The current and past Secretaries of Defense are being sued over their failure to deal with cases of rape and sexual assault in the military: A group of U.S. veterans who say they were raped, insulted and otherwise abused by their comrades want to force the Pentagon to change how it handles such cases.
More than a dozen female and two male current or former service members say servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse and victims are too often ordered to continue to serve alongside those they say attacked them.
In a federal class-action lawsuit to be filed Tuesday, they want an objective third party to handle such complaints because individual commanders have too much say in how allegations are handled.
The complaint can be viewed here. The details we're learning are shocking. This is the kind of thing that should not be happening in the U.S. military (or anywhere.) But, the fact that these crimes did occur and aren't dealt with shows a stunning lack of leadership. It sounds like what we've come to expect from the Catholic Church.