Rape and War

by Frank Erickson, WAMM

The case of the American soldier charged with the rape and murder of an 11-year-old Albanian girl demonstrated again how sexual assault of women and girls goes hand in hand with war. Since the day war was invented, war and the stress of war has been used as an excuse or as an attempt to legitimize the rape of women.

Sexual assault committed by a member of the military is a serious offense, but to my shock and dismay, I have not heard one individual scream about Gov. Jesse Ventura's remarks on Tailhook. He says it was "much ado about nothing." He says it is no big deal that U.S. servicemen sexually assaulted U.S. servicewomen in a Las Vegas hotel. Ventura claims this is behavior we should let slide because these men "live on razor's edge."

The governor sees the military mind as being wound so tight and so tortured with the possibility of combat and death that sexual assault simply comes with the territory.

Ventura uses the line "You can't handle the truth" from the movie "A Few Good Men" when discussing Tailhook in the Playboy interview. Well, here is Ventura's slant on the truth: He seems to believe that U.S. soldiers deal with the most important and lofty American responsibility of all--securing our freedom. And if women are in a Las Vegas hotel, a foxhole, in the vicinity, or in the way of men securing our freedom, these women must sacrifice their bodies.

At what point in Gov. Ventura's theory on sexual assault and the military mind is it no longer "much ado about nothing?" His remarks on Tailhook put women in danger all over the world. His remarks, and our non-action, give the military the green light to assault women.