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'Rapists go unpunished in US military'
US military soldiers have come forward with their individual stories of sexual assault while serving in the US military in hopes to challenge this growing and disturbing phenomenon.
Press TV interviewed International Lawyer, Paul Wolf regarding the female soldiers and expressed his admiration for them while sharing his insights on rape cases in the US military, and how a violent culture has but cultivated within the army.
Press TV: To discuss that story a bit further, we are now joined by Paul Wolf who is a Human Rights International Lawyer. He joins us on the line from Washington. Mr. Wolf as always thank you for joining our broadcast. Now at a time of wars heighten patriotism on the part of the US administration and right-wingers in the US especially, is there any chance that a military sexual abuse law suit will actually succeed?
Wolf: Thanks for having me on. Well let's hope so. Let's hope that we have an independent judiciary. But of course that depends quite a bit on which judge hears the case and it's tough. I think one of the things they have going for them is that the plaintiffs in the case are soldiers themselves. I would add that they are extremely brave soldiers as they are taking on the US military. And to come forward as they did is something extremely difficult to do. You know the things they have certainly done in their careers, and the people who are committing these rapes in the US military are almost never punished. So there is no incentive for these women to come forward. So I think that these people are doing something very brave with this lawsuit, and the thing that I think has to happen is lawsuits like this may be able to get some kind of compensation, but I think the real purpose of this is to try and reform a kind of violent culture in the US military that tolerates these kind of abuses and considers any kind of push back from the victims to be detrimental to the morale of the army. So it can be seen as unpatriotic or somehow comprising the mission. But I think it's something that has to be done. I think the violent culture in the US military doesn't really help what the military is trying to accomplish and certainly there are thousands of victims.
Press TV: Criticism of the US military has never really changed attitudes in the US towards the military top brass who are always presented as heroes. Why is that and will such revelations change that do you think?
Wolf: Well every country has some of this. It seems to take some kind of extreme manifestation in the US particularly now. There is a real patriotic fervor and it has gone on for quite a long time. I think it's a culture we have that has gotten somewhat out of control. It started out with something like a matter of national pride. But when you are not punishing the people who are committing these crimes are essentially not mentally normal. They are not doing this out of sexual desire. They are doing this out of a desire to hurt someone else. They are criminals and they have to be punished. And I think that we see Secretary Gates taking a kind of bureaucratic step. He is creating an office and has promised to investigate and prosecute. But really what has to happen is we have to have a culture in the US military that does not tolerate these kinds of crimes. And it shouldn't be seen as when anyone is punished in the military for raping someone or killing civilians as unpatriotic or detrimental to morale. I think that is a very extreme attitude for the military to be promoting. So I think that is what he really should be doing, which is having a real change of mindset within the US military.
Press TV: Now with an over stretched military exploding dept at home, and the nation divided with its views on these wars, where does rape in the military make an appearance on the list of priorities?
Wolf: Well I don't think it has been a priority. If you look at the number of these rapes, I mean this lawsuit I just looked at showed thousands and thousands every year. They believe that only one in five is even reported. I think that is because women think quite correctly in the fact that nobody is going to be punished, and second of all they will be hurt. They may have to work side by side with the person who raped them and many of these women in the lawsuit said their careers would end. So this has been going on for a long time. I think the reason we are seeing this right now is I think these people see an opportunity. We just had the UN Special Rapporteur on the Violence Against Women, Rashida Manjoo. You know Press TV has reported on this. She just visited the United States. She is looking at problems of violence against women in general. This is the one that really stands out: the extraordinary number of rapes of male soldiers, generally higher ranking male soldiers, against lower ranking female soldiers. Of all the problems she looked at that is the one she brought back. So I think that maybe these women felt like that had an opportunity now, and especially banning together in a group of twelve of them is safer to do something like this. So that is what I see. This is related to the UN investigation. I wish them luck. I think they are very brave to be doing what they are doing.
PressTV - 'Rapists go unpunished in US military'
