How your Angelz get down like that

Last month, you will recall, a National Guardswoman in Iraq was demoted for mud wrestling in front of a crowd of male soldiers. Clad only in their underwear, the wrestling women went at it to the delight of their peers. A few of those peers were singled out for counseling (I don't even want to go there), but Deanna Allen of North Carolina was demoted to private first class.

This month, the Army sent The Purrfect Angelz to Iraq to entertain the troops. The Angelz wear skimpy halter tops, hot pants, and military headgear, and do singing, provocative dancing, and "acrobatics." Imagine that. U.S. Air Force Captain Sharon Kibiloski, a public affairs officer, has spoken out about the show:

The show only appeals to men, and in my mind has the potential to increase sexual advances toward female soldiers afterward. To me, if the military really cared about sexual harassment, they would not sponsor such a show.

No one seems to know who booked the show, though it is likely that it was booked through the Army's MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) Unit, whose email address is actually the address of Halliburton, which built the stage and provided meals. Pro Sports MVP, an entertainment supplier, is also listed on the promotional flier.

What a load of mixed messages. Punish one soldier for mud wrestling, but let the others go. Punish no male soldiers for attending the mud wrestling event. Then bring on the barely dressed dancing girls to entertain all of the soldiers. Despite their constant speech-making to the contrary , no one in the military's circle of authority gets it. Soldier-on-soldier sexual assault and harrassment is on the rise, and the military's solution is to bring in the Purrfect Angelz to increase troop morale. Nowhere is contempt for women more obvious than in the U.S. military.