PFC LaVena Johnson Was Raped, Beaten, Set On Fire And Worse - Army Calls It Suicide
Nicole and I have both written posts about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of PFC LaVena Johnson, and Democracy Now! had a heartbreaking interview with her family last week. LaVena's family has worked hard to find the truth about her death and have finally had a breakthrough in the case. Unfortunately, the new details they uncovered are so disturbing that they could potentially make the Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch stories pale in comparison. The above video from Cenk of The Young Turks captures my exact feelings about this horrific case. What you're about to read will sicken and enrage you.
The Army claims the 5’1” African-American soldier from North County died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with a rifle on July 19, 2005. Her father, John H. Johnson, Ph.D. of Florissant, said color photos and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the military suggest otherwise.
“Our worst fears were substantiated when we started going through information from the Army,” Johnson said.
He said the pictures and documents from the incident proved that his daughter had been brutalized - raped, beaten, shot and set on fire.
"Someone poured lye in her vagina to destroy evidence," her father said. "Her body was dumped in a dirty, filthy contractor's tent. Read on...
This was not a suicide. Contact your representatives in the House and Senate to demand a full scale Congressional investigation begin immediately. This crime and obvious cover up cannot go unpunished.
BREAKING: The House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs is holding a hearing now on Sexual Assault in the Military. You can watch the live stream here.
Dear god...I hope they find the asshole responsible, give him a fair and speedy trial, find him guilty, and then have him drawn and quartered.
Somehow I think Elaine Donnelly will use this as an excuse for why African-Americans should not be in the military, because they are liable to get raped and killed if we subject the military to them.
We have a corrupt government, a corrupt armed forces.
Where can you go for justice?
i don't even know what to say.........something that has bothered me for sometime is soldiers/contractors getting away with criminal acts. this is also of great concern to iraqi people .this doesn't surprise me.....my guess is there is much more of this than is reported.
American Military at its best!
Monkey see monkey do
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17247852/
GI gets 100 years for raping Iraqi girl, murders
Army sergeant admitted partaking in gang rape of Iraqi girl, family’s killing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5253160.stm
Troops 'took turns' to rape Iraqi
Charred and blood-spattered wall inside family home where attack occurred
The case is the latest in a series of scandals for the US army
A US military hearing has examined testimony of how three soldiers took it in turns to try to rape an Iraqi girl aged 14 in Mahmudiya in March.
The girl and three family members were allegedly killed by four US soldiers.
Graphic details of the attack at the family's home came in a sworn statement by one of the accused, James P Barker.
The preliminary hearing will decide whether to court-martial the four. The case is one of a series of atrocities blamed on US forces in Iraq.
Along with Sergeant Paul Cortez, Private Jesse Spielman, and Private Bryan Howard, Specialist Barker is charged with rape and murder.
The four are alleged to have helped a former private - Steven Green, who has since left the army - plan, carry out and cover up the attack. Mr Green has pleaded not guilty in a federal court and will be tried separately in the US.
What...The...F.? This is sickening, just sickening.
Glad to see the MSM doing it's work.
I will be very upset if the asshole(s) responsible aren't summarily executed after a military tribunal.
Alice X - trolling for perfection (Chomsky Nader) - status quObama - change you can pretend in - @ 3:
Nancy Pelosi!
Mind-bogglingly horrific.
Don't they do an autopsy, file a coroner's report (or something?) when a soldier dies in camp?
Everything else should stop until we get an answer to this question: Will the US government do the right thing and pursue the RAPE AND MURDER of LaVena Johnson?
Every reporter should ask nothing but whether this case is being pursued. Barack Obama should be treated the same fucking way. These goddamned mealymouthed politicians need to be confronted with the ugly, barbaric truth of the lawless Bush administration. It's not just Iraq's little brown people who are being murdered and terrorized, it's our own troops.
Someone has to bring this criminal regime to justice. Who will it be?
Widespread @ 10:
WHy would they when it was so clearly a suicide???
/snark
During this hearing Jame Harman was tying to tell these folks the difference between "right and wrong" She told them that 'responsibility starts at the top" Harman needs to take her own advice.
Fiedoglakes Jane Hamsher
Rape Victim’s Death Ruled “Suicide” By Army — Henry Waxman, Where Are You?
http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/28/rape-victims-death-ruled-suicide-by-ar...
Rep Shay just said that the VA reports that 1 in 3 soldiers who are women report being raped in the service
Why the Bush regime is pulling out all the stops to make sure McSame gets elected...or selected...to insure their crimes are covered up. No guarantee Obama will go after these criminals in fact, I wager he won't, but you know McSame won't. This if for no other reason is reason enough for me to vote against McSame. There is a sliver of chance for justice with Obama, zero with McSame.
