The Ladies The Day in Horror
posted by June 20 at 14:03 PM
onLast summer, US Army Specialist Kamisha Block was killed in Iraq in an incident the Army categorized as “friendly fire.” Except that, as Jezebel points out, the man who shot her, Brandon Norris was an obsessive, jealous ex (the relationship was reportedly not serious) who had been physically abusing Block without punishment for months. Despite the fact that witnesses reported Norris’s assaults on Block to military officials, the only action the Army took was to move him slightly farther from her barracks—to new housing a five-minute walk away. That wasn’t enough to keep him from walking into her room, asking her roommate to leave, and then shooting her five times in the head and chest before turning the gun on himself. No one has been punished for failing to do anything to protect Block from her known, well-documented abuser, nor for lying to cover up the fact that Block was murdered.
Comments
That's pretty bad.
This is why I turn FF off.
This is a big deal. I would stick to this story as long as it takes to get the attention it deserves.
I can't think of an appropriate off-color joke.
Oh, but a much more important story is Obama's flag pin, or Cindy McCain's purloined cookie recipes, or whether Michelle Obama likes to wear pantyhose, or how wonderful Tim Russert was, or that Jamie Lynn had her baby, or....
Murder-Suicides are the friendliest of fire, i mean they are filled with "love." beautiful sociopathic love (but is there really any other kind?).
Completely disgusting and unacceptable. This is an example of sexism that should be blogged and emailed around. Who the hell in Congress could I write an angry letter to about this? Patty? Maria? Jim?
@7 from veteransforpeace.org:
Not to blame the victim, but considering the Army's continued non-responses to repeated incidents like this, she should have fragged him.
Disgusting. That's cold-blooded murder, not friendly fire.
The army is seriously fucked up.
In order to qualify as sexism, wouldn't the response have to be different if the genders of the participants were reversed? I mean if a female soldier were terrorizing a male solider, somehow I doubt the Army's response would differ in any meaningful way. So, not really sexism, per se.
Personally, I can be appalled by this incident for its specifics. I don't think it needs an -ism attached to it in order to be meaningful or morally abhorrent.
Just throwing that out there for ECB to totally ignore.
that is so fucked up.
That's terrible.
@12 - I don't think Erica mentioned sexism in her post. Nope, just re-read, the word doesn't appear. Don't get your panties in a bunch.
@12,
Many women who have been assaulted in the armed forces have seen their fellow male soldiers turn against them en masse. One woman who was rescued from an attempted rape by a fellow soldier was immediately shunned by men she thought were her friends and branded a liar and a slut. She didn't even file charges.
You may doubt that the army would treat this situation differently if the genders were reversed. I don't agree. There seems to be a very strong bros before hos mentality in the armed forces, all the way up to the military brass.
This were Bush says, "Support Our Troops, Support Our Troops (but only if they're male)."
Where do America's young men learn such violence?
Oh, wait... the rifle range.
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