CAUTION ON MILITARY SEX CHARGES

Charges of sexual abuse and harassment at various military posts around the country fanned a good deal of public outrage, as well it should if the allegations are true. In some cases, the accused already have pleaded guilty. But in a case against a sergeant at Fort Leonard Wood this week, a judge ruled the evidence from a female trainee wasn't sufficient to find the sergeant guilty.

While justice should be swift in those cases where guilty pleas are obtained or where the evidence results in a conviction, there remains a specter that female soldiers might use allegations of sexual misconduct as a weapon against men in positions of authority.

Just as charges of child abuse often are used inappropriately in civil domestic-law cases, there has to be some caution that sex isn't used to ruin the careers of innocent men in the military.