U.S ENEMY WITHIN IS RAPE IN MILITARY RANKS

One in three female service members are sexually assaulted

NEW YORK - As with suicides, the rate of sexual assaults within the US military now exceeds that of the general population.

• A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female service members are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment.
• Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults.
• Rape in the Ranks: The Enemy Within is a documentary that focuses on the cases of three female service members victimized by rape and other forms of sexual assault.
• One of the victims, Tina Priest, she was found dead in Iraq in March 2006, just weeks after she had accused a male soldier of raping her.
• Her family was told she took her own life, but they don’t believe that. They think she may have been killed because she came forward with the rape accusation.
• French journalist and filmmaker Pascale Bourgaux spoke to Democracy Now! about the documentary, which had its premiere Monday in New York at the Independent Film Festival.
• "The family is still looking for the truth, because they’re convinced that she didn’t commit suicide, that she was killed. But the case is dead," said Bourgaux.
• There are three other cases.
• "There is Suzanne. She was raped by her command. She deserted. She refused to go back to Iraq to escape from her commander. And then she was in jail," said Bourgaux.
• "And then there’s Jessica. She was raped twice, in the United States and then in Korea. And then she left the Army, because it was the only way to escape also," Bourgaux added.
• There was also Stephanie, a military veteran. She was too scared to take action after she was sexually assaulted. She also lost her husband, who took his own life after serving in the military.
• In the documentary, Stephanie said: "I was sexually assaulted. And when I went days later to see someone about it, because I was bleeding very heavily, she was a higher-ranking officer, and she told me, of course, that it was very stupid that I put myself in that situation.
• "In so many words, she said that. And she asked me how could I not know that that could happen to me and kind of placed the blame on me," she added.

Source: Middle East Online