Are there any lawyers out there that would care to comment on this? i.e. would the Administration have any valid reason to sweep this under the rug as the title of this article implies? Or is it more likely the Administration is appropriately making no comments until the legalities are worked out? Sounds like the later is more logical to me.

So what this is not within the Bush adminstrations responsibilities. Sen Nelson knows this and was simply wasting more tax payers dollars, in a smear campaign against Republicans. Only the easily lead democratic drones would get worked up over this BS.

Bush haters please try and get past your apparent blind hatred of the man. It's OK not to like him - even personally. Everything is not a conspiracy. He is not king. Our government is not set up that way. The president cannot act independently. Analyse what is happening and consider alternative explanations.

where is this story in the media??????????
Why are women's issues always ignored and never researched?

Maybe the rapist perpetrators in KBR are so high up in the organization that they are friends of Bush and Cheney, so therefore they must be protected.

It's those law and order Republicans again... I'm sure that they will take care of this.
C'mon, it's only been two years!

Good Lord save me from these bloggers!!! This woman will have her day in court if it gets that far. i.e. if she doesn't accept some deal or she is found, and I'm not saying she will, to be lying.... Why in the world would the White House and the Justice Department sweep this under the rug???? THEY HAVE NOTHING TO GAIN! It makes no sense.

Is it not sad when an American citizen doing the work on behalf of our Govt. is raped by fellow Americans, and our Govt. does not have the honesty and decency to stand up for her? Now this is the sort of shining example that we project to the World..our sad state of False democracy!

What good are laws if even the lowest levels of the Bush Administration thumb their noses at the law aand Congress.
Impeach Bush and Cheney, They have admitted to enough crimes to convict them now. They have subverted the constitution. Made laws illegally to give themselves retroactive immunity for the crimes that they knew were illegal. They lied to Congress and the American People. To start wars with countries that are not a security threat to us. They waisted billions in graft, corruption and incompetence in Iraq.
Impeachment removes the power of pardons from Bush. How long do you think it would take to get Libby, Rove, Bolton or Billings to talk if they knew they were going to jail.
The house of cards that keeps this administration out of jail would fall fast.
All we need now is some leaders with strength and courage to put the American peoples interests ahead of their special interests and live up to their oath of office.
Write to your Representatives, tell them that we are
“Mad as Hell and aren’t going to take this anymore.”

You can write your reps. Wont do any good. They dont care. I write all the time. They write back and avert the my original question and restate thier absurd position on whatever issue by avoiding obvious undeniable statistics/facts and requoting statistics/facts that have been proven wrong. You can write them again and the second time, they just wont answer. They will do what they want and justify it on bad data and stonewall any opposition from there.

I believe we have passed the tipping point in govt. Its out of control and there is no way to bring it back without tremendous upheaval. Smaller govt is the only answer, but with millions of poeple already on the govt payroll, who of them is going to vote for that?

Corporations, lobbyists, religion, special interest groups, and 2 political parties own 110% of the system. You own none.

I give up!

Hey LongT, it's not just "blind hatred"; we have countless examples over the past few years of corruption,law breaking and incompetence (Katrina, Valerie plame, etc, etc) by the administration.

"The president cannot act independently" - what do you call warrantless wiretaps?

"THEY HAVE NOTHING TO GAIN!" - the administration is under heavy fire for "privatizing" the war. Their contractors are accused of corruption, profiteering and other crimes. (read: rapes and murders). Since KBR is one of these contractors, doesn't it make sense they simply wouldn't want the bad press.

I don't think it was a cover-up. No one cared about Jamie Leigh, and they all kept pushing her aside, wanting her to go away. There is nothing regulating Halliburton and other DOD contractors, and that is the way they want it.

I am sure there have been other women that have not had her persistence to get this far.

KBR a subcontractor of Halliburton working its' through? Hmmm. How does a company work its' way through imprisoning the VICTIM of the rape in a HUGHE storage container with a guard place outside and the doors locked on the outside, after she reported the rape. How does a company work its' way through NOT contacting the proper authorities to have the men arrested who committed the rape? How does a company work its' way through Not allowing the victim to call anyone (even prisoners get a phone call)? SOMEONE HAD TO SNEAK IN AND GIVE HER A PHONE. The good samaritan will probably get fired if the Company finds out who that someone was.

