In case you haven't been following this:
The tragic story of LaVena Johnson
Salon
has published
quite a
bit about how American women in the military sometimes face more
danger from their fellow soldiers than from their enemies, but the
stories never seem to stop. And all too often, they go largely ignored by
the media, as with the case of
Pfc. LaVena Johnson.
In July 2005, 19-year-old Johnson became the first female soldier from
Missouri to die in Iraq. She was found with a broken nose, black eye and
loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals, presumably to eliminate DNA
evidence of rape, a trail of blood leading away from her tent and a
bullet hole in her head. Unbelievably, that's not the most horrifying
part of the story. Here's what is: Army investigators ruled her death a
suicide.
Beyond the obvious evidence of abuse, there was no sign of depression or
suicidal ideation in Johnson's psychological profile. The bullet wound
was in the wrong place for her to have shot herself with her dominant
hand, and the exit wound was the wrong size to have come from her own
M-16, as the Army suggested it did. The blatant lie the military has
tried to sell Johnson's family is on a par with the cover-up surrounding
football star
Pat Tillman's 2004 death in a friendly fire incident. Unlike
Tillman's widely reported story, however, outside the blogosphere --
where writers like
Philip Barron have
worked tirelessly to keep Johnson's name in the spotlight -- the LaVena
Johnson case has rarely been noted. And sadly, it is far from unique. In
a story in the
New Zealand Herald on Wednesday, Tracey Barnett writes,
"[LaVena's father] John Johnson has discovered far more stories that
have matched his daughter's than he ever wanted to know. Ten other
families of 'suicide' female soldiers have contacted him. The common
thread among them -- rape."
Regarding the runaround her family got from the military, Pat Tillman's
mother
said to the New York Times in 2006, ""This is how they
treat a family of a high-profile individual. How are they treating
others?" LaVena Johnson's story is just one tragic answer to that
question.
-- Kate Harding
Salon.com
Hilde Lindemann
Philosophy Department
503 South Kedzie Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
tel: (517) 353-3981
fax: (517) 432-1320
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