Pfc. LaVena Johnson » Noted Writings

Philip Barron — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:27:43 +0000

Dilemas, a new Spanish-language online publication by journalism students in Santiago, Chile, recently published a story on the LaVena Johnson matter written by its US correspondent, Fernando A. Torres. En espa

New profile of LaVena posted

Philip Barron — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:19:54 +0000

LaVena’s father, Dr. John H. Johnson, has submitted a profile of LaVena in order to provide a little more background on the kind of person she was as a daughter, a student, and a soldier. This essay has been posted on this website’s About page.

AnitaRoddick.com, LewRockwell.com on LaVena

Philip Barron — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:50:51 +0000

Two very different sources have weighed in this week on the LaVena Johnson story. At the website created by Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, writer and editor Brooke Shelby Biggs has posted “DISPATCH: Justice for LaVena”:

How on earth can the Army claim any credibility about bringing justice to far-flung war zones when it can

“The Pentagon’s Shameful Record on Rape”

Philip Barron — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:49:05 +0000

In the years since the death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson in Iraq and the beginning of the effort of her family to determine whether, as suspected, LaVena died as a result of sexual assault and murder, the most appalling revelation has been the emerging record of such crimes against women in the armed forces. Helen Benedict’s award-winning article in Salon – “The Private War of Women Soldiers,” the basis of her forthcoming book, The Lonely Soldier – was for many a startling introduction to the story of rising sexual assault in the US military. “Appalling” is indeed the word for the services’ lack of response – or willful disregard – toward the issue. Christy Hardin Smith, a principal blogger at Firedoglake and herself a survivor of rape, excoriates the military in her recent post, “The Pentagon’s Shameful Record on Rape.” Moved to address the issue here by LaVena’s story, she quotes statistics from Rep. Jane Harman:

…Women serving in the US military 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 Center, where I met with female veterans and their doctors. My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41% of female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military and 29% report being raped during their military service….

Referencing the recent Truthdig article by retired Army Colonel Ann Wright, Smith remarks on the shameful and uncooperative response of the Department of Defense to the hearings on military sexual assault held by the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs (a branch of the House Committee on Government Oversight And Reform) and notes the refusal of the DoD to allow a critical witness to testify:

The Pentagon, openly sneering at Congress, refuses to allow the person in charge of rape programs and investigations to testify before the Oversight Committee. And note that the DOD declined to testify about Ms. Jones case as well when there were hearings. Taking that job seriously, aren’t they? Someone should ask Defense Secretary Robert Gates why the Pentagon is AWOL on this issue.

Smith continues:

In the case of military personnel, a number of these go unreported because there is a perception that reporting a rape can hurt your career path — especially if the rape perpetrator is a superior officer. And only 8 percent of all military rapes that are even reported go to courts martial. 8 percent.

That is quite simply unacceptable. Especially given that rape isn’t inevitable — it is a violent crime. Men and women in the military who have been sexually assaulted — or anyone who has survived it — can put details on the table that would break your heart. But they should not have to do so.

Lavena Johnson — along with any other potential rape or assault victim — deserves to have the crimes committed against her taken seriously. Because you can be certain that while a rape or assault victim is struggling to get away from the rapist, and then struggling to lift their head above the aftermath to survive it — they are taking it very seriously. We should expect no less concern from the Pentagon on these issues. Shame on them.

“The Pentagon’s Shameful Record on Rape” is crucial reading. We are grateful to Smith for her personal courage in telling her story, and relating it to the need to push for a full and open investigation of the circumstances behind LaVena Johnson’s death.

Truthdig on military sexual assault hearing

Philip Barron — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:26:00 +0000

Activist and retired Army Colonel Ann Wright has been indispensable to the effort to prompt a renewed investigation of the death in Iraq of Pfc. LaVena Johnson. She has also fought to make known the wider issue of murder and sexual assault of women in the armed forces. Col. Wright attended the recent hearings on sexual assault in the military held by the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and has written at Truthdig a critical account of the refusal of the Department of Defense to allow a witness to be heard:

Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?

There was quite a struggle in Congress this week. The Department of Defense refused to allow the senior civilian in charge of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) to testify in Thursday

LaVena post at Crooks & Liars

Philip Barron — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:31:00 +0000

Crooks & Liars returns to the story of PFC LaVena Johnson with a post by Logan Murphy:

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

Feministing, BuzzFlash on LaVena

Philip Barron — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:07:00 +0000

Apologies for coming late to the July 18 writeup on PFC LaVena Johnson by Ann Friedman of Feministing. The post asks readers to spare just a couple of minutes to sign the Danielle Vyas-authored petition to Congress and President Bush, which has (of this writing) 2374 signatures with a goal of 3000. Friedman references posts on LaVena by a number of feminist writers; some of them have been previously noted here, while others are new to me:

You may have read about LaVena recently on Feministing, or from Cara, Megan at Jezebel, Gina at What About Our Daughters, and Kate at Broadsheet…

I am very happy to add Friedman to the growing list of writers whom I owe thanks for support for a renewed investigation of LaVena’s death in Iraq.

Also on that list is Meg White for bringing LaVena’s story to the many readers of BuzzFlash in a news analysis piece posted today. It is a capsule of the Johnson family’s trials in pushing the Army to revisit the investigation of their daughter’s death, and the possibility that she had been the victim of a sexual assault. Like Friedman’s entry at Feministing, White touches on the CommonDreams.org article by retired Army colonel Ann Wright on other suspicious deaths of women in service, and references the recently-launched ColorofChange to Rep. Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee. Many thanks to White for this entry.

MySpace write-up on Lavena; credit for connection to ColorofChange

Philip Barron — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:02:00 +0000

Kim Brummell, an Army veteran and member of the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union, has written about PFC LaVena Johnson in a post titled “Deadly Wall of Silence.”

How will cases like this affect women signing up for the service and staying in the military? How will it affect the respect citizens have for our soldiers? How could we trust the military to help secure this nation when we may have cold-blooded murderers in a uniform wearing a U.S. flag? I got nothing but love for the military. The service taught me a lot. On the contrary, an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. Where can you run and hide when your allies become your enemies?

Thanks much to Kim for her perspective as a former soldier and for her expression of concern for the service, for women in uniform, and for the Johnson family.

I also want to thank two people who – through separate efforts at the same time – brought the LaVena effort to the attention of ColorofChange.org. Activist Danielle Vyas contacted the advocacy group even as she launched her own Care2-based petition to Congress and the President. Gemina13, a DailyKos blogger, wrote a diary there about LaVena and also contacted ColorofChange. Their efforts helped to bring about the ColorofChange-sponsored petition to Representative Henry Waxman and the House Oversight Committee which he chairs. Thanks again, very much, to both Danielle and Gemina13.

Support, old and new

Philip Barron — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:06:00 +0000

A couple of posts regarding LaVena Johnson came across my desk yesterday. One of them is a reprised article from early in the effort to prompt a renewed investigation of LaVena’s death in Iraq; the other is a new entry commenting on the provisional Oversight Committee report released this week.

The revisited post by jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville:

To die unsung would really bring you down
Although wet eyes would never suit you
Walk through no archetypal suicide
Die young is far too boring these days -

Socialist Appeal post on LaVena

Philip Barron — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:10:00 +0000

Josh Lucker of Socialist Appeal attended the Black & Green Wednesday panel discussion on PFC LaVena Johnson that was held on June 4, and has published an article in support of the effort to re-investigate her death in Iraq.

On June 6th, a panel discussion was held in St. Louis to discuss the death of LaVena Johnson. She was the first Missouri woman killed in Iraq, just eight days shy of her 20th birthday. Today, three years after her death, questions still surround the circumstances of this tragedy. Her father, Dr. John Johnson, and other family members, have dedicated countless hours researching and traveling the country looking for an answer.

Lucker’s article references the incidence of sexual assault in the military – the family of PFC Johnson believes that sexual assault was an circumstance in her death – as well as other cases of women soldiers who died from