British soldiers accused of abusing Afghan children

From Eagle Radio in Britain:

Troops In Afghan Child Abuse Investigation

9:00am 18th January 2012.

Military police are investigating allegations of child abuse by two British soldiers in Afghanistan, it has emerged.

The troops from the Mercian Battle Group have reportedly been arrested over claims they abused an Afghan boy and girl aged about 10.

They are said to have filmed the separate incidents and shown them to colleagues on their laptops, according to The Sun newspaper.

Several laptops have apparently been seized and their contents looked at by a team of military police assigned to the inquiry.

Why Do Soldiers Rape? H. Patricia Hynes, Truthout: “Scholars and investigators who have studied military culture and attitudes toward women have found that hostility toward women pervades military training – often out of deep antipathy for the presence of women in traditionally male space, sometimes stemming from competition, always linking manliness with sexual dominance – and that it functions like a glue to solidify male bonding over women’s status as sex objects”: here.

USA: Military Sexual Abuse: A Greater Menace Than Combat. H. Patricia Hynes, Truthout: “‘A woman who signs up to protect her country is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire,’ stated former California Democratic Rep. Jane Harman in testimony before a July 2008 House panel investigating the military’s handling of sexual assault reports. The Congresswoman added that her ‘jaw dropped’ when she learned from military doctors that four of ten women in a local veterans hospital had been raped by fellow soldiers”: here.

Sexual abuse of children and Belgian Roman Catholic bishops: here.

Legal action charity Reprieve announced today that it has filed an official complaint with the Metropolitan Police against the British government for war crimes: here.