Psyche, Science, and Society

More evidence Iraqi PM lied about rape

February 23rd, 2007

McClatchy Newspapers explains about the so-called “medical report” that the Iraqi Prime Minister used to discredit the alleged rape claim earlier this week:

The single sheet, apparently part of a multi-page report, said that there were “no vaginal lacerations or obvious injury.” An accompanying statement asserted that the medical report “confirmed” there had been no rape, but several rape experts in the United States said the report did no such thing.

The report didn’t disprove the woman’s allegations, the experts said, and it indicated that the woman suffered extensive injuries, including at least eight bruises on the front of her thighs consistent with a sexual assault.

“Generally it occurs when the suspect is holding the victim’s legs open and the victim is attempting to close her legs,” said Tara Henry, a former head of the sexual assault unit at Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage, who reviewed the report at the request of McClatchy Newspapers….

Most rape victims, especially those who already are sexually active, don’t suffer vaginal injuries during an assault, said Dr. Dan Sheridan, the coordinator of the forensic nursing program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Other experts said the report indicates that medical personnel took numerous X-rays and CT scans, perhaps bolstering Sunni claims that the woman had been beaten.

“They did a CT scan of the head, the pelvis, and the neck. These tests would not have shown if someone was sexually assaulted, so there had to have been some kind of other trauma that they found,” said Dr. Karen Simmons, medical director of the Rape Treatment Center in Miami, Fla.

“It shows that she was brought into a trauma unit in bad shape,” said Joshua Weintraub, an attorney who once ran the sexual crimes office of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

At this point, it is clear that no investigation occurred before al-Maliki dismissed the claims and gave honors to the alleged rapists. Where’s Congress and the Democrats on support for a government that honors alleged rapists?

Entry Filed under: Gender, Iraq, Uncategorized