Sexual Assaults in Iraq

"In fact, a growing number of women employees working for U.S. defense contractors in the Middle East are coming forward with complaints of violence directed at them. As the Iraq war drags on, and as stories of U.S. security contractors who seem to operate with impunity continue to emerge (like Blackwater and its deadly attack against Iraqi civilians on Sept. 16, 2007), a rash of new sexual assault and sexual harassment complaints are being lodged against overseas contractors -- by their own employees." From The Nation.

It seems that the combination of the fact that these contractors are immune to criticism and regulation with the fact that they are operating in an obviously extremely militarized and violent area has led to the immense amount of sexual violence that has yet to be discovered. The description in the article is rather graphic, just to warn you, but clearly the most difficult part to face as a reader is the way she was treated after the the violent rape.

"Even more appalling, the Justice Department, which can and should prosecute most of these cases, has declined to do so. "There is no rational explanation for this," says Scott Horton, a lecturer at Columbia Law School who specializes in the law of armed conflict. Prosecutorial jurisdiction for crimes like Jones' alleged rape is easily established under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and the Patriot Act's special maritime and territorial jurisdiction provisions. But somebody has to want to prosecute the cases."