black…MYstory

In February 2007, I first posted an article about the death of LaVena Johnson.  She had been dead for over a year and a half and I don’t remember reading any newspapers or seeing any television news reporters speaking about the highly suspicious circumstances of her demise.  In fact, had I not stumbled upon an article on AlterNet, I don’t know if I’d have ever coming across her story.

Since that time, with the exceptions of blogs and the media in LaVena Johnson’s hometown, there has not been much coverage of her story.

For those that are not up to speed on this story, LaVena Johnson was found dead of a gunshot wound in her tent, near Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005.  The Army ruled her death a suicide, claiming that the Pfc. Johnson shot herself with her own M-16.  From the beginning, her father, Dr. John Johnson, saw huge inconcistencies in the Army’s official story, including the fact that there was a blood trail leading to her tent, she had loose teeth and a broken nose, she had burns on her body (it was later revealed that it appeared that someone had poured a chemical, likely lye, into her vaginal area) but, her body was fully clothed when she was found.  Additionally, residue tests point to the likelihood that she didn’t even handle the weapon that she was supposed to have used to shoot herself.

So, like the story of Pat Tillman, we had another story of a soldier dying, likely at the hands of another soldier (or soldiers) and the official story tries to point away from the evidence.

Sadly, it seems that, at least until now, the Army has kept a tight lid on the story and the mainstream media has largely ignored it.

I am not the only person lamenting this fact.  Linda Lowen, of the About.com Guide to Women’s Issues, blogs about the travesty that is this lack of coverage.

As I have noted, she discusses how it is basically the bloggers keeping this story alive and how the group colorofchange.org that is pushing, along with the family of Pfc. Johnson, to have Congress investigate her death.

It is a shame that, for all the talk of love and concern that we have for our troops, we continue to allow this young woman to have her memory desecrated because the truth is not politically favorable.

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After reading and hearing more about the mysterious death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson, my mind was spinning at the thoughts of the type of brutality she must have suffered at the hands of her attacker(s).  More disturbing was the fact that it could have been a fellow soldier or soldiers that did this to her.

What the LaVena Johnson case seems to shed light on is an ugly truth about the military — sexual assaults of female military personnel are wildly prevalent.

Recently, doctors for a Veterans Affairs hospital in the Los Angeles area testified in front of Congress that some 41% of female veterans seen there said they had been victims of sexual assault while in the military.

A recent study by the Government Accountability Office may put that number even higher, across the board.

“At the 14 installations where GAO administered its survey, 103 service members indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12 months. Of these, 52 service members indicated that they did not report the sexual assault.”

In looking at the numbers, Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, stated it most profoundly:

“Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.”

Women soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are expected to risk life and limb in service to their country.  However, these threats should not be coming from fellow military personnel.

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Last year, I shared a couple of articles regarding the highly-suspicious death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson (see here and here).  Pfc. Johnson’s died on July 19, 2005 near Balad, Iraq, just a few days shy of her 20th birthday.  The Army ruled her death a suicide but, there were just too many inconsistencies for the official line to hold true.  From what LaVena’s father, Dr. John Johnson, saw, he had strong evidence to believe that his daughter was raped and murdered.  Last year, Dr. Johnson discussed how his daughter’s body showed signs of a struggle, including loose teeth and what appeared to be indications that someone had tried to set her body on fire.  Additionally, in the report on her death, it noted a blood trail outside of the tent where her body was found (though the Army claims she shot herself in the head) and residue tests indicating that she may not have even handled the weapon that killed her.

After diligently fighting for the truth and enlisting the help of certain concerned politicians and activists, the Johnson Family now has even more cause to believe that their daughter was indeed murdered.

After some questions about Pfc. Johnson’s death were raised by Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay at a hearing regarding Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch, Army investigators were embarrassed into relinquishing a CD-rom of the photos they took during their investigation.  From what Dr. Johnson says, he daughter’s death appears more disturbing than originally believed.

According to Dr. Johnson, documents and photos show that LaVena’s body had signs of bruising, a broken nose, burned hands and someone had poured lye into her vagina (presumably to destroy evidence of rape).

Furthermore, the medical examiners noted a bullet lodged in the front of her head, above her left eye.  They cited this as an “exit wound”, calling into question how she could have shot herself in that way with a rifle.

The story goes on to raise more question:

Photos taken of PFC Johnson where her body was found and at autopsy were examined by the American. Although the body was fully clothed and on its back at the scene, nude images taken at autopsy show burns to the right side of the body and lividity (the pooling of blood inside the body after death) on her left side.

The victim’s nose appeared to be broken and pushed inward to the left side. There was an imprint that appeared to be a bullet lodged in the front of her head above her left eye, on the side of what was described by medical examiners as an exit wound.

A copy of a sketch in an official investigative document her father received from the Army, titled “Rough Sketch Depicting Crime Scene,” raises questions about how Johnson could have shot herself with her own rifle, when, as outlined in the sketch, a cot is located neatly between the body and her weapon.

It was obvious from early on that the official story given by the Army was thin, to say the least. Now, we see that, in addition to the story on Pat Tillman’s death, the Army has apparently again lied to cover up a suspicious death.  I certainly do no like comparing deaths but, from what I see, LaVena Johnson suffered a brutal death, very likely at the hands of another American.

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