So a soldier who is trained to kill and maim the innocent, does it to another victim.
Support the troops? What does that mean?
Yeah, I know most of them are good. Yeah right!
Has anyone seen anyone in the MSM cover this? Olberman, Scarborough, Matthews, Katie (Bush employee) Couric?
And at the same time, we have "Christians" turning the military into their own evangelical Stasi. We are told these godly men aspire to command, so that they can lead the fight against evil.
But when it comes to the deaths of people like Pat Tillman, and the rape/murder of PFC Johnson, suddenly these 'godly men' are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.
Still, we musn't give a free pass to the civilian leadership - Bush, Cheney (and his pals at Halliburton/KBR), Rumsfeld, and on down to Gonzales, Mukasey, Ashcroft, and their enablers.
I very rarely find myself in tears over the plight of a total stranger, but this just destroyed me. Any congressperson or senator who doesn't commit to getting to the bottom of this flagrant, revolting crime should be booted out of office for the congressional equivalent of dereliction of duty.
Remember, the terroristsssssss hate us for our freedom. They should really hate the military contractors, then - talk about freedom.
i don't know about you, but i ALWAYS put lye in my vagina and set myself on fire during suicide attempts.
WTF?
how low can we go?
i'm afraid we haven't seen anything yet.
wait till these guys get home.
Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
by Ann Wright
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8564/
The private war of women soldiers
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/07/women_in_military/
Another KBR Rape Case
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080421/houppert
echoman2000 @ 20:
it's the tip of the iceberg
too bad no one of the armed services committees in the House or Senate care about this.
LaVena Johnson petition website
http://www.lavenajohnson.com/
This is war! This is what happens during War. Animal Killers soon to be employeed as state police and government workers.
I am very sorry, makes me cry like a whiner Liberal that I am.
BTW, the St. Louis American is a free paper that serves the local African-American community. They'll go where the P-D won't. That's needed these days.
Well, we recruit these good ole boys and teach them to use violence to solve a problem we were too lazy or cheap to use diplomacy to solve, then enculterate them to believe that they are infallible and in some cases working God's Will, and oddly enough the lesser among them get a complex and start thinking they can use violence to get whatever they want because God wants them to and the Government will let them get away with it.
Ergo, this.
LockeNessMonster @ 19:
Also remember that the reich-wing have been telling us for years that the troops are conservative and republican.
Kathleen @ 22:
Holy shit...that's fuckin scary shit...
why the army would want to protect rapists, mutilators and murderers, and keep them in the ranks is hard to comprehend and should give anyone doubts on wanting to serve in that type of environment.
the US army is supposed to protect america, not rapists--someone should tell that to the army
This is EXACTLY why we shouldn't allow heterosexuals in the military.
i hope the v.a. healthcare system is prepared for when these soldiers come back to the states. some haven't graduated from high school and they have no job waiting
for them. when they come home we 're going to find out
the war is far from over.
How is it that the family didn't get access to her remains? How the hell was that arranged? I was a medic in the service back in the '70s. When soldiers died stateside OR overseas if it was at all possible the families were always allowed to get the bodies of their loved ones back so they could arrange whatever services and disposition of the body they desired.
WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?? THIS IS A SICK, TWISTED, FREAK SHOW AND IT MUST STOP!!
I know understand how the German people allowed the holocaust to happen. Because we are allowing the same type of things to happen in this country. Our government is torturing people, and Congress does nothing. I have yet to read one letter in my local paper decrying what we are doing to detainees. Bush said in one of his state of the union speeches, that we no longer have to worry about 2300 "terrorists'. They won't be bothering us anymore. So in other words, they'd been killed. How many of these "terrorists" were actually guilty? How many were innocent? We'll never know. I remember Congress cheering and clapping after Bush made that announcement. When Obama has legal advisors that say only "egregious" crimes committed by the president should be prosecuted. It shows you how far down the road of fascism and tyranny we have come.
“I told my wife I could let it go, but someone would get away with murder and I couldn’t live with myself.”
which begs the question.... how many other instances similar to this have happened that have not rec'd coverage, that were "let go"?
The more days that go by, the more I'm convinced that there is no justice in the U.S. and never will be. The things that these terrible people are getting away with these days are unspeakable - and in the U.S. no less. Absolutely insane. How horrific.
This story is too horrible to read. I suspect she was gang-raped and murdered.
