Sister soldiers

At first, I was hesitant to print this, though considering the low volume of traffic here (and I do mean low), I suspect it won't matter much anyway. And also, after checking around to see if other such stories had surfaced, I have since come to believe that this is a known phenomenon, though it exists outside any parameters the US military is willing to engage. As prelude, in 2004, The Washington Times reported that female US soldiers were leaving Iraq due to pregnancy. The numbers were unknown because the Pentagon claimed it did not track such statistics. This is a likely mendacious claim: the military knows full well where US troops are and why they are there. The story further points out that during the Gulf War, the USS Acadia had been branded the "Love Boat" after 10% of the female crew had become pregnant during Operation Desert Storm. Pregnancy, however, was only the symptom of what many believed was a much more buried story. Some claimed that organized prostitution rings of female soldiers had sprung up during the first Gulf War. So perhaps what was recently related to me was not that surprising.

It came to my attention through sinuous web that ultimately centered on the US Army's Criminal Investigations Division (CID) that such behaviour is fully developed in Iraq. After almost four years in Iraq, there now exists an "astonishing number" of female soldiers who are prostituting themselves in the Iraq theatre of war. Whether this is organized or not is unknown, at least here. It is not at all surprising that the mainstream media nor the military is not reporting nor has reported such activity. That would probably send the "wrong message" about US troops.

While I found this fascinating -- a testament to the rutting nature of we human beasts more than anything -- I feel fairly certain it is not all that news worthy and perhaps is simply one more indication that we need to get those troops out of Iraq.