Father Of G.I. Who Died Mysteriously In Iraq Speaks Out - Wants Investigation Reopened
By Logan Murphy Thursday Aug 23, 2007 8:00am
Via The Pfc. LaVena Johnson Petition:
Dr. Johnson spoke last Friday at the Veterans for Peace speakout on sexual assault in the military outside the Robert A. Young Federal Building in downtown St. Louis. This was just one of many events and workshops comprising the 22nd annual national convention of VFP. More material relating to the convention will be posted here as soon as I can get to it.
In the video embedded here, Dr. Johnson talks about learning of LaVena's death, his suspicions about how she died, and the family's attempts to get the Army to reopen its investigation. He is introduced by antiwar activist and retired Army colonel Ann Wright. Read more...
Many of you have heard this....LaVena's family firmly believes that she was murdered, but the military is calling her death a suicide and refuses to reopen the case. Read LaVena's story and sign the petition here. Nicole covered this story back in March, but the family still hasn't gotten anywhere so I thought I'd give them more exposure.
We know that George Bush and the military are still covering up the truth about the murder of Pat Tillman and lied about Jessica Lynch's story so why should we trust we're getting the truth about LaVena's death? Either way it's a lose - lose for the family whether she was murdered or not.
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I read awhile back that female soldiers in Iraq carry arms when going to the latrine to protect themselves from the male soldiers.
Be all that you can be!
baby jesus is awake
baby jesus @ 2:
the eight pound baby jesus or the grown up jesus?
Suicided.
Isn't that what it's called when others *cough* suicide *cough* someone?
Bring on the investigation.
Off to sign the petition.
It is well past time to clean house, and I mean a clean sweep. The demodogs we have now are the same breed as the repugs. The people aren't paying attention, so they deserve dishonest government. My condolence to the family.
Bill O'Lielee @ 1:
My young niece was stationed there. Not only do they carry weapons when going to the latrine to protect themselves from the male soldiers, they also sleep with the weapons under their pillows, they NEVER go ANYWHERE without being in a group of at least 3, and they NEVER get over the constant terror of the fear of being attacked by the male soldiers. It's not good over there for the female soldiers. Not good at all.
it very well may have been a suicide, gangrape victims that have no hope of finding justice and are forced to stay in the same circumstances to possibly be raped again may find that a viable solution.
this whole god damned situation reeks.
GB@TheTude @ 6:
So if our male soldiers can't keep their personal gear away from our female soldiers, can you imagine how the local women are being treated. Luckily, the Iraqis don't believe in revenge . . . . no worries.
Why they try and cover up such cases is beyond me. If someone killed her, find out who it was and put them in jail or whatever the military does. Same with Tillman. What good comes from lying and covering up the truth? Who's running this show, some freakin' Public Relations firm?
Look at what happened to the Tillman family. She's not an ex-NFL star, so I wish her family a lot of luck in getting to the truth here.
This is another story I'm sure the recruiters would rather our high schoolers not hear...
The cover-ups regarding Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch doesn't necessarily mean that the Army is covering up the circumstances surrounding LaVena's death. It only means they are more than willing to do so if it assisted them in some way.
Should the Army be trusted? oh hell no. Let's just not slap a guilty verdict on them until after the facts are in.
The military lost some of our trust with the Jessica Lynch story. Once trust is lost in one way, people tend to doubt other activities. It's human nature.
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pissed off patricia @ 9:
Yes.
Trust nothing emerging from the mouth of Bush Co. They've proven themselves to be liars. This is precisely why people are finalling connecting the dots surrounding 911. They're nothing but a bunch of lying frauds.
Anyone who still believes the "official story" about anything that's occurred (Tillman, Plame, Lynch or 911)...I've got some primo swampland in Louisiana I'd like to sell you.
George W. Bush Presidency = One Huge PR Campaign
aka: "propping up a dummy"
edgar @ 5:
What he said.
Just add this outrage to the already too-long list that I already have stopped losing sleep over.
We, the people, have the government that we, the people, deserve.
Well if a public relations firm is running the war, they better throw in the towel because they aren't doing a very good job. I imagine that public relations firm might well have been Karl Rove and as I recall he's in the towel throwing process right now.
"if the government has nothing to hide, why is it trying to hide everything"
pissed off patricia @ 19:
No, kkkarl's new job description is to do everything in his power to win the Democratic nomination for Hillary because PNAC believes she's the only Democrat that cornpone fred has any shot at beating in '08.
You know, part of the issue here in attempting to avoid the political suicide of a draft, the Army has dropped it's recruiting standards to ridiculous levels, ignoring in some cases criminal records, or other history of "defects".....we are basically taking some of our "scumbags" handing them M-16's and shipping them off to an environment where they can do all kinds of harm. That may or may not be the case with Ms. Johnson, but dollars to donuts there is some bad shit happening over there.
In order to prevent this sort of thing, we need an army drawn not from the bottom five percent of our populace, but instead from the general populace. We need the draft NOW.
V V
LaVena was a black woman. This is just another tragic story about a black person that will not get any traction thanks to our compasionate conservative run media.
How many of our young people are joining the military in exchange for the promise of a college education?
For our young women to have to endure not only the war but sexual aggressions from their male counterparts is an obscenely high price to pay for college.
Yes, by all means, this should be investigated -- thoroughly.
This is sick and a shame on our nation.
And the neocons worry about gays degrading the armed services. The out of control male soldiers who attack women are doing a fine job of it all by themselves.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 21:
well, hillary is doing a good job of making herself unelectable. harold ford's message has clearly gotten through to her.
