Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard and other lawmakers confronted military leaders Tuesday in Washington, seeking details of the armed forces’ investigation of sexual assaults against female troops in the Iraq war – reports that are rapidly increasing.
In the first public discussion since Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered an internal review of military procedures last week, Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker promised a rigorous review.
“We’re addressing it very aggressively,” Schoomaker said, noting that he has personal concerns: a daughter entering the Army. “This has been a subject that has received leadership attention. It is a chain-of-command issue. It is a leadership issue. It’s a discipline issue.”
The 90-day review comes in the wake of reports that dozens of women returning from war duty have sought counseling from civilian crisis organizations, reporting they were attacked by fellow soldiers.
In a matter of days, the Miles Foundation, a victim-advocacy organization based in Newtown, Conn., says it has received at least 15 additional complaints from servicewomen saying they were assaulted overseas during the Iraq war. That brings the total number of known cases reported to civilian crisis centers or advocates to more than 55. The foundation, which has handled the majority of these reports, received more complaints Tuesday but had not reviewed them.
“This seems to be a growing iceberg,” said Christine Hansen, executive director of the foundation. Members of the foundation were in Washington on Tuesday, meeting with policymakers about the issue.
In a Senate Armed Services Committee briefing, Allard, a Republican, was joined by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., in seeking assurances from Schoomaker that the investigation is covering a broad spectrum.
“I know this is not isolated to Iraq and Kuwait,” Chambliss said. “It’s not isolated to the Army, but these are the latest allegations.”
Chambliss asked the general whether he is obtaining information “direct from the ground” and whether “these allegations are being handled in a very professional manner, and that justice is being meted out. Are you comfortable that that’s being done?”
Schoomaker assured him that action is being taken.
“We’ve got a task force the acting secretary has set up to look into this and to make sure that we are in compliance, and to find out why in each case that we find ourselves not in compliance, why we’re not,” Schoomaker said. “And I’ll tell you, it will go back to chain of command or discipline. It will go back to things that are fundamental. And we need to address that and fix it.”
Clinton said she was “concerned” about whether the military is investigating individual cases reported by the media. Schoomaker said those cases are being reviewed.
Hansen said growing media coverage has prompted additional women to step forward in recent days. Most of the new cases involve women who did not report their assaults to the military, and a “significant number” are officers, she said. Some of the attackers, the women report, are fellow officers, while some are of lower rank.
“The media coverage is also triggering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors,” Hansen said, referring to the anxiety disorder often caused by combat or sexual assault.
Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com, and Miles Moffeit at 303-820-1415 or mmoffeit@denverpost.com.
