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Military Mom Says She Was Brutally Raped in Iraq
By Maddy Sauer
ABC News
Wednesday 09 April 2008
Dawn Leamon, who alleges she was raped
by two men, will tell her story on Capitol Hill.
Yet another woman has come forward saying she was brutally raped in Iraq while
working for the U.S. contractor Kellogg Brown Root (KBR).
Dawn Leamon, who has two sons on active duty, says she was raped earlier this
year by a U.S. soldier and a KBR colleague.
She will tell her horrific story to members of Congress today at a hearing
of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Leamon says that following her rape, she spoke with a woman at the KBR Employee
Assistance Program. "She discouraged me from reporting, saying, 'You know
what will happen if you do,'" Leamon said.
Leamon says KBR then assigned full-time security guards to her which gave her
no privacy to talk about the incident, and her movements around camp were restricted,
yet her attackers' movements were unrestricted.
"KBR did little or nothing to restore my sense of safety after I reported
being raped," said Leamon.
KBR released the following statement to ABC News this morning. "First
and foremost, KBR in no way condones or tolerates sexual harassment. Each employee
is expected to adhere to the Company's Code of Business Conduct, and when violations
occur, appropriate action is taken. Any reported allegation of sexual harassment
or sexual assault is taken seriously and thoroughly investigated. KBR's top
priority is the safety and security of all employees, and our commitment in
that regard is unwavering."
Also at today's hearing, for the first time the Department of Justice is slated
to answer questions on the investigation and prosecution of alleged sex crimes
in Iraq and Afghanistan. No one has yet been charged in Leamon's case.
Last December, the department declined to send an official to testify before
the House Judiciary Committee hearing on law enforcement efforts to protect
U.S. contractors in Iraq. The hearing featured testimony by Jamie Leigh Jones,
a young Texan woman who also says she was gang-raped while working for KBR in
Iraq.
Like Jamie Jones, Leamon believes she was drugged before her attack.
In January, several lawmakers pounded the Justice Department for flatly refusing
to answer their questions about how sexual assault cases in Iraq involving U.S.
citizens are handled. "We still have heard nothing from your office,"
complained several Democratic senators, including presidential hopeful Barack
Obama, D-Ill.
Now, sources says the Justice Department has agreed to send a representative
to the Senate hearing entitled, "Closing Legal Loopholes: Justice for Americans
Sexually Assaulted in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Meanwhile, Jamie Jones will receive the Susan McDaniel Public Awareness Award
at the Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus Awards ceremony. There was a grand
jury hearing in Florida concerning her case in January of this year, but no
indictment has yet been filed.
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