Retired Navy @ 23:
a woman of any color in the services has a snowball's-chance-in_hell of getting a fair response to a grievance in the armed services. west point women are routinely raped and if they report it, then they are subjected to repeated raping. this has been exposed and then swept under the rug.
Justice for LaVena!!!
given the military's recent track record, we all should support re-opening any of these questionable deaths.
Vitam Vas @ 22:
You know...that's s the first thing I thought too, but I put it out of my head as too simple, too pat, but maybe it's an Occam's Razor kind of thing: wasn't I reading about Aryan skinheads being recruited in the Army?
Disheartened...depressed...at a loss for what to do. The evils of what passes for government in this country has me about as low as I can go. Particularly when I think of what's in it for my kids and grandkids. Friends that hate these Repug vermin almost as much as I say that they can't find themselves supporting any of the Demo front runners - for reasons that they probably can't, or won't, really articulate. They say they may not vote at all. The Democratic Party calls, and writes, and emails, incessantly asking for more money and can't seem to understand it when I tell them that unless they stop enabling this bunch in charge, or taking money from and voting with the lobbies (and especially AIPAC) lining their pockets, then they'll get no more money from me.
The only way Dr. Johnson and the rest of LaVena's family will ever know the truth is for the next - Non Republican - administration, backed by a substantial majority in Congress, to vow to get to the bottom of every suspicious 'crime' perpetrated by our people - military and civilian - in these horrid wars. The question should be put to every candidate for every federal office - 'If you are elected, will you pursue justice for the families of the LaVena Johnsons, the Pat Tillmans, and the rest? Will you jail, fine and/or, exile the guilty - from top to bottom? And, finally, will you allow the families of these victims to determine the ultimate form of punishment rendered?' (And I do mean 'rendered', as in rendering them into the hands of the families to beat the ever lovin' shit out of them it they choose.)
Good luck with that.
Vitam Vas @ 22:
gee, maybe lowering the bar and letting a bunch of felons, white supremacists, gang members and uneducated dim wits (who couldn't even earn a GED) into the army wasn't such a good idea after all.
what the fuck did you think was going to happen?!
Sorry, Dad, what happens in the military STAYS in the military. Just ask the Tillman family. The Criminal Republicans WON'T help and the Cowardly Democrats are too scared to help. When you turn your child over to the military you automatically lose all your rights as parents and your child loses all their rights as Americans. Is this a GREAT country of what?
The Wholesale Market Of Taking Human Live Is Wrong
No matter how you look at our involvement in Iraq, the invasion of Iraq have created a killing field that has downgraded the value of human life in Iraq. This is not hard to prove, and this is exampled here, here, here, here, here, and here.
This, the cheep perspective placed on human life, is but one unwanted affect associated with this war. However, this time it backfired. LaVena Johnson's story, after the investigation, will reveal and capture the sad affect of given another human being the right to take the life of another human being.
Have you ever heard the story of animals being put to sleep because they have killed human beings? Having tasted the blood of a human being, the animal now becomes a predator of humans and must be put to sleep or, in some cases, killed on the spot. When the details of Johnson's suspected murder is talked about, I am reminded of how the atmosphere of a killing field can create monsters that would do unspeakable things. You can't go out and blow someone's head off for a living and not have some undesirable side affect associated with that kind of exposure. Add to that, troops being asked to serve in multiple tours of duty, you have a situation in which something is likely to go wrong at some point. It is all just a matter of time.
By no means am I saying create a society unwilling to protect themselves. I am saying don't send someone to kill for the wrong reasons, and expect for those fighting not to see they are fighting for something less then the need to protect our country. Our soldiers are not dump; they can see what is going on. You cannot send them to fight a war for all the wrong reason's and expect them to uphold the highest level of human life associated we being American. In Iraq, we are killing for all the wrong reasons and it is wearing us down.
Joseph
I know a Gold Star mother whose son, she suspects, was murdered. His case was closed by the Army. She went to DC with a group of her colleagues and caused a big ruckus. The outcome is that his case has been re-opened and is being re-investigated. She spoke to John Kerry and several other Dem Senators, who went to bat for her. Even Bob Burr, her Senator from NC intervened on her behalf. He is a notorious rethug nutter, but the facts never warranted an accidental death.
We are only hearing about a very few of these deaths, but according to my friend, there are many. Trying to get them re-opened is the problem. The military doesn't like this nasty publicity for good reason. She never gave up and now, perhaps, she will get the truth of his death at 21 years in Iraq. He was a medic.
Well, that
is probably the "reasoning" behind the Feds reluctance to investigate.
was it harry reid on the radio yesterday air america who referred to elmer fudd lieberman as his "friend". he was being sincere and i nearly choked. if reid and lieberman are friends, that again illustrates why the dems are in trouble again. they don't know their friends from an a..hole in the wall.
really sorry about the above comment. i thought i was posting to the lieberman thread. apologies. ron
Yeah right! Like they'd ever try to find out what happened to a black soldier. The pentagon lies about the deaths of white soldiers. What makes anyone think they'd give a rats ass about an African American soldier. You think Fox will carry the story? We've just recently found out that black people account for 50% of all homicides even though they are only 13% of the population. Never know it by watching Fox as they only carry the deaths of, usually, attractive white women. Never men. Just white women. Then the other two cowardly networks, with the exception of Olbermann and Scarborough, carry the story. Probably thinking people won't be able to tell the difference.
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