According to the Charlotte Observer, almost 40 American female troops in Iraq have come forward to report rape or sexual assault by U.S. soldiers. The American military is always telling us that they really are working on this sexual assault problem they have, but then we get more reports like this.

As horrible as this news is, it pales compared with many of the responses expressed by participants in the Free Republic forum.

There are four equally absurd arguments that are being set forth by Free Republic posters:

1. Big surprise here--that it is the women's fault. After all, what did they expect when they joined the military? The men's hormones are raging all the time (oddly enough, these are the same people who believe that teaching abstinence will stop teen pregnancy and the spread of STD's!).

2. Some of them believe the women are engaging in illicit affairs and are coming forward in order to cover themselves. The problem with this argument is that, in the American military, any woman who brings such a report is punished. Indeed, some of the women in Iraq have already testified that they were threatened with punishment if they reported the assauts and rapes. It's not exactly the easy way out.

3. It is a flaw of our culture (yes! Clinton did it!), and if there were no women in the military, this wouldn't be happening. (At least these people believe the assaults are occurring.)

4. Some of the women are officers, and there is no way an officer would not be believed. (That one is too ridiculous to merit a comment.)

This hatred of women demonstrates the full strength of the backlash against the women's movement. It is a woman's fault if she is raped. And even if it isn't, well, she shouldn't have been there and it wouldn't have happened, so it's her fault, anyway. Misogyny is evil, no matter how you slice it, and it is particularly sad that there is so much internalized misogyny among women. Now, women who come forward to report sex crimes perpetrated on them by the male power base--whether it is a would-be actor and political candidate or a U.S. solider--are derided and blamed.

Women who serve in Iraq are risking their lives just as much as men. They, too, leave their families behind. They, too, are at risk to be wounded or to contract the war-related diseases that will be ignored when they return. It is their right to serve in the military if they wish. They consider it their duty. But not only are they assaulted by their peers, they are spat on by conservatives who sit at home Web-surfing while the war goes on.

Now that's patriotism.