Unchecked Violent People Violate People

No Heroes among the Depraved Undisciplined Dishonorable

Case in Point 

United States 

Military Personnel

In the United States people get away with murder. Ingrained is a character and chronic behavior manifest in recklessness, anarchy, callous devaluing of and disregard for life, society and vital institutions.

There are no determined commitments to principle and to the health and wellbeing of people anywhere—at home or abroad. There is cowardice that ducks and hides; redefines and repackages bad as good.

By and large, there are no heroes among U.S. military personnel but rather a collection of undisciplined people often suffering infantilism, a sense of “entitlement,” or untreated post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mercenaries and other individuals employed by governments and military contracting companies are, for whatever reasons, employed in a job—just as clerks, teachers, airplane pilots and maids are employed in a job or profession. They perform their jobs for better or worse.

Americans tend to misuse the word “hero”—so much so that it loses any real meaning or substance. The same is their usage with the same effect of terms such as “racism” and “terrorism.” Careless language and labeling, convenient throwaways, reduces all existence to nothingness, valuelessness.

Entities (and individuals) devoid of moral principle, a sense of self reflection, humility and discipline are devoid of essential humanity. Consider the rape and ruin character endemic to all branches up and down the spectrum of the military of the United States of America.

1995 Findings

Camp Hansen (Okinawa, Japan)

12-year-old Masami Yoshinaga abducted and raped

Three U.S. servicemen (U.S. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill and U.S. Marines Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet) posted at Camp Hansen on Okinawa “rented a van and kidnapped 12-year-old Okinawan Masami Yoshinaga

The men “beat” Masami Yoshinaga, “duct-taped her eyes and mouth shut, and bound her hands.”

Marcus Gill and Rodrico Harp “raped her”; “Ledet claimed he only pretended to rape the child out of “fear of Gill.”

Protests, especially by women, against U.S. forces’ occupation of Okinawa have continued up to the present day in 2023. (Encyclopedic source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Okinawa_rape_incident)

2005 Findings: Iraq

Iraqi female detainees illegally detained, raped and sexually violated by United States military personnel

Abu Ghraib: a colossal prison complex in Baghdad, Iraq, operated by the United States military from August 2003 (after the US et.al invasion of Iraq earlier in 2003)

Case of Woman Prisoner: Noor

“…In December 2003, a woman prisoner, ‘Noor’, smuggled out a note stating that US guards at Abu Ghraib had been raping women detainees and forcing them to strip naked.

Several of the women were (then) pregnant.

The classified inquiry launched by the US military, headed by Major General Antonio Taguba (confirmed) the note by ‘Noor’: … sexual violence against women at Abu Ghraib took place.

Taguba’s report further findings

“Among the 1,800 digital photographs taken by US guards inside Abu Ghraib were … images of naked male and female detainees; a male Military Police guard ‘having sex’ with a female detainee; detainees (of unspecified gender) forcibly arranged in various sexually explicit positions for photographing; and naked female detainees.”

The Government of George W. Bush “refused to release photographs of Iraqi women prisoners at Abu Ghraib—including those of women forced at gunpoint to bare their breasts (although the photographs were shown to the United States Congress).”

At the same time, there was evidence of chronic depravity surrounding these incidents and images.

“It is well known that the US has a culture of rape,” the report finds: “one in six women in the United States has experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault”; and “reinforcing the climate of sexual violence, photos purporting to be of raped Iraqi women by US troops are surfacing on the web.” Though some had been removed at the time of this report, “the actual pictures” remained accessible for viewing through some websites… “many of them” collected for viewing “on pornographic sites.”

McNutt, Kristen, “Sexualized Violence Against Iraqi Women by US Occupying Forces” A Briefing Paper of the International Educational Development presented to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights March 2005 Session, Geneva, Switzerland, https://meaningfulworld.com/our-work/un/sexualized-violence-against-iraqi-women-by-us-occupying-forces
ied@igc.org McNutt is a Researcher with the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers
Additional reference https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abu-Ghraib-prison

2006 Findings: Iraq

After being granted an honorable discharge from the U.S. military for a personality disorder, Stephen Green’s behavior (while attached to the 502nd infantry regiment) came to light.

One incident that came to light involved stalking, rape, and mass murder— after the soldier had received his “honorable discharge.”

On the night of March 12, Stephen Green (502nd infantry regiment) and the other unnamed soldiers allegedly “left their post, drunk on alcohol.” They “changed into dark clothing,” and breached the home of their victims. Green allegedly “shepherded the (female) victim’s parents, and her sister (the latter who may have been as young as five) into a room, where the soldiers shot each family member in the head. These soldiers then are alleged “to have tried to set fire to the bodies.”

