I know everyone's BS detector is running on high after Scott Beauchamp, so maybe I'm treading heavily. But I'm puzzled by a Newsweek article on MSNBC today. The reporter's cousin just came home from Iraq, so a homecoming article was in order. It seemed like an ordinary tale of happiness and relief until she delineated her family's fears during the previous year. And then this odd paragraph appeared:
I’d read reports of some female soldiers allegedly being raped by Iraqi insurgents—some 50 to 75 rapes, according to The New York Times. Alexia assured us that several male soldiers had volunteered to walk her home after she stood post at night. But that reassurance still couldn’t erase the images of assaults, bombs and corpses.
In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary...come again?
A google search of "raped by insurgent" brought nothing but tales from Sierra Leone. A search of "raped by Iraqi" brought horrible tales from Iraqi women, and a hit on Jessica Lynch. But aside from her, do you know of any story of a captured female coalition soldier who was raped? Who are these 50-75 women and how are they getting raped in Iraq? Getting raped by an insurgent means getting caught and captured, and I don't remember hearing about this. Please point me in the direction of the stories if I have missed them, but for now I remain completely puzzled.
My husband also pointed out that an escort on the way home from the guard tower wouldn't exactly prevent insurgent rape. Soldier-on-soldier crime, perhaps, but surely these insurgents are not scaling the walls and raping American females on duty. Something is just not right here.
I also find it hard to believe there are heat-of-the-battle rapes going on in Iraq, where females are getting raped while their male counterparts are too busy firing at the bad guys. We certainly would've heard of this, right? It's the anti-war left's dream story.
If you can find this Times article or any leads on such rape stories, please let me know. Until then, I'm having a hard time believing insurgents are raping our female soldiers and getting away with it.
Posted by Sarah at August 20, 2007 12:27 PM | TrackBackTwo lines go good together in your post; “…according to The New York Times” and “Something is just not right here.”
‘Nuff said.
Posted by: tim at August 20, 2007 02:50 PMI hadn't read anything about Iraqi insurgent rapes either, and hubby's field would have heard about it first to investigate.
What I have heard about was Colonel Karpinski's claims of how all allied female soldiers are being raped and beaten and tortured and dying from bladder infections because of our own guys.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 20, 2007 03:05 PMI read that too and had the SAME reaction. My BS monitor clicked into overdrive.....
Posted by: Tammi at August 21, 2007 07:30 AMHuh? Why is it rare for news agencies to check the facts of their articles BEFORE they publish them? Probably because it is easier to just give an insincere apology when they are caught. Unfortunately my BS meter seems to go off in conjunction with just about ANY of the big news agencies.
I totally agree with Tim.
Posted by: Lemon Stand at August 21, 2007 11:33 AMIt is easy to confuse a Jihadi website with the New York Times. Surely the person that is writing the article was confusing the two. There are plenty reports of Jihadi's raping US female soldiers on jihadi websites.
Honest mistake. NY Times...Jihadi Today...who can tell the difference?
Posted by: Soldier's Dad at August 21, 2007 04:19 PMRemember, this is from the same profession that reported the capture of a 12-inch American action figure and accuses Coalition troops of throwing unfired bullets at Iraqi crones.
Posted by: Tom W. at August 21, 2007 05:43 PM"walk her home after she stood post" presumably, she stood her post with a waepon, most likely an M-16. how was she not able to defend herself while walking but she could defend the post from attack. This story is completely false. I will tell you if a single American woman had been reported to have been raped by an insurgent, our troops would gone into overdrive to both protect these women and find the perpetrators.
Posted by: a guy at August 21, 2007 08:32 PM