By Billy House
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON – Sen. Bill Nelson says he’s not satisfied with the responses he’s been getting from the Pentagon and State Department to questions about sexual assaults occurring in Iraq, including the alleged rape of a Tampa woman.
The Florida Democrat was referring to a letter from the Defense Department’s top watchdog dismissing Nelson’s request that he look into allegations involving two American women working under Army contractors in Iraq – the Tampa woman and a woman from Houston, Tex.
Nelson said the Pentagon and State Department have even failed to answer his question about how many rape examinations have been performed by U.S. military doctors or investigated by the State Departments Bureau of Diplomatic Security in Iraq.
“I’m not satisfied with the responses so far,” Nelson said in his written statement today, pledging his office will vigorously push to get all the facts.
Nelson serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, which oversee the Pentagon and State Department, respectively.
A spokesman for Nelson’s office said the senator is asking his questions because the Houston woman claimed an Army doctor who treated her said there were many other cases.
That woman appeared before Congress on Dec. 19, 2007, to testify publicly about her ordeal.
The case of that former Halliburton/KBR employee gained national attention when ABC News reported that there had been no prosecution yet in her alleged gang-rape, two years later.
But in a letter stamped Jan. 3 to Nelson, the office of Defense Department inspector general Claude Kicklighter wrote that because the Justice Department considers the case still open, there is no need for him to investigate the matter.
“[T]he U.S. Justice Department has issued a statement that they are investigating the allegations," wrote Kicklighter's office to Nelson. “No further investigation by this agency into the allegations made by [Jones] is warranted.”
And in a letter dated Monday from the State Department, Nelson was told that the Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security had conducted an investigation into both matters and given the results to the Justice Department.
“With regard to you questions concerning criminal jurisdiction, the Department of Justice is the agency responsible for determining the extraterritorial application of U.S. criminal laws,” wrote Jeffrey Bergner, the department’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
Both women since have filed civil lawsuits against their former employers, in part, because their alleged attackers were coworkers; and, they say the Justice Department has been slow to act.
A lawyer for the Tampa woman, who worked at a different Halliburton subsidiary, has been in touch with Nelson’s office and is seeking assistance,
He could not immediately be reached.
Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or at bhouse@tampatrib.com
The Florida Democrat was referring to a letter from the Defense Department’s top watchdog dismissing Nelson’s request that he look into allegations involving two American women working under Army contractors in Iraq – the Tampa woman and a woman from Houston, Tex.
Nelson said the Pentagon and State Department have even failed to answer his question about how many rape examinations have been performed by U.S. military doctors or investigated by the State Departments Bureau of Diplomatic Security in Iraq.
“I’m not satisfied with the responses so far,” Nelson said in his written statement today, pledging his office will vigorously push to get all the facts.
Nelson serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, which oversee the Pentagon and State Department, respectively.
A spokesman for Nelson’s office said the senator is asking his questions because the Houston woman claimed an Army doctor who treated her said there were many other cases.
That woman appeared before Congress on Dec. 19, 2007, to testify publicly about her ordeal.
The case of that former Halliburton/KBR employee gained national attention when ABC News reported that there had been no prosecution yet in her alleged gang-rape, two years later.
But in a letter stamped Jan. 3 to Nelson, the office of Defense Department inspector general Claude Kicklighter wrote that because the Justice Department considers the case still open, there is no need for him to investigate the matter.
“[T]he U.S. Justice Department has issued a statement that they are investigating the allegations," wrote Kicklighter's office to Nelson. “No further investigation by this agency into the allegations made by [Jones] is warranted.”
And in a letter dated Monday from the State Department, Nelson was told that the Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security had conducted an investigation into both matters and given the results to the Justice Department.
“With regard to you questions concerning criminal jurisdiction, the Department of Justice is the agency responsible for determining the extraterritorial application of U.S. criminal laws,” wrote Jeffrey Bergner, the department’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
Both women since have filed civil lawsuits against their former employers, in part, because their alleged attackers were coworkers; and, they say the Justice Department has been slow to act.
A lawyer for the Tampa woman, who worked at a different Halliburton subsidiary, has been in touch with Nelson’s office and is seeking assistance,
He could not immediately be reached.
Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or at bhouse@tampatrib.com