“Four more soldiers have been charged with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family, the most explosive of the five war crimes investigations currently under way in Iraq.” of the family.

In another atrocity in Haditha, 14 Iraqis were slaughtered.

During the period in which the article was published, 16 United States soldiers had been charged with murders— a total said to have exceeded the numbers “in the first three years” of the U.S. war on Iraq.

Goldenberg, Suzanne, July 10, 2006, “More US troops charged with Iraqi girl’s rape and murder”: “Four more soldiers have been charged with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family…. A fifth soldier was charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the events of the night of March 12 when a group of soldiers are alleged to have abandoned their checkpoint to enter the home of an Iraqi family in the town of Mahmudiya.

“They allegedly raped and killed a young woman inside the house and shot dead her parents and young sister.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/10/usa.iraq

2008 Findings: “Noncombat related injuries”

Veteran Ann Wright documents deaths of women in the US Military and questions “US Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder” These are some of the key revelations excerpted from one of her articles.

“Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of ‘noncombat related injuries.’ Several identified as ‘suicides.’”

Deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape.

“The military has characterized each death of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from ‘noncombat related injuries,’ and then added ‘suicide.’ Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters.

Iraq

• “Ninety-four US military women have died in Iraq or during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).
• Twelve US civilian women have been killed in OIF.
• The military says 36 of the 94 who died in Iraq or in OIF “died from ‘noncombat related injuries,’ which included vehicle accidents, illness, death by ‘natural causes’ and self-inflicted gunshot wounds, or suicide.

Afghanistan

Thirteen US military women have been killed in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

Twelve US Civilian women have been killed in Afghanistan.

Bahrain

Among US Navy women deaths in Bahrain: 5 labeled suicides, 15 more “occurred under extremely suspicious circumstances.”

“Noncombat related injuries” while on duty at Camp Taji

Camp Taji, a military installation in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, bombed by US and UK forces in 1998; controlled by United States forces since the 2000s invasion and occupation March 20, 2003 –December 18, 2011 – and continuing aggression and consequences through 2023.

“Eight women soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, (six from the Fourth Infantry Division and two from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division) have died of ‘noncombat related injuries’ on the same base, Camp Taji;

• Three were raped before their deaths.
• Two were raped immediately before their deaths and
• One was raped prior to arriving in Iraq.
• 
  

“Noncombat related injuries” while at Balad Air Base

Balad Air Base in Iraq 40 miles north of Baghdad, second largest U.S. base in Iraq, one of the busiest airports in the world commandeered by US armed forces in 2003; after 2011 and continuing through 2023 base of Metropolitan Washington, DC-headquartered Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-16 Fighting Falcon. Lockheed Martin is a global industrial complex of aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology.

Balad Air Base women deaths

• · “Two military women have died of suspicious ‘noncombat related injuries’”
• · “One was raped before she died.”
• · “Four deaths have been classified as ‘suicides.’”

“The Department of Defense statistics are alarming—one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military, writes former Colonel Ann Wright. “The warnings to women should begin (with posts) above the doors of military recruiting stations because that is where assaults on women in the military begin—before they are even recruited.” More alarming still (at the time she was writing) “are incidents of deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape.” (Emphasis added)

Wright, Ann “US Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder?” Column, April 29, 2008, posted May 3, 2008, by Alex Constantine http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-army-cover-up-of-rape-and-murder.html http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00413.htm

Ann Wright is a US Army Reserve Colonel (retired); a 29-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserves. In addition, she was a US diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. In March 19, 2003, Wright resigned from the US Department of State “in opposition to the Iraq War.” She is co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

 

“The Invisible War”

Documented Years 2011-2013

The epidemic of rape within United States military one of the most shameful and best kept secrets of the United States of America

“The Invisible War exposes the systemic cover-up of military sex crimes, chronicling the women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. … At the core of the film are interviews with the rape survivors themselves.”

• · 20 percent of all active-duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted.
• · 50+ of the active-duty female-soldier victims of inside military predators were 18 to 21 years of age.

At Film Collaborative USA 2011

Writer/Director Kirby Dick

Producers Amy Ziering, Tanner King Barklow

Executive Producers Regina Kulik Scully, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Abigail Disney, Maria Cuomo Cole, Sarah Johnson Redlich, Teddy Leifer, Sally Jo Fifer, Nicole Boxer-Keegan

Co-Producer Kimball Stroud

Editors Doug Blush, Derek Boonstra

Cinematographers Thaddeus Wadleigh, Kirsten Johnson

https://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/films/theinvisiblewar

About the source: The Film Collaborative is a nonprofit focused on “distribution-education;” and particularly engages in advising filmmakers on “all aspects of distribution without taking rights.”