The Justice Department needs to remove the responsibility for the military's "self-investigations" and assign them to "special investigations" with all powers of discovery included. THEN every single suicide occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan should be reviewed with an eye toward finding the truth. Finally, those up the chain of command that had reason to know what actually happened need to be court-martialled.
I'm sure Bush is proud of his heroic soldiers...
Makes me sick....
Rep. Harman: “Women serving in the US military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq. The scope of the problem was brought into acute focus for me during a visit to the West Los Angeles VA Health Center where I met female veterans and their doctors. My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41% of the female veterans seen there say there were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military, and 29% said they were raped during their military service.”
Rapist are now biggers then the terrorists
Even if, by some freaking miracle, they manage to force the military to deal with this case and I doubt that will happen, it won't stop it from happening again. Nor will it put an end to the cover ups that follow.
Look at Tilman. He was murdered for his opinion and they covered it up so they could use him as their poster boy. Disgusting.
What honor is there in this military?
liberaMcSuuuurgeNmoderation @ 29:
Scarier when you consider these people often go into law enforcement after military service.
@ 24 ,
Thaks for posting that link , signed it before I finnished reading the other posting .
We are all the ugly americans , if we do nothing about the actions of thoses serving on behalf of our goverment . Outfits like blackwater should be tried and made to be accountable for any and all of their actions .
I do not understand how some people ( giving that word a lot of room ) can live with themselfs , they should be chased to the gates of hell .
To quote Kurtz:
"The Horror".
200.000 contractors, no police, a clear message that there is no police, and we want nothing to do with investigations. Add in that there is a hands off on designating what law applies, it's surprising they aren't worse. It is simply another badge of disgrace on the extended government, including the five hundred thirty five jellyfish on the hill.
Special mention for Condi Rice for her practiced indifference to the large amount of rapes that didn't get investigated by her staff.
It's so sad that now its not just about women soldiers getting killed in Iraq because of this war
They have to start getting worried of being assulted buy their own comrads
Back in the old days fellow soldiers would have taken care of these kids of rapist. Where was her commander? Shame on this administration.
Minstrel @ 31:
Funny :)
Seth Cohen @ 36:
The US has been a sham for a long time, and it's people have been living in the lie and defending it to the hilt, hence why this happens and the rest of the world tries to tell you lot what is going on we get accused of being "jealous" or "liberal lunatics" etc.
The US is rotten from the core out, just accept it, then deal with it, you're not special at all, you're most of the problem in the world at the moment.
Alice X - trolling for perfection (Chomsky Nader) - status quObama - change you can pretend in - @ 3:
Guns & bibles ........
danger hussein al-malak choom al-khadra @ 8:
Will never happen, that would be hating the troops.........
Spock @ 5:
Very true, the international reputation of the US troops amongst the rest of the armed forces of the world is much a joke as well, just kids with big toys and little or no professionalism. "We're the best ra ra ra #1" Typical american bull shit is the only defence you ever get.
This goes on all the time :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6152118.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5162976.stm
The Chicago Reader had a devastating story, "Murder on the Base?" exploring other incidents of supposed suicide among female soldiers that were actually murders and rape coverups. Johnson is mentioned in it as well as several others.
Southern Yankee @ 45:
Looking the other way, much the same as the US people have been as their constitution and country has been raped and pillaged.
this reminds me of the KBR employee jamie leigh jones
who was ganged raped....and how the crooked DOJ didn't
come forward....companies like KBR and haliburton had employees sign forms where they couldn't prosecute. i believe her situation ended in secret negotiations for a settlement.........just more of the secrecy of this adminstration
Back in the old days fellow soldiers would have taken care of these kinds of rapist. Where was her commander? Shame on this administration.
Thanks for the link. I signed the petition. I also called my congressman, Tom Allen's office and asked for his attention and asked for justice for this poor girl.
This is a sick world we live in.
That's the value of human life in an army. I won't say otherwise, it would be a lie. People need to understand it every time they wave their little flags around, what that means, what's happening to other people because of it.
Let my congressman know? Trent Franks, former Halliburton employee and former head of AZ Focus on the Family will be sure to help cover it up. Besides, he's too busy trying to change rules for military chaplains; he wants ALL PRAYERS to end "IN JESUS NAME" whether said by a cree-yist-yin or a Rabbi. Gotta address the IMPORTANT stuff, ya know.....
All the more reason to vote every republican out of office. Any one even slightly connected to W should be investigated. The shame this group has brought on American is beyond believing. And where is the outrage and coverage from the MSM? Human life has become pathetically cheap under this administration. Sickening!
