According to the Pentagon, there were 2,374 reported cases of sexual assault against women in uniform over the past year. But as the saga of military police officer Suzanne Swift shows, numbers alone don't tell the whole story.
Suzanne Swift, is the internationally known American military police officer facing a possible dishonorable discharge for going AWOL. Swift, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), did not want to rejoin the superiors who sexually harassed and assaulted her. As a result, she has been charged by the U.S. Army with being absent without leave and missing movement for not being present with her company when it left for Iraq in January of 2006.
Swift, 22, was sexually harassed by one sergeant and coerced into a sexual relationship by another sergeant while on duty in Iraq. After she was arrested at her mother's home last summer, Swift was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Washington, where she was sexually harassed by another commanding sergeant.
Swift was offered a "deal" but decided to complete her court-martial and served 30 days in prison and was stripped of all her rank. She was released Wednesday. According to Sara Rich, "The deal was that Suzanne stay in the military for her remaining 19 months, no reduction in rank, a summary court-martial, no assurance she would not be redeployed and here is the kicker, Suzanne would sign a statement saying she was not raped in Iraq."
That's military justice, guilty until proven innocent. This is exactly why Bush wants to use military tribunals and restrict rights even further in Gitmo, "justice" is on paper only.
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