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Liz Trotta, I am unsure if that would be your response but hundreds of military personnel participate in units where there are both men and woman and believe me, a rape charge against anyone is a very serious matter.
During a segment about new rules regarding women in the military, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta attacked the Department of Defense for increasing spending on support programs for victims of sexual assault. Trotta also reacted to a Pentagon report showing a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults since 2006 by stating: "Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact."
Trotta began by claiming "we have women once more, the feminist, going, wanting to be warriors and victims at the same time" and later added that feminists "have also directed them, really, to spend a lot of money. They have sexual counselors all over the place, victims' advocates, sexual response coordinators. ... you have this whole bureaucracy upon bureaucracy being built up with all kinds of levels of people to support women in the military who are now being raped too much."
When Fox News anchor Eric Shawn said that "many would say that they need to be protected," Trotta replied: "That's funny, I thought the mission of the" armed forces "was to defend and protect us, not the people who were fighting the war."
LIZ TROTTA (Fox News contributor): Well, it's a controversy that won't be a controversy because of political correctness. But we have women once more, the feminist, going, wanting to be warriors and victims at the same time. So what is the news? The news is that the Pentagon is going to add 14,000 more jobs for women in the military, but the overall ban against serving in the infantry, in special operations units, and combat tank units, is still in place. Well, you may ask, why did 140 women die in Afghanistan and Iraq if this ban was in place? Well the whole way we wage war has changed enormously. No front lines, no clear delineation of where troops are. Women can be attached to battalions, but they can't actually be in battalions. That would get down to the real guts of how we fight wars -- and that is being a member of the infantry.
But while all of this is going on, just a few weeks ago, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta commented on a new Pentagon report on sexual abuse in the military. I think they have actually discovered there is a difference between men and women. And the sexual abuse report says that there has been, since 2006, a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults. Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact, the whole airing of this issue has never been done by Congress, it's strictly been a question of pressure from the feminist.
And the feminists have also directed them, really, to spend a lot of money. They have sexual counselors all over the place, victims' advocates, sexual response coordinators. Let me just read something to you from McClatchy Newspapers about how much this position on extreme feminism is costing us. "The budget for the Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office leapt from $5 million in fiscal 2005 to more than $23 million in fiscal 2010. Total Defense Department spending on sexual assault prevention and related efforts now exceeds $113 million annually." That's from McClatchy Newspapers.
So, you have this whole bureaucracy upon bureaucracy being built up with all kinds of levels of people to support women in the military who are now being raped too much.
TROTTA: That's funny, I thought the mission of the Army, and the Navy, and four services was to defend and protect us, not the people who were fighting the war.
TROTTA: Oh, look, I mean, that's -- nice try Eric. This whole question of women in the military has not been aired properly, and it's the great sleeping giant.
Trotta also appeared on Fox News yesterday to discuss a Newsweek story about the persecution of Christians globally. During the segment, the topic of CBS News reporter Lara Logan's sexual assault was raised, and Trotta said:
TROTTA: I think the Lara Logan thing is a completely separate thing. Any woman - and I've been in those crowds - any woman who's going to be in one of those highly passionate crowds in the Middle East where Islamics are running around yelling "Allahu Akbar" is taking her life in her hands. And so, I mean, you know the least that can happen to you is that you'll get felt up, so you have to know that going in. But I think that's separate from what's happening to Christians. They are being sacrificed for their religion.
Meanwhile- this guy thinks that if you put young men who have taken an oath to defend their nation and to follow certain protocols are put in "close proximity" with young women who have taken the same oath, sexual assault becomes inevitable? He has very little respect for our military. What's he doing on We Love Our Troops Fox?
Rich people can't be regulated or asked to follow rules. Taxing them, having them clean up their own messes, or expecting patriotic behavior will result in them "punishing" us by moving (more) factories overseas.
Middle class people cannot be asked to try and curb their fossil fuel consumption with even the most basic and minor suggestions, even if it benefits themselves in the process.
She might as well have said, "They're a bunch of inbred white-trash and n!gger$ from welfare families, how do you expect them to act?"
How absurd. I mean... putting aside the obvious mysoginistic implications entirely, she's left with saying that our soldiers should be expected to act like animals!
So, F--- you, honey! I SUPPORT the troops. And that means assuming they are capable of acting like HUMAN BEINGS and holding someone accountable when another one is victimized!
