Rapist gets military honors.

The LA Times had an great opinion piece on Wednesday with the following headline, “Does a rapist deserve a military burial?”
Hmmm, let me think about it a minute…No.
James Allen Selby was a rapist. He raped and assaulted at least 12 women (not including a 9-year old girl). In October 2004, he was convicted on 27 counts, which included armed robbery, rape, kidnapping and attempted murder (for slitting the throat of one of the women). Hours before his sentencing, he hung himself in a Tuscan, AZ jail.
James Allen Selby was also a Persian Gulf War veteran. So in respect to Pentagon policy, he was buried with full military honors. Anne K. Ream, author of the opinion piece, wrote:

The military policy of allowing honors burials for veterans convicted of rape sends a chilling message to victims: Even the most heinous sexual violence does not trump prior military service. It is a position that is as ethically indefensible as it is inconsistent. In 1997, after Army veteran Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombings, Congress barred veterans convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death or life in prison from being buried with full military honors. Veterans convicted of rape or any other violent crime, however, encounter no such restrictions.
‘By honoring those that do not deserve it, we dishonor those who do,’ Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said during 1997 hearings on the policy. McVeigh, he said, ‘was worthy of honor at one time, but he is no longer worthy of honor.’ Surely the same can be said of Selby. [Emphasis mine]

Just like the KBR cover-up rape case, this is showing not only the pardoning of military and government-related rape crimes, but also how these crimes are simply not dealt with and swept under the rug. Ream ends the piece:

In the wake of mass violation of women and girls during the conflicts in Kosovo and Rwanda, rape and sexual violence were for the first time codified as distinct crimes under international law. How telling then, and how troubling, that our country’s policy on military burials is at odds with international standards the United States worked to establish.

But should we really be surprised?