The Martland Act – USA Gov Policy

A guest editorial by Chaplain Don Zapsic Jr. ,Ohio Army National Guard (Ret.)

Sometimes words are hard to find, let alone explain the harsh political realities of war. While the realm of politics is far too often the graveyard of morality and ethics, the House Armed Services Committee is the final resting place of H.R. 4717 also known as the MARTLAND (Mandating America’s Responsibility To Limit Abuse, Negligence, and Depravity) Act. The catalyst for Congressman Duncan Hunter’s proposed legislation was an impending discharge action against Army Green Beret Sgt. 1^st Class (SFC) Charles Martland reprimanded for roughing up a pedophilic Afghan commander “lawfully” raping and enslaving a young boy against his will (www.armytimes.com). H.R. 4717 had eighteen proud co-sponsors in the 114^th Congressional House Armed Services Committee out of a sixty-three member total. While SFC Martland was granted a last-minute reprieve by the Army, the MARTLAND Act faded into obscurity.

The thrust of the proposed legislation was designed to “establish a policy against sexual abuse on all U.S. military installations, whether located in the United States or overseas (www.congress.gov.bill).” Standing Department of Defense (DoD) policy has not required the reporting of Afghan national sexual assaults on U.S. installations unless used as a “weapon of war” (www.nytimes.com). While the last minute reprieve of SFC Martland from an impending discharge action is a compelling national story, the fall of the legislative axe on H.R. 4717 is a national disappointment. The “falling axe” was one of disengagement and delay on the part of the House Armed Services Committee. Consequently, the raping of young Afghan boys on U.S. military installations is still tolerated in Afghanistan to this day.

The MARTLAND Act was never given due consideration as a standalone bill which would have required a full committee vote regarding Afghan child rape on U.S. military installations. Rather, it was diverted and subsequently considered as an addendum to the 2017 Defense Authorization Act in March of 2016. An omnibus bill that in addition to including the national defense budget is chocked full of tacked-on provisions having little to do with national defense. H.R. 4717 did not make the cut being rejected on the grounds that it was introduced too late in the legislative calendar to be duly vetted for inclusion. The story does not end here as the House Armed Services Committee has not further addressed the issues presented in the MARTLAND Act. Obviously, it was not just a question of timing since twenty-one months have passed with no further legislative action taken on the subject. What else could it be?

All other issues aside, DoD toleration of child rape safe-havens on U.S. military installations coupled with legislative impotence exacts a heavy psychological toll on our servicemembers. Even if all legal, spiritual, ethical, and moral considerations are set aside, the physical, mental and emotional impact of exposure to unchallenged human rights abuses is undeniable. Consider the shame and guilt evoked for not helping a defenseless child when able to do so. Or for that matter, the mental strain of trying to reconcile following orders that contradict all previous sexual assault training with the need to be tolerant of the abhorrent cultural practices of others. It is a recipe for PTSD with corresponding symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and intrusive thoughts persisting far beyond one’s active military service.

It is an acceptable practice within the military hierarchy to deny that U.S. Servicemembers are

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bases. I received one such denial in a correspondence from the Ohio National Guard’s

Liaison Office (Dec. 1, 2017) stating at one point, “It is our understanding that you are advocating for legislation to bring awareness to alleged child abuse in theatre.” The Ohio National Guard would have to be oblivious to the circumstances surrounding the deaths of three Marines on a U.S. base in Helmand Province to issue such a statement. They were shot in cold blood by a teenage Afghan sex slave back in 2012 (New York Times, Kirsten Luce, Sept. 20, 2015).

Lance Cpl. George Barkley Jr., one of three Marines gunned down, was cited in Luce’s article as complaining to his father during a phone call home about hearing Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought into the barracks one floor above them. For many reasons cited and otherwise, there was ample justification for Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. to introduce the MARTLAND ACT. While the DoD Inspector General has recently forwarded recommendations to the Department of Defense for child abuse reporting procedures, the rhetoric still falls short of empowering servicemembers to actually stop a deviant act in progress. The House Armed Services Committee needs to do its job and forward a like version of the MARTLAND ACT onto the House Floor to stop one of the great travesties of our time and all of the grief associated with it.

