women at war

Great article from the NY Times

They have changed the way the United States military goes to war. They have reshaped life on bases across Iraq and Afghanistan. They have cultivated a new generation of women with a warrior’s ethos — and combat experience — that for millennia was almost exclusively the preserve of men.

And they have done so without the disruption of discipline and unit cohesion that some feared would unfold at places like Warhorse.

Separate restrooms, gynecological medical equipment, access to birth control and condoms on base...things are sure changing for women in the military.

“There was a lot of debate over where women should be,” said Brig. Gen. Heidi V. Brown, one of the two highest ranking women in Iraq today, recalling the start of the war. “Here we are six years later, and you don’t hear about it. You shouldn’t hear about it.”

But as much as things are changing, risks of sexual harassment and assault have not.

Both are underreported, soldiers and officers here say, because the rigidity of the military chain of command can make accusations uncomfortable and even risky for victims living in close quarters with the men they accuse.

Nor have tendencies to degrade women who step into "male" space

“You’re a bitch, a slut or a dyke — or you’re married, but even if you’re married, you’re still probably one of the three,” Sergeant Bradford said.

I quite enjoyed the conclusion of the article

The issues that arise in having women in combat — harassment, bias, hardship, even sexual relations — are, she and others said, a matter of discipline, maturity and professionalism rather than an argument for separating the sexes.

Read the full article

Barney Frank makes positive predictions

Political Intelligence Reports:

Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, one of a handful of openly gay members of Congress, says he believes that Congress will soon pass laws protecting transgender people from hate crimes and granting them benefits and that President Obama will this year overturn the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay members of the military.

But he told the website gay365.com that he doubts that the law defining marriage as between a man and a woman will be overturned. And Frank said he doesn't believe the Supreme Court will overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, either, using a harsh description of Justice Antonin Scalia.

"I wouldn't want it to go to the Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia's got too many votes on this current court," Frank said...

Obama ends use of "enemy combatants"

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Friday that it is abandoning one of President George W. Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant The Justice Department said in legal filings that it will no longer use the term to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

But that's won't change much for the detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba — Obama still asserts the military's authority to hold them. But his Justice Department says that authority comes from Congress and the international laws of war, not from the president's own wartime power as Bush had argued.

Busy busy busy. More thoughts later

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE

Supreme Court to revisit ex-detainee torture case

Thanks to new precedent set forth by Boumediene v. Bush, Guantánamo prisoners have the right to challenge their detention in federal court--and in light of this, the Supreme Court is restoring a law suit by 4 British citizens/former detainees against Rumsfeld. Read it hot from the New York Times

Oh Kennedy. You old swing vote, you.

ACLU video blog from GITMO

Check it out

female soldiers barred from combat?

atheist soldier suing Defense Department

Spec. Jeremy Hall, a soldier in Iraq, was prevented from gathering with other atheists and non-Christians, and is basing his lawsuit on practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military. His First Amendment rights were also frequently violated due to discrimination he faced when refusing to join prayer.

Atheist Revolution reports the full story, as well as Hall's jeopardized safety resulting from his suit against Maj. Freddy Welborn and Secretary of Defense Gates for violating his religious freedom--meaning freedom to both participate in and refrain from religion.

I don't know why it is so difficult to tolerate atheisism. If anything, a group of people who value reason are an asset to society--even if a theist disagrees with one belief in a larger framework that values critical thinking.