Claims from five female recruits who say the Army tried to pressure them into saying they were raped by their superiors could cast doubt on all accusations made since the military sex scandal began.
"Now they have a dual scandal going on," said Tony Palm, a retired Navy sexual-harassment investigator. "Are investigators inflating their charges? And they still have the original sexual harassment scandal.""There's going to be a question about the validity of all the claims in the perception of the public," Palm said.
The women at the Aberdeen Proving Ground said Tuesday they refused to make rape allegations and are upset the military has not come through with incentives they were promised for cooperating with investigators.
The five women, who are all white, spoke at a news conference held by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP has claimed the Army unfairly targeted black soldiers based on complaints of white female recruits.
"I wanted to leave the post and get on with my life. They promised me I could do that if I cooperated with them," said Pvt. Brandi Krewson of Dallas, expressing frustration at being held back at Aberdeen though she finished training in August.
Lt. Col. Gabriel Riesco of Aberdeen's ordnance training school, where the alleged sexual misconduct happened, said he didn't know whether investigators tried to pressure the women into making false statements but that "that is certainly not a technique used." Although several servicemen were charged as a result of the women's sworn statements, none was charged with rape, according to Riesco.
Since the scandal first broke last November, at least 50 women recruits have made official complaints of sexual abuse at Aber-deen.
On Monday, investigators charged Staff Sgt. Herman Gunter, 30, with rape, assault, sexual harassment and other offenses, bringing to eight the number of servicemen at Aberdeen charged with sex crimes. Another six have gone through nonjudicial proceedings on similar charges.
The eight men formally charged with sexual misconduct are all black, Aberdeen spokesman Ed Starnes said. But the Army says the accusers also include black women, and Riesco denied race was a factor.
NAACP national leader Kweisi Mfume has demanded an independent probe of how the military has handled the Aberdeen scandal, which prompted investigations into sexual conduct at U.S. military bases worldwide.
Army Secretary Togo West, however, said the allegations of sexual misconduct should be resolved first.
"I think we need to let these allegations be dealt with in the criminal proceedings first, and thereafter is the time to determine whether there is anything further to look at as well," West said at the Pentagon.
The women refused to say whether they had consensual sex with any instructors, an act which is forbidden by the military code. An Army source told The Associated Press all five women said they had consensual sex in their sworn statements.