Now if, lets say Barbara Boxer or Nancy Pelosi, were to say that rape was inevitable in the mixed military because the men are in such close quarters with the women; the hate machine would be howling in outrage that a liberal would accuse our great men serving in the military of not being able to control their sexual urges. She would be labeled an anti-military feminist and calls for her resignation would be everywhere.
Michael Hagos, Enemy Images and Cultural Racist Discourse: How and Why the West Creates Enemy Images and the Social Consequences Thereof (2006)
Were Trotta to appear on any network with even a modicum of ethics and make the nauseating suggestion that there is an acceptable amount of rape, she would be tossed out on her keister. Fortunately for her, she doesn't work for a network with ethics. She works for Fox News.
And by the way, this is not the first time Trotta has sunk to such despicable depths. During the 2008 election she joked, on the air, about assassinating Obama.
In filling force requirements, for conflicts Trotta supported, female enlistees were needed, first in support and more recently in near-combat roles. Trotta is ignoring this reality in placing blame on "feminists". If there is blame for the current role of women in the military, and this sorry sequella of sexual assualt, Trotta should look within and to those she backs.
The headline itself doesn't bother me a bit. One has to expect some problems with introducing women into the military. It's pretty damn predictable, honestly. It's where she goes with that premise that is beyond the pale.
I got a better idea, Liz. Howzabout we teach our servicepeople discipline and respect? I served in the Navy from 1991 to 2001 and believe me, it CAN be done!
If a soldier doesn't feel that the military is doing everything it can to protect him/her, they will be focused on things other than their job, which means we get a degraded, performance poor military. Leaving out the compassion of the policy, and just looking at terms of manpower and performance, here statements are completely moronic.
But, what do expect from the same crowd of people who cheered the Marines who urinated on bodies, thought Abu Ghraib was no big deal and thinks Bradley Manning should be executed.
That's funny, I thought the mission of the Army, and the Navy, and four services was to defend and protect us, not the people who were fighting the war.
That's a pretty obvious admission of being wrong. She got smacked in the face with a line that rightfully made her look like a moron, and she had nowhere to go.
Being in the Army myself, it seems strange to me that we're supposed to believe that the reason we have victim advocates and sexual response coordinators is because of feminists. We also have Equal Opportunity representatives. We have mental health. We have dental clinics. We have financial counseling. Is this woman too dim to see the pattern here? The military spends a great deal of money to train its members, so anything that stands in the way of optimal development and performance has to be addressed.
Sexual assault would quite obviously fit into that category. Even if the origins of our handling of sexual assault somehow originated with pressure from feminists - and that seems hard to believe - it's not as if the same programs wouldn't have arisen from a clear need for them anyway. It has nothing to do with political correctness.
Who is "US"? Does she not consider the troops part of "US"? They're just going overseas as expendables, or sacrificial lambs, to take bullets so we( those of us who are not in the military) can feel safe ?
That's pretty sick. For all of their flag-waving and "Support the Troops" bumper stickers, the right wingers sometimes let it slip, what they really think.
any woman who's going to be in one of those highly passionate crowds in the Middle East where Islamics are running around yelling "Allahu Akbar" is taking her life in her hands.
Second "Allahu Akbar" simply means "God is great" and is used everywhere by all Muslims in all kinds of situations. As a show of distress, sorrow, celebration, rallying cry etc etc. It does not mean "Rape and kill the infidels!"
Third. Why is she singling out passionate Muslim crowds? Are Muslims more likely to sexually assault and kill than other people in similar situations?
SHe couldn't even sell issues of "the national enquirer" anymore. Everyone was tired of the TNB. Niqqer flaps her lips and screeches, niqqer becomes rich. Niqqer ends up nearly broke after spending all of her money. Niqqer in constant fights and drug binges. Niqqer ODs when she learns she's nearly broke and she is so wasted physically she can't make another album. Niqqer hit the end of the road, niqqer thinking and niqqer behavior led her to where she had nothing. She couldn't face life without the "bling bling", she knew she would never have any more "kaching kaching"
This coming from a woman. At first I wondered what kind of woman would be so heartless to take this position. Then I remembered this happened on Fox News, and it made so much sense.
County Fair is a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the Web as well as original commentary, breaking news and rapid response updates to major media events from Media Matters senior fellows and other staff.
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