislation also would require that anyone in uniform found guilty of a sex-related crime receive a punishment that includes, at a minimum, a dismissal from military service or a dishonorable discharge.
McKeon said Woodward is well-suited to the challenge she is facing.
“I welcome her voice to this fight,” he said.
The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel.
An Air Force spokesman, Lt . Col . John Dorrian, said Friday that Woodward’s office will be given additional resources, including a much larger staff than in its previous configuration .
He said Woodward began the job this week.
Woodward entered the Air Force in 1983 with an aerospace engineering degree from Arizona State University . She has one master’s degree in aviation science and another in national security strategy.
A command pilot with more than 3,800 flight hours, she flew aerial refueling aircraft and commanded air operations in numerous U.S . military operations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars .
As commander of 17th Air Force, based in Germany, she commanded the U.S .
portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011.
Most recently she served as the Air Force’s chief of safety .
She also oversaw an investigation of the sexual abuse scandal at the Air Force’s training headquarters at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Major General Michael T .Harrison Suspended By Army For …
WASHINGTON A two-star general who commands U.S . Army forces in Japan has been suspended from his duties for allegedly failing to report or properly investigate an allegation of sexual assault, the Army said Friday.
Maj . Gen .
Michael T . Harrison was suspended by the Army chief of staff, Gen . Ray Odierno, and Army Secretary John McHugh, the Army said .
It provided no details about the alleged sexual assault case.
Until the investigation of Harrison’s role is completed, Maj . Gen . James C .
Boozer will take his place in Japan, the Army said.
Harrison already had been selected to become deputy commander of the Army component of U.S . Central Command, based in Kuwait . That new assignment was publicly announced in February by the Pentagon, which said at the same time that Boozer would replace Harrison as commander in Japan.
Typically, an officer who has been suspended rather than relieved of command could be reinstated in his job if cleared of all allegations .
But this won’t happen in Harrison’s case because Boozer already was scheduled to take over the command in Japan next week, which is sooner than the investigation is expected to be completed.
Harrison, a 33-year Army veteran, began his assignment in Japan in October 2010.
Amid increased political pressure to crack down on sexual abuse in the military services, the Air Force said Friday it is expanding the office responsible for sexual assault prevention and placed a female two-star general in charge.
Maj . Gen . Margaret H .
Woodward, who ran the U.S . portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011 and is one of the Air Force’s brightest stars, is running the reorganized office . She will report to the vice chief of the Air Force.
The move won praise from the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep .
Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., who called Woodward a “breath of fresh air.”
The office previously was run by a lieutenant colonel, Jeffrey Krusinski, who was arrested in May and charged with sexual battery . That incident escalated public debate over whether the military was taking seriously the problem of sexual abuse.
The House is scheduled to vote next week on a defense policy bill that would take away the power of military commanders to overturn convictions in rape and assault cases . The legislation also would require that anyone in uniform found guilty of a sex-related crime receive a punishment that includes, at a minimum, a dismissal from military service or a dishonorable discharge.
McKeon said Woodward is well-suited to the challenge she is facing.
“I welcome her voice to this fight,” he said.
The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel.
An Air Force spokesman, Lt .
Col . John Dorrian, said Friday that Woodward’s office will be given additional resources, including a much larger staff than in its previous configuration . He said Woodward began the job this week.
Woodward entered the Air Force in 1983 with an aerospace engineering degree from Arizona State University .
She has one master’s degree in aviation science and another in national security strategy.
A command pilot with more than 3,800 flight hours, she flew aerial refueling aircraft and commanded air operations in numerous U.S . military operations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars . As commander of 17th Air Force, based in Germany, she commanded the U.S .
portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011.
Most recently she served as the Air Force’s chief of safety .
She also oversaw an investigation of the sexual abuse scandal at the Air Force’s training headquarters at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
___
Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP1
Related on HuffPost:
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References
- ^ http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP (www.twitter.com)
Army suspends general linked to sex-assault probe
WASHINGTON A two-star general who commands U.S . Army forces in Japan has been suspended from his duties for allegedly failing to report or properly investigate an allegation of sexual assault, the Army said Friday.
