Hell No, She Won't Go (Back)

Many, many people do not support the war but go out of their way to say they support our troops. I don't bother with that mantra because I think it makes people sound like they are apologizing for not supporting an illegal war. Unfortunately we also have to admit that some of our troops do not deserve our support - particularly ones who commit crimes of abuse against fellow soldiers.

Since the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, some 508 women serving in the military have complained of sexual assault, says the Miles Foundation, a private advocacy group. "Sexual harassment and sexual assault is an epidemic in the army," said Larry Hildes, Spc Swift's lawyer.

Spc Swift says she reported the harassment to the unit's equal opportunities officer and no action was taken. She later began a sexual relationship with a superior. Spc Swift now says that that relationship, which lasted three months, was coerced, and that she was threatened with being sent on dangerous assignments. "They have absolute power of life and death," she said. "If someone has to run across a minefield, and they don't like you, guess where you are going."

Spc Swift did not report the harassment. The two were assigned to different units when they returned to Fort Lewis in February last year. A week later, she asked another superior where to report for duty. She says he replied: "In my bed, naked." She filed a complaint, and was treated, her mother says, like a "traitor".

So, it is no wonder that she is refusing to go back. Are people supporting her now?