Sex Assaults Against Women GIs Increase in War Time
Sexual assault reports involving members of the Armed Services rose to 1,700 in 2004, up from the previous two years, according to Pentagon statistics, leading some critics to say the Department of Defense is not doing enough to prevent sexual misconduct in the military.
There is much to be mulled over in this article, and ammunition is to be found for both sides of the women-in-combat debate and the Pentagon-isn’t-doing-enough argument. Perhaps the sanest point is as follows:
Ret. Navy Capt. Lory Manning, a senior fellow with the Women’s Research and Education Institute in Washington, said it is unclear whether the Pentagon’s latest figures on sexual assault reflect an increase in the number of incidents or are the result of women feeling more comfortable reporting them. She added that she believes the military is doing a good job in addressing the problems.
Two busted in Al Qaeda plot in U.S.
The son of a former Malcolm X aide was nabbed yesterday, along with a Florida doctor, in a plot to start an Al Qaeda training camp in the U.S. – even scouting out a Long Island warehouse for a terror school, officials said last night.
Tarik Shah, 38, a self-proclaimed martial arts expert from the Bronx, and Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 50, presented themselves as a “package deal” to help Muslim “brothers” wage jihad here and in the Middle East, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
Grant them due process. Ensure a fair trial. Destroy them if guilty.
Hariri Bloc Sweeps Beirut Parliamentary Elections
The Interior Ministry in charge of parliamentary elections in Lebanon announced a landslide victory for the son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in the Beirut district. Three more rounds of voting in other regions of the country lie ahead.
In the first vote since the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese territory, official results are in from the first round of voting in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections. The landslide victory went to the list of candidates headed by Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Cedar Revolution continues.
Germany Moves Closer to First Woman Leader
Germany’s opposition conservatives have named Angela Merkel as their candidate to challenge Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in September that could produce the country’s first woman leader.
The last obstacle to her nomination fell when Edmund Stoiber, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)’s sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU), backed her at a meeting of the parties’ top officials.
[…]
Opinion polls show the Christian Democrats will win, as Merkel faces off against the beleaguered Social Democratic leader who has seen his popularity plummet in the face of a stagnant economy and dissatisfaction over the direction of the country.
This will be an interesting race to watch but I won’t shed a tear should Schroeder fall.
Russia agrees to Pull Troops from Georgia by 2008
Russia on Monday agreed to shut its military bases in neighboring Georgia by 2008, a decision that effectively pares Kremlin influence in the increasingly West-leaning Caucasus region.
Russia’s bases in the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi and near the Georgian-Armenian border are holdovers from the Soviet era and house about 3,000 troops. The agreement is a major victory for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has allied his country with the United States and Europe and aggressively pushed for the base closings.
Earlier this month, Georgian leaders threatened to take steps to force their shutdown by Jan. 1, including a prohibition on visas for Russian soldiers slated for assignment to the bases and a ban on cargo movement to and from the bases.
Pair this with the developments in Ukraine and we see a significant drop in Russian influence in two of its former Soviet republics, influence that is being replaced from a westward direction, albeit to a noticably lesser degree.