This is just so sad and sickening...I can't imagine what her poor family must be going through...I'd be screaming for someones head on a pike.
Nada @ 40:
Even scarier when you consider there's a huge signing bonus for most new contractors that have prior military service. Oh wait, this most likely was a contractor that is ex-military.
Ok, people, RAPE IS NOTHING NEW. I’m relieved that Ms. Johnson’s family isn’t letting this go, but to act as if this is something new is insincere at best. Women in the military have had to deal with it since women have been serving. It’s nothing new for non-military women, either. Feminists and women’s rights groups have been very vocal about this for a long time and no one would listen. Well, are you listening now? How many more women must suffer and/or die at the hands of a rapist before we start holding the rapists responsible?
Rapists are rarely convicted in this country (or anywhere, really). We treat the victims of sex crimes as if they are the criminal. We interrogate them, accuse them of lying, drag their names through the mud, bring up every past sexual encounter they’ve had, etc. We put sex crime victims through more than the victims of any other crime. On the other hand, the sex crime perpetrators are rarely convicted and even more rarely serve an appropriate amount of time for their heinous acts. The only reason this is different is that Ms. Johnson died as a result of her attack and it was covered up. If her family wasn’t (rightfully) so vocal about it, she’d just be another women whose rapist - and, murder, in this case - got away and you would have never heard about her.
Until our attitudes about rape and sexual assault change, rapists will continue to rape and get away with it. I suggest people GET EDUCATED about rape and sexual assault in this country and then start doing something help change our rape culture instead of disingenuously talking about how “shocking” it is.
So all the deaths and injuries at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib were just sports injuries?
So much for the army's duty of care - if that's how they treat their own there's little hope for Iraqi civilians.
My heart goes out to Miss LaVena Johnson's family and friends.
It is clear that Obama and McCain would NEVER do anything about this. But why isn't the precious Democrats in Congress doing anything NOW.
When are you going to realize it is not Republican vs Democrat, Liberal vs Conservative, IT IS ELITES vs all of us common people.
The Iraq war was a lie, costing so much, but who is really doing anything to stop it.
The Bush administration broke numerous laws and committed more high crimes and misdemeanors that any admin in history, but who is really doing anything to impeach them.
The government is spending money and the federal reserve is printing money like there is no tomorrow, but who is doing anything to stop it.
Before you waste your vote on Obama, make sure he does something NOW about the REAL issues. Ron Paul, Kucinich and even Bob Barr are infinitely better than McCain and Obama. Wake up!
[Deleted. Advocating violence, even state sanctioned violence, is not allowed here-Sitemonitor]
"So all the deaths and injuries at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib were just sports injuries?"
Suicides. They were suicides...
Nada @ 40:
While not all American Troops act this way, the GOP won't stop until U.S. Soldiers, and Blackwater, are the new Nazi Stormtroopers.
Some of them are already there.
I wouldn't be surprised if we uncover a LOT of sickening things when we get a new president. We will find out about horrors.
That's yet ANOTHER reason why the GOP doesn't want a liberal president who isn't bought and sold. They're afraid that people will find out the whole story about them.
Our country is being run by sadistic madmen. Sooner or later, they will turn their hatred on their own people. I seem to recall Fox and other NeoCon pundits calling for the murder, torture, lynchings and imprisonment of liberals. The recent shooting is just the tip of the iceberg. Let's not even start on the rampant racism among the right wing talking heads. They are classic purveyors of hate. There's always a market for that among the mentally ill.
Police are already starting to brutalize and silence people. More and more of them seem to be thugs. Then we have government watch lists, Secret prisons and torture. How can there be people supporting this? Just how far will people sink?
NEVER... EVER... under ANY circumstance allow your child to sign on to the military. The military complex has been given a blind pass for so long that they have actually become a threat to the security of our own nation in many respects. Like a giant friend who constantly gets you into fights and creates enemies that want to harm you by doing so.
This is barbarism. No First World army should behave this way. What has become of us?
"It's All Good In The Bad Lands Of Iraq"
We have all heard the stories of the billions of dollars missing in Iraq. It has been covered since the start of this war. Some stories have come from journalist within the US and then there are stories originating from outside of the US. There were attempts to place a gag order some of the investigations but not all fell under that order.
Stealing money was not the only crime associated with this war. There has been cases in which whole tanks could not be accounted for. I bet most never heard about that on the evening news. The missing tank story fit into the strong sense of paranoia our current president was trying to take over this country by force. He would use Blackwater for his army, stolen and unaccounted for money for his funding, tanks and other lost or stolen weapons to arm his army. My fear has never left me. Whatever the case, someone in Iraq has been busy.
