By GottaLaff
I've been out for a day or two, and Paddy has been covering like a champ. While I catch up on the mounds of e-mails and tweets, and Paddy takes a well-deserved break, we all benefit from a very welcome guest post.
TPC has generous, talented friends in high places who offered to lighten the load a little: The sharp as a tack radio/TV personality/blogger Shannyn Moore (you've seen her on Countdown with Keith Olbermann) and the very accomplished writer/investigative journalist Allen McDuffee (who has been a consistently wonderful supporter of this blog).
Here is their very welcome contribution, and we are honored to be able to include their excellent work on TPC:
Hats off to Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo III for taking the heat off McChrystal and Petraeus on Afghanistan by telling women (and the men who impregnate them) that if they get pregnant on his watch in Northern Iraq, it will be a punishable offense, which may include jail time.
Yesterday, Amanda Terkel at Think Progress cleared up one of the immediate misconceptions about Cucolo’s policy: pregnancy by sexual assault.
To ensure a consistent and measured approach in applying this policy, I am the only individual who passes judgment on these cases. I decide every case based on the unique facts of each Soldier's situation. Of the very few cases handled thus far, it has been a male Soldier who received the most severe punishment; he committed adultery as well. Though there have not been any cases of sexual assault, any pregnancy that is the product of a sexual assault would most certainly not be considered here; our total focus would be on the health and well-being of the victim and justice for the perpetrator.Cucolo is reportedly backing off his policy, according to an ABC news report today, saying “I see absolutely no circumstance where I would punish a female soldier by court martial for a violation ... none…I fully intend to handle these cases through lesser disciplinary action."
Nonetheless, the Army’s Inspector General in Iraq, David L. Thompson, says that the whole thing is completely legal.
Whether or not the policy is legal, implemented or not implemented, here are 8 ways this shows how wrong-headed the Army is on pregnancy and a whole lot more.
1) Fornication, ok. Pregnancy, not ok. This one kind of speaks for itself.
2) The new military directives include the dismissal and possible criminal charges against becoming pregnant, or impregnating a service member. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…that’s fair…but what if the gander is a Blackwater contractor? How many times have you seen a successful prosecution of a military contractor?
3) Speaking of contractors, which one will win the Pentagon contract for providing $10 condoms, $200 diaphragms, $25 contraceptive sponges or whatever else? Seems like Halliburton territory. They’re the ones with the biggest Dick in their past, after all.
4) Controlling and punishing pregnancy in the military has become a priority over, you know, actual criminal behavior. We all know how badly sexual assault escalated since the Iraq invasion, but nearly 7 years later not much has changed. This month, a military task force reported its findings after a year-long survey. Not good, according to The Virginian Pilot, saying that the report concluded “too often the perpetrators go free and the victims do not get the assistance they deserve.”
5) After lowering the standards for the US military to include felons, including rapists can we really afford to lose more service people? Think about it. If you’re gay…pack your bags. If you’re pregnant, you are out of there. If you got someone pregnant…well, you’re out too. If you’re a convicted rapist…sign here.
6) So many questions about abortion…
Who supports this? The Anti-Choice groups? What are the chances of a back door barrack abortion to save a job? Will military docs provide Plan B or an abortion? Will abortions be recommended (read: coerced)? Will the Pentagon find a way to federally fund abortion to SUPPORT THE TROOPS killing THE TERRORISTS? What will it take to get a front row seat to watch Sen. Ben Nelson blow a gasket when he finds out.
And what will conservatives do when their two favorite pastimes collide: dropping bombs and controlling women’s bodies?
7) War is hell. Is it hell enough that you’d get pregnant for a “Get Out Of War Free” card?
8) It’s got to be difficult to feel pretty and pregnant in camouflage…nothing quite like strapping a gun on a baby bump. Can’t imagine there’s anything much more life affirming after a long day of death and destruction than human contact…in a good way.
Ok, ok—in all seriousness, there must be some cases of female service members getting pregnant intentionally to get out of combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But there must be better ways of addressing that concern of Cucolo’s. Let’s hear your ideas below.Let me know if the video shows up for you. It's not showing up on my computer, and I have no idea why.
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