The Rampaging Murdering Rapist Elephant in the Room That Just Isn’t Discussed
A rapist impregnates a woman and murders her when she reports the crime. He clumsily attempts to burn her corpse which is soon discovered. The sheriff at the scene gives the following heartbreaking and graphic testimony:
The fetus was developed enough that the “little hand was about the size of my thumb. The little fingers were rolled up,” he said. “One of the things that will probably stick with me for a long time, and forever, is that little hand, the way those fingers were turned, that had been burned off the arm. That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it’s disgusting.”
This is the text I found on CNN. The AP and Tribune carried edited versions of the same remarks. Yet as I scan the right wing ‘news’ sites and blogosphere I don’t see anything about this story at all. Even various clever searches couldn’t find any kind of response or commentary about this story, yet I did easily find right wing carping about murders and crimes committed by Muslims and foreigners not being covered by the ‘liberal’ media. Of course, that the rapist in the above tale was a Marine Corporal and his victim a Lance Corporal under his command might have something to do with why even such shocking testimony about the remains of the fetus by the sheriff isn’t enough to get those who are usually so eager to rant about the citizenship of the unborn utterly silent about the gruesome crime committed against this 8-month pregnant woman. That Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean wasn’t taken into custody after Cpl. Lauterbach reported the rape to her superiors might also be a source of embarassment to knee jerk reactionaries because it certainly doesn’t show that our armed forces take crimes against women very seriously. Of course, the left is sure to write about crimes US soldiers commit against Iraqi women, but is it possible the right wing is willing to ignore the rape and murder an American Marine (and her fetus) just because the criminal is an American soldier?
Of course they are. Because to acknowledge this case would mean to acknowledge the many incidences of rape and other crimes perpetrated on women by American soldiers and Pentagon-employed mercenaries. Incidentally, that’s what Blackwater and those folks are regardless of whatever euphemisms the media employs. Contractors come to your house to make repairs and additions, not indiscriminately drop tear gas or fire automatic weapons into crowds. But then, the surge is working and the war is going so great that Bush is going to keep the troops there even longer so why bother discussing these ugly trivialities? This war is about stopping the rape, torture, and murder of innocents so it’s really inconvienent to acknowledge any collateral rape, torture or murder it may produce.
That Laurean was allowed to walk free and continue to work closely with his victim even after she reported the crime is outrageous. That the Pentagon won’t investigate KBR for the allegations made against it’s mercenaries in Iraq is disgusting. What America has become as a result of the place George W Bush has dragged us is disgraceful. We are better than this.