Black water has been the subject for questionable killings. I have took the time to link you to this these incidents here, here and hear.
It has been a true "Free for all thieves and murderers," including our president of course. No laws means no accountability. "Come to Iraq and get rich and have all the target practice you want on real people." We have truly made a mess of things in Iraq. The next time someone makes the claim we have did the Iraqi people a big favor you need to tell them this war has did nothing for the Iraqi people. We have been too busy stealing our nation's treasure and killing innocent Iraqis.
Joseph
Do you think Cass Sunstein would say this is another of those crimes we should overlook, "going forward"?
I'm getting to the point where I absolutely despise that stinkin' phrase.
Cenk is right, if there's no justice, we have no country.
..
sm@60, please do not lump Kucinich in with Ron Paul (neo-confederate white supremecist free trade dereg advocate) and Bob Barr ( Homophobic "Protect Marriage Amendment" dereg advocate). Kucinich is a representative of ALL people and, as mayor of Cleveland, proved that he will take on corrupt corporations.
Unfortunately, I think that you are right about the dems/repubs/elites. I'll vote for Obama, fully expecting to be disappointed.
I do not know of any solutions other than getting everybody to boycott nearly everything and collapse the economy.
Or armed revolution, and people are not in enough misery to do that yet.
Some of these Iraq occupation vets will be cops.
What a great idea.
Ahnold just signed an order to cut jobs and lower their pay to the fed. min. wage for State employees in Cali.
Lets do that in Washington.
Brilliant.
If I were the grieving father of this soldier, I would publish the photos of her mutilated, burned body on the internet, and ask everyone who looked at them to contact their representatives and demand a formal investigation of her death and the apparent coverup that followed.
no, cenk, this isn't kazakhstan . . . this is the united states of america, the country that kills hundreds of thousands of iraqis so that our corporations can steal their oil
no justice here, and no respect for life . . . just rapers, murders and pillagers preying upon innocents
Wait till these guys come hone and become police officers. expect to see a substanital rise in shootings, beatings, and vicious attacks on peaceful demonstrations like happened in LA and at the republican convention in New York City
Samson- @ 35:
the things that were done to pfc lavenna's body were not done by a first timer . . . the perp is almost certainly a serial rapist, and very likely, a serial murderer . . . he is loose among our military and the innocent civilians of iraq, and some day, he will be back on u.s. soil, where he will prey upon our wives, mothers and daughters
I agree with annoyed Canuck @ 69.
So many people need to be held to account for this but it won't happen.
The whole thing makes me wish I had a $1 billion budget to put commercials on TV encouraging our women to join the forces and get raped and thrown in a storage container so the State department might have to come rescue them from our contractors (Jamie Lee Jones case).
Another day ashamed of my country. So many of them lately.
Let me remind one you more thing. Whoever the person that did it, they're being paid by our taxdollars, one way or another.
Digusting is too light of a word for this.
Good1 @ 25:
"This is what happens during war." Well said. It is instructive to recall what others have said on this topic.
"Everything in war is barbaric... But the worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts which individually they would revolt with their whole being."
-Ellen Kay [1849-1926] Swedish feminist writer
"I do not recollect in all the animal kingdom a single species but man which is eternally and systematically engaged in the destruction of its species."
-Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826] American president
"War is not healthy for children and other living things."
-Lorraine Schneider [1925-1973] American artist and activist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppq_mPtEucg&feature=related
Erroll @ 74:
"War! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothin', say it again!"
Edwin Starr. Bad ass rocknroll dude from the 60-70's
Erroll @ 74:
but georgie says war is romantic
The main problem is that the MSM is probably doing what it can to squash this story. There is absolutely no mention of it anywhere other than in independent sources. Who can one turn to? Keith Olbermann? Bill Moyers? the BBC? How do you go about getting the story on their desks?
Nobody is touching this, except for what looks like a newspaper in New Zealand. This is very sad.
Justice for this family please. This cannot be a forgotten story. My heart has broken for this young woman and her family.
liberaMcSuuuurgeNmoderation @ 1:
...I'd like to add.
Please have the person drawn and quartered SLOWLY, like this women was burned !!!
This kinda crap....it's sick
We have had many murders of soldiers by soldiers. Ms. Johnson is believed to have raped herself, beat herself up, crush her face and then drag herself to another place and put gas on herself and then put herself on fire. Now don't forget Pat Tillman killed himself by long distance. Yes another soldier killed herself first then moved her body to another place.
