Female soldier brutally killed/raped by US soldiers. Army said "suicide"

[L. Coyote]

Run time: 10:41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di6bKFNGGxg   Posted on YouTube: July 24, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 25, 2008 By DU Member: L. Coyote Views on DU: 1692

 
PART II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27d71wzg-h4

PART III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3hvOwbWrBc

July 25, 2008
Suicide or Murder? Three Years After the Death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson in Iraq, Her Parents Continue Their Call for a Congressional Investigation

Three years ago, on July 19, 2005, Army Private First Class LaVena Johnson was found dead in Balad, Iraq. Her body was found in a tent belonging to the private military contractor KBR. She had abrasions all over her body, a broken nose, a black eye, burned hands, loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals, and a bullet hole in her head. The Army labeled Johnson's death a suicide. But her parents never believed that story. They think she was raped and murdered and are now demanding a full congressional investigation into their daughter's death.

[Lint Head]

1. KBR, Blackwater, Haliburton all corporate fascists.

:dem:

[BlooInBloo]

2. Our people do it even to our side. Fuckers.

[Ilsa]

3. I hope this family can find some justice.

It scares me to think of how these torturers and murderers are allowed to run free.

[L. Coyote]

5. Time for a war crimes tribunal, it seems, starting with Bush's and Cheney's lies.

Oh yeah, that begins at 10 AM, tomorrow!!

[uppityperson]

4. k&r. Suicide? WTF? Here are some articles. damn

Acid burns were to destroy DNA?

http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2008/06/04/news/local_news/localnews03.txt
"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."


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10518131&pnum=0
"Private LaVena Johnson's nose was broken, teeth were loose, one eye was concave and there were abrasions over her body. The supposed M-16 hole to the head was far too small for the revolver-sized exit wound, and was on the wrong side of her skull for a right-handed woman to have pulled the trigger. Her genital area showed evidence of acid, perhaps used to destroy DNA evidence. She had white military gloves glued to her burned hands."
(clip)
"Fathers like John Johnson sent their daughters off to war assuming that the enemy was on the other side of the divide - and for the vast majority of recruits it is.

But Colonel Wright points to specific Army units and bases that have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of "non-combat related injuries" or "suicides", both of which are never counted in the US official death toll.

Dr Johnson has told the US Senate the name of one of the men who he believes murdered his daughter. A high-ranking officer was kicked out of Iraq two days after his daughter was found dead. He said: "If this had been a private, they would have thrown him under a bus a long time ago.""

[Marie26]

23. It's actually a pattern

Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?

The Department of Defense statistics are alarming — one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. The warnings to women should begin above the doors of the military recruiting stations, as that is where assaults on women in the military begins — before they are even recruited.

But, now, even more alarming, are deaths of women soldiers in Iraq, and in the United States, following rape. The military has characterized each of the deaths of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from “non-combat related injuries,” and then added “suicide.” Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide, strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters. Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of “non-combat related injuries,” with several identified as “suicides.” ...

8 women soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas (six from the Fourth Infantry Division and two from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division) have died of “non-combat related injuries” on the same base, Camp Taji, and three were raped before their deaths. Two were raped immediately before their deaths and another raped prior to arriving in Iraq. Two military women have died of suspicious “non-combat related injuries” on Balad base, and one was raped before she died. Four deaths have been classified as “suicides.” ...

Another family that does not believe their daughter committed suicide in Iraq is the family of Army Private First Class Tina Priest, 20, of Smithville, Texas, who was raped by a fellow soldier in February, 2006 on a military base known as Camp Taji. Priest was a part of the 5th Support Battalion, lst Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. The Army said Tina was found dead in her room on March 1, 2006, of a self-inflicted M-16 shot, a “suicide”, 11 days after the rape. Private Priest’s mother, Joy Priest, disputes the Army’s findings. Mrs. Priest said she talked several times with her daughter after the rape, and while very upset about the rape, she was not suicidal. Priest continues to challenge the Army’s 800 pages of investigative documents with a simple question. How could her petite daughter, 5-foot-tall daughter with a short arm length, have held the M-16 at the angle which would have resulted in the gunshot? The Army attempted several attempts explanations, but each was debunked by Mrs. Priest and by the 800 pages of materials provided by the Army itself. The Army now says Tina used her toe to pull the trigger of the weapon that killed her. The Army never investigated Tina’s death as a homicide, but only as a suicide....

On the same Camp Taji, 10 days later after Tina Priest was found dead, on May 11, 2006, woman US Army Private First Class (name known to author, but not identified for the article), 19, was found dead. She died three days after she suffered what the Army called “a self-inflicted gunshot”. The Army claimed that she too had committed suicide. In her room where her body was found, investigators discovered her diary open to a page on which she had written about being raped during training after unknowingly drinking a date rape drug. The person identified in the diary as the rapist was charged by the Army with rape after her death. Many who knew her did not believe she shot herself, but there is no evidence of a homicide investigation by the Army."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8564/

The article's list of suspicious deaths of female soldiers in Iraq goes on & on. What's really chilling is that many of the deaths follow the exact same pattern as what happened to Pvt. Johnson. It's almost like there's Units where the highest-ranking officers/officials are involved in repeatedly committing these crimes & later covering it up.

[FreakinDJ]

6. Didn't Bush grant the contractors "Immunity" while in Iraq

They can investigate all they want but not 1 bloody Mutha Fucker will swing for what they have done to her.