It is strange how the "Qatif Girl" rape case and its judicial verdict in Saudi Arabia receives tremendous media coverage and its injustice is preached about by Americas finest. While on the other hand injustice done to American women serving their country cant make it to court. Its some example the Bush administration is setting. In house cleaning should be done to bring back the America I used to know and once admired.

Shouldn't the purpose of the investigation be: to prosecute the rapists and violators of the Good Samaritan laws? Seems to me the precedent has been set: New Bedford Rape trial. Shouldn't the purpose of the investigation be: to overturn employment contracts that sanction criminal activity?

So, we'd like to think of ourselves as a civilized society here in America, favoring justice for all, right? Then why is Dan Sharphorn issuing "no trespass warnings" via people like Richard F. Zavala?

YOU SEND A MESSAGE -- now. STOP THIS .

Shame the men or shame the women, is that the dilemma?

What if the rape victim were a 12 year old boy? I thought the Catholic Church already had it's purging.

Exactly what are "we the people" waiting for. The New Bedford rape trial prosecuted and convicted in waves.

What are we dealing with here: a male code of ethics engaged in gross police and prosecutorial misconduct? Across the nation women not inclined to wait much longer to clear out the top echelon of off-shore counter terrorism tactics with our own state-sdie brand of indifference.

Come on, Bryant!

Look at the University of Michigan's DPS web site. It (the same thing that happened to Ms. Jamie) happens right on our nation's educational campus (i.e, cover up, decline to arrest, decline to prosecute). Sharphorn learned how to target women in Vietnam; it's right on the web "Jerry's Cadet." Then again, there’s Varner (she puts it in writing – it’s “inappropriate behavior” for a rape victim find a safe place if it happens to be in the Flemming Administration Bldg. She’d be one of those employment lawyers – if it’s an analog you’re looking for. Let’s no forget Mason.

We need to know -- do the members of the congressional inquirelie about --- waiting to catch the top dog? "Turn me in and I'll destroy your life!" All our officers (Board of Regents are lawyers too.

What's in it for you, Special Prosecutorial committee by waiting so long? You don't want to get it wrong? Or you're waiting for New Hampshire primary to set out the platform for justice reform? How is it (the delay) helping this girl? How is it helping? Who is it helping? Get on with it. Arrest the rapist. What we don’t want to see is another five years of waiting. Honest cops don't' want to know their leader in charge prefers to the other way.

All US Courts are biased in favor of
Supplimental Warfunding.
Joseph J Salas vs. Richard Rinard(CA)

How surprising, that the ABC news website has turned into a blog of tree-hugging liberal whiners. Perhaps instead of regurgitating liberal pundit lines and feeding off of each other, one of you could maybe forage an original thought? Bad things happen to good people everyday. Wars happen. America is safer because of this president. These are basic truths that only a true liberal moron would contest.

Hey - you voted them into office. So you have no one to blame but yourselves for the losers that "represent" (hah!) you. The Congress is doing nothing but spending our money to build the bureaucracy even larger and increasing our dependence on THEM by handing out "free" programs and benefits (healthcare for all - yay! - can you imagine a government run health service - yikes! - they can't even deliver mail). This ensures they will stay in office for life. Congratulations Amerika! Ya bunch of dopes.

#1: joseph:

liberals built this country that you NeoCONs are trying so hard to tear down.

#2: Rape isn't "bad things happen to good people everyday". Rape is a CRIME PUNISHABLE BY OUR LAWS.

#3: Since Bush NEVER STRUCK BACK at the country which attacked us on 9/11--that's Saudi Arabia--but instead attacked the Saudi's worst enemy--Iraq--that by itself shows infallibly that America not only is not safer because of this president, but that it is in greater danger than ever from those whom it wrongfully invaded (Oops, forgot about all that oil in North Iraq, 'scuse me, Kirkuk). These are basic and annotated truths that only a NeoCON retard would contest.