Support the Troops...But Only if They're Men...And Kill Civilians

Last Friday, the Chronicle had an article about Suzanne Swift. It's a long story, but I'll try to give the short version. Swift enlisted in the Army just out of high school, and a few months into the Iraq occupation. She went to Iraq as an MP, and helped train the Iraqi police force. While there, she dealt with a general environment of hostility toward women, and was singled out for harassment by three of her superiors. A complaint to the EEOC got no response; a complaint to her team leader was never taken up the chain of command. A complaint about the third harasser did get an investigation resulting in his transfer...but she also had to participate in harassment training that she felt put most of the blame on her.

In January 2006, at the end of her leave, she decided not to go back, believing it would be "the same thing all over again." She contacted a lawyer, who wrote to her command; there was no reply. At the end of May, her mother started talking to the local media, and got support from various peace groups. On June 11, the Army asked the local police department to arrest Suzanne Swift.

This, by the way, is not something the Army normally does:

"The U.S. Army does not make an effort to search for deserters," according to Gini Sinclair, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Deserter Information Point at Fort Knox in Kentucky, one of two centers that process deserters. "They wait for these soldiers to turn themselves in or for them to be picked up when stopped for a routine traffic violation."

They initially returned her to a platoon under one of her harassers, then transferred her when her lawyer and mother complained. So far, no charges have been filed against either her or the guys who harassed her.

So: she was harassed, complained, got no satisfactory response, went AWOL (but had her lawyer trying to negotiate a discharge), and when her mother raised a stink about her situation the Army took the extremely unusual step of having her arrested. Since then, there is still no resolution to her complaints. Nor, apparently, is her experience unique.

Swift's story has been well-publicized on various liberal blogs. Among the ribbon-magnet crowd...not so much.

The demure and delicate ladies of the Anti-Groping League, who might reasonably be expected to take an interest in genuine sexual harassment, haven't written about it--either Swift's in particular, or harassment in the military in general. (Jill, whom they deride as part of a 'groper's support group', has.)

And the folks whose support for our troops runs so deep that they tout a defense fund for accused war criminals--can they be bothered to help defray the legal costs of a soldier who isn't accused of slaughtering civilians?

Sadly, no.

In fact, the few right-wing references I did find tended to be in this vein:

It sounds to me like Ms. Swift is just looking for an easy way out of the Army so she can hang out with her boyfriend in the US, and that the sexual harrassment claims she is making is the means to that end.

There's also this hit piece in the American Spectator, which gets several of the key facts completely (and verifiably) wrong.

And the Freepers?

Smells like BS
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If you look at a woman cross-eyed nowadays, that's "sexual harrassment." This is another example of the dangers of redefining words and phrases. Look what the Dizzy DemocRATS' did to the definition of "torture." What a joke!
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"victims" the new class of American soldier, brought to you by anti military, affirmative action.
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I have to say it again. If delicate flowers like this soldier cry and run when someone is mean to them, how the f**k are they supposed to perform as soldiers? OK -- flame away.
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I'd hit it.
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Thanks DACOWITS and Feminazis, for hamstringing our military with "political correctness" and making the job of freedom's defenders that much harder!
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I agree. I do not believe anybody, male or female would harass her. Unless they were very hard up.

And finally (there are more, but this is all I could take), a comment Ann Althouse and Dr. Helen could endorse:

Take another gander at the photo.
Would you agree or disagree that the body language, pose, facial expression , eyes, clothes......all say "come hither"?

Nice doll hanging in the background, too. All in all, a very interesting pic of one of our professional military's finest representatives. Yah !

Of course, the young siren can pose and dress any way she wants. It's a free and easy country. But if I were in the pickle she's in right now, I'd be posing in a nun's habit.

Support our troops, my ass.

[That's all, folks]