As horrifying as it sounds, it now seems that American women working in Iraq are at greater risk from their fellow Americans than they are from any Iraqis. Over the past few months, numerous women working for former Halliburton subsidiary KBR have come forward to say they were raped by American soldiers and/or their own colleagues.
Their cries for help went unanswered. When they reported the crimes to their supervisors, they were ignored and even threatened with retaliation. When they reported the crimes to the Army, they were told it wasn't their problem. When they reported the crimes to the Justice Department, prosecutors refused to take action.
Yesterday, two rape victims testified before the Senate, telling how they were attacked by the men whom they thought were friends and colleagues, and then victimized again by the people to whom they turned for help.
Mary Beth Kineston said that after she was raped, her KBR supervisors basically blew her off, and the US Army JAG officer told her that civilians were on their own. After a second (unsuccessful) assault, she complained more loudly and was fired on trumped-up charges.
After she was attacked, Dawn Leamon feared for her safety and is now suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
In December, Jamie Leigh Jones came forward to report that she was gang-raped and severely injured by several KBR colleagues in 2005. When she tried reporting it to KBR management, she was locked up and put under armed guard with no food, water or medicine. She was able to get out only by begging a guard for a cell phone, which she used to call her father in Texas. Her father called his representative in Congress, who in turn contacted the State Department. Agents were then dispatched from the American Embassy in Baghdad to rescue her.
Let me repeat: American agents were sent to rescue an American rape victim from her American abusers.
Jones spent two fruitless years trying to get her attackers prosecuted before she finally went public.
One of the most sickening stories came from a woman who, while she was being raped by an American soldier, pleaded with a fellow KBR staffer to stop him - whereupon the staffer joined in and attacked her himself.
The many and varied rape cases have been met with reactions from KBR and the Pentagon ranging from indifference to hostility. The general consensus has been to make the problem go away.
Linda Lindsey, a former KBR employee in Iraq, said male supervisors routinely preyed on female workers and the company just didn't care. "We filed complaints against one supervisor, and the complaints disappeared," she said. "The impression you got was that they really didn't want to hear it, because the money was coming in."
Other victims or complainants were told, sometimes explicitly, that bad things would happen to them if they kept on protesting.
KBR doesn't care. The Pentagon doesn't care. The Justice Department doesn't care.
Will these women ever get justice?
Their cries for help went unanswered. When they reported the crimes to their supervisors, they were ignored and even threatened with retaliation. When they reported the crimes to the Army, they were told it wasn't their problem. When they reported the crimes to the Justice Department, prosecutors refused to take action.
Yesterday, two rape victims testified before the Senate, telling how they were attacked by the men whom they thought were friends and colleagues, and then victimized again by the people to whom they turned for help.
Mary Beth Kineston said that after she was raped, her KBR supervisors basically blew her off, and the US Army JAG officer told her that civilians were on their own. After a second (unsuccessful) assault, she complained more loudly and was fired on trumped-up charges.
After she was attacked, Dawn Leamon feared for her safety and is now suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
In December, Jamie Leigh Jones came forward to report that she was gang-raped and severely injured by several KBR colleagues in 2005. When she tried reporting it to KBR management, she was locked up and put under armed guard with no food, water or medicine. She was able to get out only by begging a guard for a cell phone, which she used to call her father in Texas. Her father called his representative in Congress, who in turn contacted the State Department. Agents were then dispatched from the American Embassy in Baghdad to rescue her.
Let me repeat: American agents were sent to rescue an American rape victim from her American abusers.
Jones spent two fruitless years trying to get her attackers prosecuted before she finally went public.
One of the most sickening stories came from a woman who, while she was being raped by an American soldier, pleaded with a fellow KBR staffer to stop him - whereupon the staffer joined in and attacked her himself.
The many and varied rape cases have been met with reactions from KBR and the Pentagon ranging from indifference to hostility. The general consensus has been to make the problem go away.
Linda Lindsey, a former KBR employee in Iraq, said male supervisors routinely preyed on female workers and the company just didn't care. "We filed complaints against one supervisor, and the complaints disappeared," she said. "The impression you got was that they really didn't want to hear it, because the money was coming in."
Other victims or complainants were told, sometimes explicitly, that bad things would happen to them if they kept on protesting.
KBR doesn't care. The Pentagon doesn't care. The Justice Department doesn't care.
Will these women ever get justice?
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