Look there a most likely more murders we don't know about yet. Now the question is can those with the answers live with the secret. At lease we know God knows the answers.
sm @ 60:
I can't imagine
dcblogger @ 82:
Where do you get the idea that Obama wouldn't do anything about this behavior? Go be a troll somewhere else. A poor girl is dead. Horribly, irrevocably dead. Yet here you are standing on her corpse and spouting lies for your paymasters.
I can't even begin to wonder how sick you must be.
Numinous @86: I don't necessarily think that sm@60 is a troll. What would Obama do, seriously? I have yet to see any Democrat in Congress do anything about these severe injustices - like the gang rape by KBR employees of an American contractor, etc. I'm an Obama supporter but not nearly as optimistic as you apparently are about Democrats' willingness to bring justice to these atrocities.
Why would the US military cover it up?
At least 1 in 7 female soldiers that have returned from Iraq/Afghanistan have been sexually assaulted/harrassed, that's why.
Sorry, I meant the above post to be for Numinous@83
How long do you think it takes for draft to be mandatory for people under certain wealth level if war crazy leadership continues?
Welcome to Capitalism. So many preach the rewards, but when you have bastard companies like Halliburton and KBR in the middle of a war zone, expect them to act like the primates they really are.
Since the neocons are against women serving in uniform, they must want the rapes to continue to show the public that they are right.
We have met the enemy and he is us!
Or if you prefer from Casablanca - Captain Louis Renault explains: "I'm just writing the report now. We haven't quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape."
There is no oversight of the military contractors in Iraq - hey what could go wrong?
Good1 @ 25:
And we wonder why we see all these stories of Police brutality, are ex forces personal are keenly sought after by LE ?,
or they are the only ones dumb enough to do the job, or its a case they fully intended enjoy the power and corruption when they go into LE.
justabill @ 86:
There was a report a few years ago, how the female soldiers were too afraid to leave their tents after dark to go to the latrines on certain US bases.
I'm tired of bringing this up, we are living in a fascist regime where there is no law and there are no consequences for those in power. Time after time, case after case there is no justice for the victims. These people do what they want, when they want to, because they can. And you sit there and do nothing. You sicken me America. You make me embarrassed to be an American. This country has gone to shit. The government is a glorified banana republic and we are all guilty of supporting the war crimes of this President.
Never mind. Go back to eating your Swansan's Hungry Man Dinner in front of Dancing With the Stars. You people deserve the hell we live in.
Viktor @ 91:
Well done, it is the american way don't you know .......
At least CNN is mentioning something now :
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/31/military.sexabuse/index.html
JustSickOfIt @ 94:
I wish it weren't true, though it is, and wishing never helped, only action.
DevilInKhaki @ 88:
The day you invade Iran and all the US media is touting it as the best thing since sliced bread and McCain wins by 51%....
This kind of story really shows that Obama is not much more then a last ditch effort to save America herself. Republicans have shit all over this country and our laws and now we are on the brink of becoming nothing more then another shithole country that isn't safe to live in.
Kind of like Bush's buddy's land Saudi Arabia.
I'm glad that someone else besides Waveflux and I have been writing about this.
Dahgrostab'ph-r-i @ 98:
Saudi Arabia is quite nice in places, and at least the people are educated. The US is the epitome of "a shithole" country right now, and there are many places the world over that are far better than it on many levels.
It's the US's polarisation, gross ignorance and desire to fight that is finally turning in on itself and is now self-consuming, just a matter of time now.
Does anyone know if there are any vigils, protests ect going on about this. I work across from the federal building in Seattle and am willing to help bring attention to this issue by staging a protest there. If a crowd builds the news would probably show up and regardless of how trite the are they get attention.
If anyone in Seattle is interested please respond and we can set date, time, ect.
Curtis
Southern Yankee Says: Back in the old days fellow soldiers would have taken care of these kids of rapist.
While I can easily believe it was one of her fellow soldiers who raped and murdered her, maybe it was contractor who did it. She WAS found in a contractors tent and what soldier has access to lye as a general rule? If it was a contractor the bad news is they are untouchable and will not be called to account for their crimes - you can thank this administration for that.
As for the current crop of soldiers we are getting... maybe lowering the standards and accepting criminals into the ranks was NOT the best idea? Training sociopaths in military techniques - BRILLIANT!
Welcome to bush's military.
gregg at 102, the statistics say 1 in 3 military women will be sexually assualted. Last time I checked that worse then 1 in 4. You may want to check your facts before making bogus arguments.
