US Military in Japan & Iraq

The US military is having a difficult time improving its image in Japan and, in the world for that matter.  More bad news and, as is too often the case, bad news for women:

Apr 24th, 2008 | TOKYO — U.S. forces in Japan have charged a Marine with raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa, the Marines said Friday, pressing ahead with a case that spurred protests against the American presence on the island.

U.S. military charges against Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott include rape of a child under 16, abusive sexual conduct, making a false official statement, adultery and “kidnapping through inveigling,” or trickery.

No date was set for the court-martial. The charges were made Monday, but the military did not announce them until Friday.

Japanese police initially apprehended Hadnott in the alleged Feb. 10 attack, but released him after the girl dropped charges. U.S. authorities then investigated the case under the strict military justice code.

Japanese police earlier said Hadnott had admitted to investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her, but that he denied raping her.

Hadnott’s Feb. 11 arrest - as well as a series of other damaging criminal accusations against American troops - inflamed popular anger at the U.S. military presence.

Japan hosts some 50,000 American troops under a security treaty. About half of them are based on the tiny island of Okinawa, where residents have complained for years about crime, pollution and crowding associated with the military.   more here

The horror of sexual violence and the coercion of sexual harassment are not just problems between military personnel and civilian women.  Of course.  While women have been granted the favour of being “allowed” to participate in the US war against Iraq, they have also paid a price that few men pay (more on this later):

The prevalence of sexual violence against American women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is a national shame.

U.S. servicewomen today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. At some Veterans Affairs hospitals, over 40 percent of female patients report having been sexually assaulted during their service, and almost one-third are survivors of rape.

Here in the States, a 2006 investigation by the Associated Press found that more than 100 high school-aged women were sexually assaulted or raped by male military recruiters. “Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams,” the AP reported. Many recruiters found guilty of sexually assaulting women faced only administrative punishments, while a recruiter who molested teenage boys was sentenced to 12 years in prison.   here

Agkh, what a bloody insult.  Sometimes, literally.  We should not fail to be shocked by these reports, though we may not be surprised if we are women.  In the US and Canada, huge numbers of women are sexually assaulted, raped and harassed and, where women work in jobs that are traditionally “male” and are isolated with large number of men, the threat is increased.  Because of sensational media reporting that focusses on “stranger rape”, the fact that women are sexually assaulted most often by men whom they know is lost on many people.

Here is some data from the US military:

The U.S. military recorded 2,688 cases of sexual assault involving its staff last year, 60 percent of which were allegations of rape, a Department of Defense report said Friday.

The majority of the cases — 72 percent — involved military victims, the report covering the period from October 2006 to September 2007 said.

Investigations resulted in 181 courts martial, while 201 cases resulted in non-judicial punishment and 218 cases led to administrative action or discharges.

Some 1,040 completed probes resulted in no action, either due to insufficient evidence or because those responsible were civilians, foreigners or unidentified.

A total of 112 reports of sexual assault were reported among forces serving in Iraq, and 19 cases among those serving in Afghanistan.

Among complaints by military staff, where the alleged victim agreed to an outside criminal investigation, 868 (57 percent) reported rape, 91 forcible sodomy — defined as anal or oral sex — and 551 indecent assault.

Of the 705 cases where victims asked to remain anonymous and for no further action to be taken, 489 (69 percent) involved rape, 39 alleged forcible sodomy and 125 indecent assault.

The report also recorded allegations by civilians against members of the military. Of a total of 574 cases reported last year, 391 involved rape, 33 forcible sodomy and 150 indecent assault.

Direct comparisons cannot be made with last year’s figures because the department has since changed the reporting period from the calendar year to the fiscal year. However, the report notes the figures have remained broadly stable.

“The Department of Defense remains committed to eliminating sexual assault from military service,” it said, citing a “robust” prevention and response policy, improved reporting procedures, better training and increased care provision.

A Department of Defense survey also released Friday revealed that 34 percent of women on active duty and six percent of men have experienced sexual harrassment, while 6.8 percent of women and 1.8 percent of men experienced unwanted sexual contact.

The problem was more widespread among women serving in the army, as was the problem of sexual discrimination, while unwanted sexual advances among men were more common in the navy, the 2006 gender relations survey reveals.

The majority of respondents who said they had had unwanted sexual contact did not report it, mainly because they felt uncomfortable doing so.  here

9% of the respondents were men who reported unwanted sexual contact from men.

Uncomfortable?  I imagine it was more than discomfort that prevented reporting.  Civil society experiences that same problem.  Basically, women don’t believe they will be believed.  And with good reason.

Ah well, they can run all the training courses they want, they won’t solve the problem.  It’s systemic, it’s rarely addressed as such, women know it, men know it and few peope will be affected by sitting down for a nice chat.  We live in a hyper-masculinist culture where women and girl-children are objectified and sexualised to the point that they often collude in their own “victimisation”, conditioned as many are to believe that the focus of their worth as human beings lies in their physical beauty, or lack thereof , the size of their breasts, their weight and the clothes that they wear.   Oh you know all this.  I’m in a bad mood now and I can’t help myself from going on and on and …

See Helen Benedict’s report in salon - an excellent piece of reporting.  In that piece,  Mickiela Montoya, who served in Iraq in 2005, sums it all up for women in the military:

There are only three kinds of female the men let you be in the military: a bitch, a ho or a dyke.

Sweet Mary Magdalene, save us.