UNITED STATES: Sexually abused soldier arrested

On June 11, Suzanne Swift was arrested at her mother's house in Eugene, Oregon. Swift, a soldier in the military police, had refused to return to Iraq. The Register-Guard reported on June 15 that Swift says she will not redeploy because "she was sexually harassed by two superiors and coerced into a sexual relationship with a sergeant while she was in Iraq". Swift was publicly humiliated and forced to do extra work after she refused sexual advances from two noncommissioned officers. The Register-Guard added: "Swift said she had a sexual relationship with her immediate supervisor in Iraq, but that it was a coerced relationship based on his power over her. 'In a combat situation, your squad leader is deciding whether you live or die. If he wants you to run across a minefield, you run across a minefield,' she said." A US Army report released in 2004 found that sexual assault in the army had climbed steadily over the previous five years.

From Green Left Weekly, June 21 2006.

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From GLW issue 672