Is not a person who so viciously attacks a fellow soldier a traitor? Aiding and abetting the enemy? If a mercenary, a rogue enemy combatant? What would it serve to cover up these attacks on our soldiers, other than to demoralize and erode our military from within and provide safe haven for those who conspire to attack our troops?
CNN is reporting that the Defense Department is currently not cooperating in investigations of attacks on our soldiers (1). What the hell is going on and who are they protecting?
"But when it came time for the military to defend itself, the panel was told that the Pentagon's top official on sexual abuse, Dr. Kaye Whitley, was ordered not to show up despite a subpoena.
"I don't know what you're trying to cover up here, but we're not going to allow it," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said to the Defense official who relayed the news of Whitley's no-show. "This is unacceptable.""
A stern letter is surely being formulated as I write.
"Even one sexual assault violates the very essence of what it means to be a soldier, and it's a betrayal of the Army's core values," Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle said.
Sounds more like an attack on the US military to me, Lt. Gen. One would think that would represent a serious threat to our national security. If they allow such contractors and soldiers to rape and/or murder US soldiers without consequence, what else are these enemies of the state able to get away with and on who's orders?
(1) http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/31/military.sexabuse/index.html
Good1 @ 25:
More like the direct result of lowered standards for recruitment allowing idiots and criminals in to keep up with quotas. Bush's army of Dumb and dumber in a game of "How low can we go!"
Wow. How much lower can they go?
Don't support the death penalty, but cases like this make me think twice about that belief.
Bush and his cronies have set American troops up with orders to commit these atrocities for the specific purpose of putting them in the frame of mind where this is commonplace and "acceptable". Most of these acts you'll find were committed under orders from those in charge at the time. They are literally conditioning these men into monsters.
They did this for a specific purpose - which was to ensure that the troops will follow orders no matter what - they just didn't count on the fact that the majority of the soldiers they've either done this to or whom have witnessed it, have not been mentally able to handle it - why do you think there are so many coming home with PTSD? They know damn well what is going on over there - which is why they are preventing anyone in the media here from reporting on it - go to the international sites if you really want to know what is going on.
I hope to god that the family of this woman pursues this - along with the rest of us - Congress damn well better do something soon - this has gone on long enough and if we - the public = can get the true information on what is happening they should exercise a little effort and make it their business to find out!
Inexcusable - just another affect of Bush's regime. I hope to God that someone soon has the backbone to hold this man and all the others in his admin accountable for the atrocities they've committed and still commit. Truly, when i hear him talk about keeping america safe now, it literally makes my stomach turn - who is going to keep us safe from our own government - particularly while he's in charge?
Between destroying us and our military emotionally and mentally, destroying us by ensuring a disintegrating economy so were financially suffering, slowly eroding away our civil liberties and is many cases, freedom, what's next?
LaVena Johnson (In Memorial)
Just when you think you’ve heard it all,
Another name is slammed into a brick wall,
LaVena Johnson an Army Private First Class,
Is she the first? Certainly this PFC isn’t the last.
Is it any wonder Osama Bin Laden can’t be found?
With a criminal loose in our camp running around,
Destroying evidence, burning bodies, again & again,
Calling themselves soldiers, claiming they are men.
What a shame when the real enemy is on the same side,
Behind the color of camaraderie these cowards hide,
Punched in the face, loose teeth, she was only 5 feet 1,
The Army claims its suicide, that’s all, over and done.
How many before shooting themselves bust their own lip,
Severe enough to the point it needs more than one stitch,
Surprisingly they didn’t say she tried to saw herself in half,
Which lie would be easier to swallow? You do the math.
So, how did that chemical burn get on her private parts?
Oh yeah, maybe a tattoo, some kind of new wave art,
Why would someone waste time getting rid of DNA?
Just maybe without detection they’re free to get away.
The U.S. Army actually tried lying, hooray for her dad,
He gave that crap the smell test and oh did it smell bad,
7/19/05 her dead body found in a contractor’s tent, HBR,
Broken nose, black eye, shot in the head and body scars.
Military personnel or civilians aren’t we on the same side?
Who is the American Government protecting, why that lie?
Had to be someone with pull to get her alone, you’d think,
I don’t have to be standing next to skunk to know it stinks.
Where’s Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the infamous NAACP?
She could not have been more violated, do you not agree?
A 19-year-old honor student should be shown more respect,
But, this is how she’s being treated. Hey! What the heck?
Can’t call it racial because all women are treated the same,
Even academies and bases in the states there is this claim,
We are truly near the end of days soon God will work it out,
Vengeance will certainly be more than a punch in the mouth.