At ITVS Producer/director Kirby Dick, producer Amy Ziering; premiere date May 13, 2013,  https://itvs.org/films/invisible-war

Independent Lens SERIES, premiere date May 13, 2013, length 90 minutes

2012 Findings: Lackland Air Force Base (Texas)

“At least 43 female (U.S. military) trainees who went through boot camp from 2009 to 2011 reported being sexually assaulted or raped by 17 male instructors.”

Several female veterans in the U.S. Marine Corps reported that the culture begins to reveal itself “at Parris Island, where all female recruits go through basic training; and persists “throughout (female personnel’s) time in the service.”

In early 2012, “a group of eight Navy and Marine Corps veterans sued a collection of current and former military leaders, alleging that the military fostered a culture of sexual harassment and too often punished those reporting abuse.” In the fall of 2012, a group of nineteen soldiers and airmen filed a similar suit.

Hlad, Jennifer, Stars and Stripes, October 11, 2012, “Female Marine vets say sexist culture put them at risk,” https://www.stripes.com/female-marine-vets-say-sexist-culture-put-them-at-risk-1.192727

2020 Findings: Fort Hood (Texas)

U.S. Military female killed, dismembered, buried - Spc. Vanessa Guillén disappeared April 22, 2020.

Investigations found Spc. Vanessa Guillén was sexually harassed by a supervisor in her unit prior to her murder. Twice, she made a formal report of the predation. An Army investigation determined that the U.S. military unit leadership had “failed to take appropriate action.”

Federal prosecutors said Spc. Aarron Robinson killed Guillén “in an armory on Fort Hood, Texas,” on the day she disappeared.

Robinson and his “girlfriend” allegedly disposed of Guillen’s body about 30 miles from Fort Hood. The two criminals reportedly “worked together to burn (Guillen’s) body; dismember it; mix the parts with concrete; and bury the remains in three holes.”

• June 30, 2020: The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) published a news release announcing the discovery of “unidentified” human remains (later found to be Guillén’s) several miles from Fort Hood.

• Police officers on June 30 talked with Robinson’s girlfriend who “told police she was dating Robinson” and that “he killed Guillén and enlisted (her) help to dispose of Guillén’s body.

• June 30, 2020: Robinson escaped to Killeen, Texas; and while there “killed himself with a handgun.”

March 2021: attorneys for this woman asked “that Judge Albright throw out her confession” on the grounds that civilian investigators had not “read her Miranda rights” and thus “the confession was illegally obtained.”

Army Times “Vanessa Guillén was sexually harassed by a supervisor, and she informally reported it,” by Kyle Rempfer https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/04/30/vanessa-guillen-was-sexually-harassed-by-a-supervisor-and-she-informally-reported-it/

A July 8, 2020 CBS story online reported on a 2019 “anonymous survey” showing that in 2018 “sexual assault” in the U.S. military “spiked nearly 40 percent.”

Brito, Christopher, CBS News, July 8, 2020, “U.S. Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillén’s death puts spotlight on military’s handling of sexual assault and harassment.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vanessa-guillen-death-fort-hood-soldier-military-sexual-assault-harrassment/

In the CBS piece, the lawyer for the Guillén family, Natalie Khawam, is reported to have accused the killer of having sexually harassed Vanessa Guillén before killing her. There is an “epidemic” in sexual harassment in the U.S. military, she said.

2021 Findings: Fort Bliss (Texas)

A Fort Bliss, Texas, First Armored Division soldier “has been formally accused of three sexual assaults in the past year—including the alleged 2019 rape of a soldier from his unit who was found dead (on December 31) New Year’s Eve.”

Rempfer, Kyle, Army Times, January 15, 2021, “Fort Bliss soldier charged with rape of fellow unit member a year before her death New Year’s Eve” https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/01/15/fort-bliss-soldier-charged-with-rape-of-fellow-unit-member-a-year-before-her-death-new-years-eve/

“Pfc. Christian G. Alvarado was arraigned during a general court-martial at Fort Bliss on three specifications of sexual assault, two specifications of making false statements, and one specification of aggravated assault in violation of the ‘Uniform Code of Military Justice’.”

2021 Findings: Fort Sill (Oklahoma)

The Intercept reported what has been labeled a “Fort Hood 2.0” crime at Fort Sill.

The U.S. Army is reportedly investigating “a possible series of sexual assaults of a female soldier at the Army training base in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.” Twenty-two “service members” were reportedly involved, one incident possibly involving “several drill sergeants.”

Klippenstein, Ken and Matthew Cole, The Intercept, April 2, 2021, “Soldier Says She Was Sexually Assaulted by 22 Troops at Fort Sill Oklahoma Base,” https://theintercept.com/2021/04/02/female-soldier-sexual-assault-22-troops-fort-sill/

One should think very Carefully 

Before casting 

“isms” or “heroes.”

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

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