For several hours today, dozens of anti-war activists lined a pedestrian cat-walk
over Interstate 5 at a gate to Fort Lewis, showing solidarity with army Specialist
Suzanne Swift's refusal to return to Iraq.
Swift survived one tour in Iraq that left her emotionally and psychologically wounded.
The horrors of being part of an occupying army in an nation fully resisting are bad
enough. Swift, like many other women in the military experienced near constant sexual
harassment, sexually brutality, and command rape. Command rape is when a commanding
officer or NCO orders a subordinate to have sex, or punishes a subordinate for reporting
an assault.
At a press conference during the afternoon, Swift's mother, Sara Rich, described how
her daughter's struggle was developing into a movement to fight sexual brutality inside
the U.S. military. Rich told of the flood of e-mails they received after Swift's story
hit the media. E-mails from other women who experienced or were still experiencing
the same brutality. "I'm not just doing this for my daughter," Rich said, "I'm doing
this for all the young women suffering this abuse."
For more information visit
Suzanne Swift's webpage.