Quick Analysis

Ukraine’s Frozen Conflict

As we approach winter in the northern hemisphere, the war in Ukraine is beginning to resemble a “frozen conflict” from many perspectives. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told the media he hopes the war will end faster once President-elect Trump takes over in January. Opinions in Moscow, however, differ from that of the Ukrainian leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) needs to exclude Ukraine from joining in “exchange” for peace. If it does not, he says, then no end to the war is in sight. So far there is no Christmas solution. Several NATO countries, according to Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation, are tentatively considering “coalitions-of-the-willing” to provide security for Ukraine outside of the formal NATO framework. There is, however, no collective mechanism today under which such an arrangement is viable. According to the NATO Charter, while Ukraine is a NATO partner country, it may not join as a full member since it has not fulfilled the requirements for membership. That has not stopped NATO and allies from continuing “to provide Ukraine with unprecedented levels of support, helping to uphold its fundamental right to self-defence,” according to the organization. Socor says that keeping Ukraine out of NATO will not advance peace with Russia. Waiting for a peace settlement, he suggests, would only serve to encourage Moscow to continue the war indefinitely. Although the Biden Administration officially withdrew its support for Ukrainian membership in 2021, NATO maintains an “open door” policy toward membership-seeking countries. The current White House position led the way for European states to oppose Ukraine’s membership saying that a decision should be delayed until “conditions are met.” Biden pushed for changing “open door” to a “bridge” metaphor. It is not intended as an across-the-board NATO policy and has been implemented in the past on a case-by-case basis, says Socor. “The alliance’s open-door policy was not fully insulated from Russia’s non-statutory blocking power, and NATO-aspirant countries’ path toward membership was not always irreversible.” Russia has successfully blocked states like Georgia from joining, first in 2008 and again after the war in Ukraine began in 2014. Russia recognizes the value add of Ukraine to NATO is enormous and that Kyiv has a better case than some other nations. Putin’s invasion was, in part, intended to foreclose that option. By 2021, Moscow was pushing hard to maximize its war objectives, which included further annexations of Ukrainian territory. A main goal for Putin was, and is, to ensure there is no Ukraine left to join NATO. As President-elect Trump prepares to assume office in January, he is faced with the historical challenges presented by the war. Post-conflict security guarantees were the center of several proposals made during the 2023 military stalemate. The incoming Trump Administration has yet to outline how it intends to handle the Russia-Ukraine war. Analysts in Washington believe that the new Administration will expect its European allies to guarantee the majority of Ukraine’s security needs. As we approach 2025, several European nations have acknowledged that they do not view Ukraine as eligible for NATO membership as it would draw the organization into the middle of the conflict. Others want to wait until the war is over or pending a “peace” settlement before considering Ukrainian membership. Socor reports that some “influential voices” are suggesting that “Kyiv should join NATO after “freezing” the war along a stable armistice line, de facto accepting Ukraine’s partition, with NATO security guarantees applying de jure to the government-controlled territory only.” This would mean starting accession talks soon with the actual talks to commence only after a ceasefire is in place. Trump arrives in Washington at a time when Putin’s hybrid strategies of war in Ukraine have eviscerated commonly-held differences between war and peace. “Absent a political consensus in NATO over Ukrainian membership, certain European allies, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, are holding informal consultations about post-conflict security guarantees to Kyiv by NATO members outside of NATO’s framework,” according to the Jamestown Foundation. The Biden Administration downplayed the discussions on possible forms of military assistance and defense industry cooperation by sending only an Assistant Secretary of State. For a European peace to hold the Trump Administration would need to formally extend the United States’ nuclear deterrence to Ukraine. Options under discussion in Europe include a “coalition of the resolute” to deploy forces to Ukraine as part of a possible armistice package, deterring further Russian attacks, says Secor. European officials are also debating, without any agreement, whether its military forces could perform non-combat logistical roles to free Ukrainian forces to fight. None of the possible courses of action has moved forward as all eyes are waiting on the incoming Trump Administration for clues about its intended level of support for a NATO framework and other non-NATO proposals. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.