This family is not going to get help from either side of the isle on this 1 as both side have underwritten Bush's misdeeds while in office

[HockeyMom]

7. If a certain element of our military,

can do something like this to an Iraqi woman or girl, why is it suprising that they can do the same to an American woman?

The nationalty or military status of the woman means nothing. It is her GENDER that they are attacking.

[DWilliamsamh]

21. Read the article numb nuts. It was KBR not our MILITARY.

Be careful about casting such aspersions and casting them so generally.

I am SURE that there have been rapists in the military, but just as you shouldn't tar the whole military with the acts of those true aberrations, you DEFINITELY shouldn't be ascribing the disgusting acts of KBR employees to soldiers. And yeah I did mean to make a personally insulting remark in the head line. Turn about is fair play.

And of course the actions of these cretins should be tried as rape and murder. And of course to them it would not matter her nationality or military status. Of course they were attacking her gender. That is the definition of rape.

[annm4peace]

8. Shameful ! Where is Keith Olberman on this ?

This should be on all the major Cable and Network news shows.

Like always.. Democracy Now takes the lead..

Ms Johnson's horrific story will probably show up 2 or 3 years from now.

[annm4peace]

9. Everyone should give kicks to keep this in the news

we should also share this clip from Democracy Now with all our friends and family. and sent to our representatives.

[femrap]

25. Where's Keith?

Keith is at the local strip joint with his buddies. He is a rape apologist..and doesn't think too much about women's problems....cuz after all, they're just girls.

[DutchLiberal]

30. Have you been snorting too much glue or was that a really bad try at sarcasm?

[femrap]

32. FYI...one 'sniffs' glue.

Cocaine and piggies like you snort. Now go away and let the adults converse.

[DutchLiberal]

33. "Cocaine and piggies like you snort." Very 'adult' indeed...

:rofl:

Now care to explain why Olbermann is such a bad person?

[femrap]

35. Sure....but it'll

have to be face-to-face in Holland. Please send $ for airline ticket. Thx!

[ThomCat]

10. A whole lot of people in our own military

deserve to spend the rest of our lives in jail for things like this they're doing over there. If we ever get a full, accurate accounting of the attrocities being committed I think there would be a serious political revolution.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

11. BINGO

BUNCH OF SICK MALCONTENTS

[annm4peace]

12. It is more than the Military, it is our society unfortunately

** I'm watching the Senate hearings on Pologamy hearings right now. shameful.

[DWilliamsamh]

22. WTF is "pologamy?"

[L. Coyote]

14. What will the retribution be like? If you kill a million people ....

someone may try to kill a million of your people in retribution.

We need to first bring the criminals to justice for lying the USA into a war!!

Then, we need to attend to all the war crimes too.

[MaybeSo]

27. Do You Really Think That?

I mean, after the millions TERRIBLE things people have gotten away with, lately, without respose, I'm losing my faith in people reacting in large-mass agreements.

[annm4peace]

13. Can't believe over 200 DU'ers have seen this

and only 7 give it a kick. shameful It tells you about our society

If it was about a football player it would have had a lot more kicks

[annm4peace]

15. sign the petition for Waxman to investigate

http://www.colorofchange.org/lavena/

Tell Congressman Waxman to investigate the Army's cover up of Pfc LaVena Johnson's murder
While overwhelming evidence shows that LaVena Johnson was raped and murdered while serving in Iraq, the US Army refuses to acknowledge the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Join the Johnson family's call for Congressman Waxman to hold a Congressional hearing that uncovers the truth behind LaVena's tragic death.

[readmoreoften]

17. petition signed. K & R

[Pastiche423]

37. Thank you for the link

Signed.

[readmoreoften]

16. Brutalizing yourself and burning your genitals with acid

is the number two method of suicide for 20 year old girls according to military officials. The number one method is accidently raping yourself to death using the bodies of KBR paramilitary thugs.

[uppityperson]

19. Burning your hands and pouring lye in your crotch to make sure no one else gets blamed,

that is a good technique also. damn

[ThomCat]

24. Nothing will ease that family's pain, but

I hope they win one hell of a lawsuit over this. x(

And I hope stories like this get around and make it impossible for the military to meet their recruiting goals. We need to get past the patriotic mythology. It would be nice if the military had to deal with a reputation they have really earned.

[Marie26]

18. Those poor parents

I can't even imagine how much pain they must be in.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. kick

[slipslidingaway]

26. Thanks, finally watched the interview....

:(

Contact the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
[phone]
email form
http://oversight.house.gov/contact/


Washington, D.C. 20515
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

http://www.house.gov/waxman/

[MaybeSo]

28. This is just horrific.

It's terrible to think that things like this are happening. It's offensive, inhumane, and just plain disgusting. Not to mention how all those in power seem to be trying to keep all the terrible things going on over ther under wraps. It's attrocious. We should have rights to know things like this, and that girl should have rights that don't let that sort of thing happen to her.

[HardWorkingDem]

29. Does anyone know the results of the second autopsy?

Saw the clip where her body was exhumed. Anyone know of the results yet?

[proud patriot]

31. I've called my congress critter Ellen Tauscher

I asked that she look into this .

She's on the armed services committee

[Kire]

34. I read about this...

I'd like to recommend it, but now I can only kick it.

[avaistheone1]

36. This is sickening.

You would think the Army and the Pentagon would have learned something after their lies about Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch.

I hope LaVena's family can find the truth, as well as peace and justice.