Obama to Military: Sexual Assaults Making You Weaker

President addresses Naval Academy commencement
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 24, 2013 1:45 PM CDT
Obama to Military: Sexual Assaults Making You Weaker
President Obama speaks at the commencement ceremony for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., May 24, 2013.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Barack Obama gave the commencement address at the US Naval Academy today, and he used the occasion to talk about the military's issues with sexual assault. The perpetrators of sexual violence "threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong," Obama said, according to USA Today. "We are determined to stop these crimes, because they've got no place in the greatest military on Earth."

Still, Obama was mindful of the occasion; he offered no substantive policy statements on the sexual assault issue, which he's already ordered the Pentagon to look at, and he spent plenty of time lauding the graduates on their accomplishments. "You will lead this country," he said. "And if we want to restore the trust that the American people deserve to have in their institutions, all of us have to do our part." (More US Naval Academy stories.)

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