Reports on war-zone rapes quashed, senator says

More than two dozen times, women who work for U.S. military contractors have said they were raped by co-workers on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no charges being filed in any case.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said a “buddy-buddy” system operating among the contractors and the military has sought to discourage victims from reporting sex crimes and stalled investigation or prosecution.

After being drawn into the issue by a Tampa woman who was one of those victims, and who has seen no law enforcement action for 30 months since reporting that she was raped in Iraq, Nelson has introduced legislation he says should help solve the problem.

“The contractor buddy-buddy system is trying to sweep this under the rug,” he said of the Tampa woman’s case. He said government agencies, including the military, Department of Justice and State Department, have taken “a lackadaisical attitude, sweeping evidence under the rug, intimidation … and then even losing evidence.”

Nelson held a news conference Monday with John Spiegel, a Miami lawyer representing the Tampa woman, a former employee of military contractor KBR Inc.

She’s suing her former company and its former owner, giant defense contractor Halliburton.

Spiegel said his client, now 42, was raped in December 2005 at Camp Ar Ramadi in Iraq, where she ran a recreation facility, and immediately reported it to the military. A military doctor performed standard rape tests, he said.

“More than 30 months later, the assailant remains free and not charged with any crime,” he said, and his client has been denied access to any of the forensic evidence in the case, including the test results.

Spiegel said he believes the case has been referred to the U.S. attorney’s office in northern Texas, where the alleged assailant lives. A spokeswoman for that office said Monday it wouldn’t comment on specific cases.

KBR responded in an emailed statement that it “in no way condones or tolerates sexual harassment … when violations occur appropriate action is taken. Any reported allegation of sexual harassment is taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.”

A Halliburton spokeswoman has previously said the company was improperly named in the lawsuit because it is no longer the corporate parent of KBR, even though it was at the time of the alleged attack.

The spokeswoman, Melissa Norcross, said the company “has no responsibility, legal or otherwise, for the actions alleged" and expects to be dismissed from the lawsuit.

Nelson held hearings on the issue April 9, at which several civilian women who worked on bases, including two other KBR employees, testified they had been raped and got little response from authorities after they reported the incidents. One reported being told by a company security chief to keep quiet about the case.

A 2000 law gives the U.S. Department of Justice jurisdiction to prosecute cases from overseas military bases.

Nelson has filed an amendment to a defense authorization bill that would make government agencies require that their contractors report acts of violence involving civilian employees on military bases.

Failure to do so, said Matt Nosanchuk, counsel for Nelson’s office, could result in the company losing its contract.

The legislation also would require that civilian contract employees of the military have the same access to victim assistance programs that’s available to service members.

Nosanchuk said the amendment will be considered in an Armed Services Committee session next week, and that committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan, favors the bill.

WILLIAM MARCH is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune