According to the Department of Defense, 41 of the 99 U.S. military women who have been killed in Iraq died in “noncombat-related incidents.” Of the 99 U.S. military women killed in the Iraq theater, 41 were women of color (21 African-Americans, 16 Latinas, three of Asian-Pacific descent and one Native American).
A story involving an Army recruiter in Texas last week has led to a call for an investigation. The recruiter in Houston was suspended after a recording of his threats aired on a local TV station. The recruiter warned eighteen-year-old Irving Gonzalez that he would be sent to jail if he decided to go to college instead of joining the military.
Excerpt from a conversation with a recruiter:
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: Yeah, he needs—you know, you don’t want whatever is going to happen to him to happen to you.
IRVING GONZALEZ: What’s going to happen?
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: You know, I don’t know. I mean whatever. If he ever gets pulled over or whatever [inaudible], you never know what can happen.
IRVING GONZALEZ: I think I can do better with my life out here than in there.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: You think so? The way the economy is going right now?
IRVING GONZALEZ: I’d rather struggle and be free.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: I have your best interest—what’s that?
IRVING GONZALEZ: I think I’d rather struggle.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: You’d rather struggle?
IRVING GONZALEZ: Yeah.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: Are you serious? Think about what you’re saying. The way the economy is going right now and the way it’s going to go for the next couple of years, it’s not looking good. Sometimes you have to grow up and learn how to be a man and to take care of stuff on your own. You know what I’m saying? Do you want to sit there and live with your mom for the next three, four, five, six years or whatever? You know, you want to do something different now to what your friends are doing, because when you come back and you see what your friends are doing, still living at home with mom and dad, struggling, trying to make a job, make money, make a living, you’re going to be like, bam, I’m glad I didn’t. You know what I’m saying? I’m telling you from experience, because I see that.
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The parents of LaVena were on Democracy Now! last week. There’s no way you can not take action after hearing this. Thanks to Color of Change for leading the way on this issue. You can also visit www.lavenajohnson.com for more info.
LaVena Johnson was a 19 year old private in the Army, serving in Iraq, when she was raped, murdered, and her body was burned–by someone from her own military base. Despite overwhelming physical evidence, the Army called her death a suicide and has closed the case.1
For three years, LaVena’s parents have been fighting for answers. At almost every turn, they’ve been met with closed doors or lies. They’ve appealed to Congress, the one body that can hold the military accountable. But, as in other cases where female soldiers have been raped and murdered and the Army has called it suicide, Congress has failed to act.
Will you join Mr. and Mrs. Johnson in calling on Congressman Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee, to mount a real investigation into LaVena Johnson’s death and the Army’s cover-up2? Will you ask your friends and family to do the same?
http://www.colorofchange.org/lavena/
From the beginning, LaVena’s death made no sense as a suicide. She was happy and had been talking with friends and family regularly3–nothing indicated she could be suicidal. And when the Johnsons received her body, they noticed signs that she had been beaten.4 That was when they started asking questions.
After two years of being denied answers and hearing explanations that made no sense, the Johnsons received a CD-ROM from someone on the inside. It contained pictures of the crime scene where LaVena died and an autopsy showing that she had suffered bruises, abrasions, a dislocated shoulder, broken teeth, and some type of sexual assault. Her body was partially burned; she had been doused in a flammable liquid, and someone had set her body on fire. A corrosive chemical had been poured in her genital area, perhaps to cover up evidence of rape.5
Still the Army sticks by their story. They refuse to explain the overwhelming physical evidence that LaVena was raped and murdered and continue to claim that she killed herself.
For many Black youth, and working class young people of every race, the military is seen as an option for securing a better future. LaVena came from a deeply supportive family, and while the military wasn’t her only option, she was attracted by its promise to help her pay for a college education and the opportunity to travel around the world. She also thought that by joining she could continue her lifelong commitment to serving other people in need. She made a decision to serve in the military, with all its risks, and expected respect and dignity in return.
LaVena’s death is part of a disturbing pattern of cases where female soldiers have been raped and killed, and where the military has hidden the truth and labeled the deaths suicides.6,7 In virtually all cases, Congress has been slow to investigate or hold the military accountable in any way. Unfortunately, most families simply don’t have the resources, time, and psychological strength to push back.
We can help the Johnsons, and other families, by holding Congress accountable in the LaVena Johnson case and by demanding it investigate the pattern of cover-ups by the military.
Please take a moment to join those calling on Congressman Waxman to investigate the cover-up of LaVena Johnson’s death:
http://www.colorofchange.org/lavena/
Thanks and Peace,
– James, Gabriel, Clarissa, Andre, Kai, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 28th, 2008References:
1. “The cover-up of a soldier’s death?” LavenaJohnson.com, March 6, 2007
http://www.lavenajohnson.com/2007/03/cover-up-of-soldiers-death.html2. “Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?” CommonDreams.org, April 28, 2008
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8564/3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. “Suicide or Murder? Three Years After the Death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson in Iraq, Her Parents Continue Their Call for a Congressional Investigation,” Democracy Now!, June 23, 2008.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/23/suicide_or_murder_three_years_after6. See reference 2.
7. “2 Years After Soldier’s Death, Family’s Battle Is With Army,” New York Times, March 21, 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/mzcvhOther References:
“Justice for Pfc. LaVena Johnson,” DailyKos, June 30, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5bh73v“Rapists in the Ranks, Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/2z2c8l
Five years ago, President Bush dressed up in a flight suit for a self-congratulatory photo op on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner that proclaimed “Mission Accomplished”. Certainly, the war was not over then and victory was not achieved. The mission has been redefined several times and what the president hopes to accomplish in Iraq is unclear.
Five years ago tonight, on March 19, 2003, the US launched the invasion of Iraq. Half a decade later, as the occupation continues with no end in sight, some of the most powerful voices against the war have been the men and women who have fought in it. For four days this past weekend, soldiers convened at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland for Winter Soldier, an eyewitness account of the war and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We broadcast their voices.
Rep. Maxine Waters and other progressive lawmakers are tired of watching Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama dance around the issue of Iraq withdrawal. As the January 27 ‘Peace March on Washington’ approaches, leaders of the Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus plan to turn up the heat on the Democratic presidential frontrunners.
WASHINGTON — Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
Morale among US soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, called “search and avoid” missions.
“CBS News RAW”: An anti-war demonstrator, shouting “war criminal,” approached Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she arrived to testify at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
A 2005 Justice Department opinion provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, officials said.
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