The Uniform Code Of Military Justice aka the U.C.M.J.,
But, where is this promise for LaVena, her assailant got away,
Judging by the condition of her remains, she put up a fight,
Now John and Linda Johnson are paving the road to right.
Funny thing though, seems they have a roadblock in Iraq,
It’s from the U.S. Army, who supposedly has their back,
The saying, “with friends like these who needs enemies?”
Guess the Army thinks first the perpetrator said, “please?”
Here's a little something to me that is simply down right scary,
The hole in her head was from a pistol, which she did not carry,
Oh yeah, if you think that's something how does this fact sound?
The fatal bullet that went through her head was never even found.
If there ever was this kind of incompetence in World War II,
Adolph Hitler or his off spring would be telling us what to do,
Oops, I don't mean us because there'd be no Blacks or Jews,
And only if the Furor liked Mexican food maybe a Hispanic or 2.
Whomever, wherever, whatever, an injustice did occur,
We can’t make it right for others without justice for her,
Hey, White House, the most powerful office in the world,
Do you have the gonads to speak out for this Johnson girl?
A petition was signed that is over twelve thousand strong,
The Army closed the case anyway saying nothing’s wrong,
Nothing like U.S. Intelligence, it’s the reason for the attack,
If they hadn’t been storing WMD’s we wouldn’t be in Iraq.
Poems By Luke Easter
No American should be excused of this horrendous crime. As a white person, I am so ashamed. I fear that there are still many sick racists out there who will even try to assassinate Obama who is trying to make things better. I can't even imagine why racism is still strong especially in the south.
YouCantHandleDaTruth @ 81:
Abolutely...really slow....
This is just the worst of the worst...it makes me just want to fuckin scream...what kind of person is....or people are capable of something like this...
slippy hussein toad @ 27:
Oh give me a fucking break. Yeah, it's Bush's foreign policy that produced these rapists and murderers. This just in, George Bush caused the California earthquake and it's his fault I'm hungry right now too.
No it's not Bush's foreign policy that produced these culprits. It was his foreign policy that gathered them, placed them there, and subjected/acculturated many of them into becoming the kind of monsters capable of doing this kind of shit. 4000+ dead soldiers is just the tip of the iceberg of problems wrought by Bush's foreign policy. We're now staring at a whole swack of stop-lossed 'volunteers' who've been subjected to horrendous experiences, with hardly any support to make sense of what they have endured. George W might not have caused the California earth quake nor your hunger, but the blood and denigrated body of LaVena, her family and hundreds like them... I place on the hands of Bush and everyone in his administration that pushed this invasion of Iraq, and made it all possible.
Please, lets teach them a lesson this fall.
Cenk and Rachel Maddow are the best we've got. His righteous anger is a wonder to behold.
It was his foreign policy that gathered them, placed them there, and subjected/acculturated many of them into becoming the kind of monsters capable of doing this kind of shit.
It was his policy that devastated our military to the point that they lowered the admissions standards to include psychopaths. We were warned that this would happen.
So add this to the 14 year old Iraqi girl who was raped and killed along with her family, Jamie Leigh Jones and the supposed dozens of other female Iraqi contractors, and the alleged rapes of children in Abu Ghraib and you have to ask yourself how this sickness could permeate what was once the most disciplined, most humane military in the world (from the time of George Washington to WWII).
And they're worried about gays in the military. How about worrying about sexual criminals in the military?
Oh give me a fucking break. Yeah, it’s Bush’s foreign policy that produced these rapists and murderers. This just in, George Bush caused the California earthquake and it’s his fault I’m hungry right now too.
Well, has the Bush administration been front and center looking for justice for the many, many victims of rape and murder at the hands of our troops and military contractors?
And when in all of U.S. history has our military been accused of so much depravity with so much apparent factual basis?
This shit starts at the top and trickles down.
This is just one example of what "we" have become. With Congress not doing its job (I don't care if Republican or Democrat), it allowed unbridled power to grow, and now we can't contain it. Too late.
As far as Obama is concerned, he already demontrated that he won't stand for anything, sadly he is just another political figure. McCain, well, need I say more?
Unfortunately, I don't think anywhere else is anybetter.
AtroBean @ 106:
who are they protecting ! why Haliburton, KBR, Blackwater et al.
profits and corporate image at all costs, damn the peons who make up the workforce.
JB @ 116:
ever considered that 'gays' in the military might socialize, civilize and clean up the civic morals of the team.
Its time for America to wake up about what their government and military is doing.
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