Unsolved mystery of soldier's death could indicate sexual assault...

Posted by Philip Barron at 10:32 AM on March 8, 2007.

Yesterday, I spoke extensively by phone with John Johnson, father of Pfc. LaVena Johnson whose suspicious death in Iraq demands reinvestigation by the Army. The Johnson family has waged a private battle for nearly two years to have Army officials reexamine its ruling that LeVena died by her own hand, citing evidence that points to death by foul play.

Mr. Johnson said that up to this point, their struggle had been a solitary one. "We felt totally alone out there," he said. Knowledge that LaVena's story is becoming known to more people every day is heartening to the family. Everyone who has taken action on the Johnsons' behalf - whether by signing the petition to the two Armed Services Committees, writing emails to individual legislators or media about LaVena, or simply sharing the story with friends or family - should know that the family is aware of their efforts, and is grateful.

In the telephone conversation, Mr. Johnson described in some detail those aspects of documents and photographs received from the Army which lead the family to believe that a sexual assault lies at the heart of LaVena's death. It is a grim conclusion that doesn't bear thinking about - and it is a fact of theater service in Iraq for women soldiers in Iraq, according to Helen Benedict, author of yesterday's Salon article, "The Private War of Women Soldiers." Viewing the article requires watching a brief advertisement (click "Enter Salon" near the top of the page), but the piece is necessary reading:

I have talked to more than 20 female veterans of the Iraq war in the past few months, interviewing them for up to 10 hours each for a book I am writing on the topic, and every one of them said the danger of rape by other soldiers is so widely recognized in Iraq that their officers routinely told them not to go to the latrines or showers without another woman for protection.

The female soldiers who were at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, for example, where U.S. troops go to demobilize, told me they were warned not to go out at night alone.

"They call Camp Arifjan 'generator city' because it's so loud with generators that even if a woman screams she can't be heard," said Abbie Pickett, 24, a specialist with the 229th Combat Support Engineering Company who spent 15 months in Iraq from 2004-05. Yet, she points out, this is a base, where soldiers are supposed to be safe.

Spc. Mickiela Montoya, 21, who was in Iraq with the National Guard in 2005, took to carrying a knife with her at all times. "The knife wasn't for the Iraqis," she told me. "It was for the guys on my own side."

Only an official reinvestigation of the death of Pfc. Johnson can reveal the facts behond her death, but the testimony of women soldiers in the Benedict article demonstrates that the possibility of a sexual assault in LaVena's case cannot and must not be dismissed.

Related: I will speak about the LaVena Johnson matter tomorrow (March 9) at 6:10 p.m. Central (was originally 6:15) on The Sloan Ranger Show with host Lloyd Sloan. The show can be heard via the Internet (or in the St. Louis area on WGNU), and call-ins are welcome.

*For a Democracy Now! video about assault and rape of women in the military, go HERE

Tagged as: iraq, lavena johnson

Philip Barron is a St. Louis writer and author of the blog Waveflux.