Pregnant soldiers leaving Iraq
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| Thu, 06-17-2004 - 4:14pm |
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/003200406170322.htm
Pregnant soldiers leaving Iraq, US "unaware of numbers"
Washington, June 17. (PTI): Many U.S. women soldiers in Iraq are leaving the frontline and returning home, but the Pentagon does not want to reveal their numbers as the "embarrassing" statistic includes unwed mothers, media reported on Wednesday.
"U.S. Central Command is not tracking the number of troops who must leave the Iraq war theatre due to pregnancy, prompting military advocates to charge that the Pentagon wants to keep secret what could be an embarrassing statistic," The Washington Times said in a report.
The paper said that there have been anecdotal reports of unmarried women soldiers becoming pregnant in Iraq. One military police unit reported losing three women for that reason.
Lynndie England, the 21-year-old photographed holding a leash attached to a naked Iraqi prisoner, became pregnant during an affair with another soldier at the Abu Ghraib prison compound in Iraq, it said.
But overall numbers are hard to come by. "We are definitely not tracking it," said a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which runs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I have been attending operations briefings for two years, and I don't think I have heard once that pregnancy has come up."
As in the case of England, said the paper, pregnancies can be embarrassing to the military. In May 2003, the Marine Corps was forced to bring a Marine back home after she gave birth on a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf. She told superiors that she did not know she was pregnant.

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It bothers me when we become so married to our position, left or right, that we can't even see the merits of the other side and will argue a point in the ground regardless of how senseless it is. This country continues to be polarized even though we all seem to have the same goals for humanity. God bless.
It was the guidelines I was talking about, btw.
It has been done for all of civilization. We are just undoing it now to make everyone "equal".
Why can't both sides say, this is more complicated than black or white, there are other factors that need to be considered besides my general worldview.
That's why I asked.
It has been done for all of civilization. We are just undoing it now to make everyone "equal".
I can't even begin to respond to this statement at the moment.
miss me? :)
"equal" was in quotes....
That's your response?
"I can't see how giving everyone the opportunity to be equal will cause the 'decline' of humanity.
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"If you don't stand up for something, you'll lie down for anything." -- B
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