HEIGHTS OF CIVILISATION REACHED BY THE WEST-WOMEN SOLDIERS IN US ARMY FAR MORE LIKLY TO BE RAPED BY COLLEAGUES THAN KILLED BY ENEMY FIRE SAYS A US NEW

Women in the military are more likely to be raped by fellow soldiers than they are to be killed by enemy fire.From an LA Times report:"Numbers reported by the Department of Defense show a sickening pattern. In 2006, 2,947 sexual assaults were reported -- 73% more than in 2004. The DOD's newest report, released this month, indicates that 2,688 reports were made in 2007, but a recent shift from calendar-year reporting to fiscal-year reporting makes comparisons with data from previous years much more difficult... At the heart of this crisis is an apparent inability or unwillingness to prosecute rapists in the ranks. According to DOD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to courts-martial, the equivalent of a criminal prosecution in the military. Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge, and 201 subjects were disciplined through "nonjudicial punishment," which means they may have been confined to quarters, assigned extra duty or received a similar slap on the wrist."To read the full story, vist:http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2008/03/31/women-soldiers-being-raped-more-than-killed-by-enemy-fire/?url=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-harman31mar31,0,5399612.story&frame=true