Three Military Men Charged With Changing Sexual Violence Culture Investigated For Violence Against Women | Acid Crimes Against Italian Women Rise

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1.Now there are three. Just as we’re pulling together details of the second man in charge of programs to limit harassment or sexual violence against women and men in the military, a third man has turned himself in Wednesday on “charges of violating an order of protection and stalking” . Lt. Col. Darin Haas was the manager of the sexual harassment and assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Haas repeatedly contacted his ex-wife Wednesday night, despite mutual protective orders against each other. The two are involved in a child custody right. Hass was held for a required 12 hours and released.

Earlier this month, an officer in charge of the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention program, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, was charged with sexual battery after allegedly groping a woman in an Arlington, Va., parking lot. He is due in court in July.

2. The Army is investigating Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen, a sexual abuse educator at its Fort Hood Texas base. McQueen hasn’t yet been charged with a crime but it’s believed that he persuaded a female private first class to become a prostitute, selling sex on the base. Reports are that a second woman army private refused McQueen’s offer to become a prostitute, and he assaulted her. The woman complained to military officers.

The latest revelations came as President Obama met with the nation’s military leaders, telling him they are “ashamed” of their failure to end sexual abuse in the armed services.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, issued a public message to all soldiers in which he said the “bedrock of trust” between soldiers and their leaders has been violated by this recent strong of misconduct cases.

A group of senators led by New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand proposed new legislation on Thursday that would change the military justice system in a way advocates that say would help better protect victims.

3. A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Thursday Proposed major changes in how the military handles sexual assault cases that involve their subordinates. The legislation is being led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, a member of the Armed Services Committee. “We believe enough is enough. It is time to change this system that has been held over since George Washington that is simply not working today for the men and women who are serving,” the senator said at a news conference.

“What does it say about us as a people, as a nation, as the foremost military in the world, when some of our servicemembers both men and women have more to fear from their fellow soldiers than from the enemy?” asked Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

“When any single victim of sexual assault is forced to salute her attacker, clearly our system is broken,” Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand’s bill takes the decision about whether a sexual assault case goes to trial out of the chain of command and into the hands of a trained specialist officer who holds a minimum rank of colonel.

Women protest against domestic violence in Milan, Italy. (Antonio Calanni/AP)4. The Daily Beast posts a truly disturbing story about a vicious spate of acid attacks against women in Italy, revealing “a deep-seated culture of violence against women.”

Two of the three recent attacks represent cases where an ex-boyfriend or husband is believed to have arranged for the acid attack, and the details are truly unsettling.

Using acid as a weapon appeals to some aggressors because it is more permanent than traditional forms of violence, from which women eventually heal—at least physically. “They use acid because it takes just a tiny dose to corrode and ruin someone’s life,” says Michele Marzano, a center-left politician who is struggling to put domestic violence on the national agenda. “The aggressor often chooses a woman’s face because it embodies her beauty and her identity. The acid removes the shape of her face. It is a way to cancel her out.”