Maj . Gen .
Michael T . Harrison was suspended by the Army chief of staff, Gen . Ray Odierno, and Army Secretary John McHugh, the Army said .
It provided no details about the alleged sexual assault case.
Until the investigation of Harrison’s role is completed, Maj . Gen . James C .
Boozer will take his place in Japan, the Army said.
Harrison already had been selected to become deputy commander of the Army component of U.S . Central Command, based in Kuwait . That new assignment was publicly announced in February by the Pentagon, which said at the same time that Boozer would replace Harrison as commander in Japan .
It was not clear Friday why the changes had not yet taken place.
An Army spokesman in Washington, George B . Wright, said that by suspending Harrison rather than relieving him of his command in Japan, the Army was leaving open the possibility that he might be reinstated in that job once the investigation is completed.
Harrison, a 33-year Army veteran, began his assignment in Japan in October 2010.
Amid increased political pressure to crack down on sexual abuse in the military services, the Air Force said Friday it is expanding the office responsible for sexual assault prevention and placed a female two-star general in charge.
Maj . Gen .
Margaret H . Woodward, who ran the U.S . portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011 and is one of the Air Force’s brightest stars, is running the reorganized office .
She will report to the vice chief of the Air Force.
The move won praise from the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep . Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., who called Woodward a “breath of fresh air.”
The office previously was run by a lieutenant colonel, Jeffrey Krusinski, who was arrested in May and charged with sexual battery . That incident escalated public debate over whether the military was taking seriously the problem of sexual abuse.
The House is scheduled to vote next week on a defense policy bill that would take away the power of military commanders to overturn convictions in rape and assault cases .
The legislation also would require that anyone in uniform found guilty of a sex-related crime receive a punishment that includes, at a minimum, a dismissal from military service or a dishonorable discharge.
McKeon said Woodward is well-suited to the challenge she is facing.
“I welcome her voice to this fight,” he said.
The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel.
An Air Force spokesman, Lt . Col . John Dorrian, said Friday that Woodward’s office will be given additional resources, including a much larger staff than in its previous configuration .
He said Woodward began the job this week.
Woodward entered the Air Force in 1983 with an aerospace engineering degree from Arizona State University . She has one master’s degree in aviation science and another in national security strategy.
A command pilot with more than 3,800 flight hours, she flew aerial refueling aircraft and commanded air operations in numerous U.S . military operations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars .
As commander of 17th Air Force, based in Germany, she commanded the U.S .
portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011.
Most recently she served as the Air Force’s chief of safety .
She also oversaw an investigation of the sexual abuse scandal at the Air Force’s training headquarters at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
US Army sex assaults like Afghan raids
Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral James Winnefeld (file photo). A US admiral says sexual assaults committed by American soldiers in the country s Army are similar to insider attacks carried out by Afghan troopers against US-led soldiers in war-torn Afghanistan.
Any form of unwanted sexual contact or sexual harassment is a different kind of insider attack that is lethal, said Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a meeting with a women’s military group on Thursday.
We will not allow this to go on We have worked hard on this but not hard enough, he added.
Washington is facing a crisis resulting from the rising number of sexual assaults in the country s military.
On May 25, President Barack Obama said the problem would undermine trust in US military.
Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong, Obama said during the US Naval Academy graduation ceremony at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
A newly-released report by the Pentagon on sexual assaults in the military indicates that unwanted sexual contact protests involving military personnel jumped to 26,000 in 2012 from 19,000 a year before . The figure shows a 37-percent increase.
The sharp increase in the number of sexual assault cases comes as the Pentagon is planning to integrate women into front-line combat roles.
According to a survey conducted in 2011, about one out of five military women said they had been the victims of sexual assault by another service member since joining the military.
MAM/KA