U.S. Military Covers up Murder: Says Soldier Beat Herself to Death

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/93481/u.s._military_covers_up_murder%3A_says_soldier_beat_herself_to_death/#more

U.S. Military Covers up Murder: Says Soldier Beat Herself to Death

Posted by General JC Christian at 5:04 PM on July 31, 2008.

"There was a blood trail from outside a contractor's tent to inside the tent."



If Gen. Petraeus says things are rosy, they are. Questioning his integrity is an attack on all the men and women who serve in our military. The same holds true for the brave Army investigators who, when confronted with the evidence surrounding Lavena Johnson's death, ruled it a suicide.

The photographs revealed that Lavena, a small woman, barely 5 feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, had been struck in the face with a blunt instrument, perhaps a weapon stock. Her nose was broken and her teeth knocked backwards. One elbow was distended. The back of her clothes had debris on them indicating she had been dragged from one location to another. The photographs of her disrobed body showed bruises, scratch marks and teeth imprints on the upper part of her body. The right side of her back as well as her right hand had been burned apparently from a flammable liquid poured on her and then lighted. The photographs of her genital area revealed massive bruising and lacerations. A corrosive liquid had been poured into her genital area, probably to destroy DNA evidence of sexual assault.

Despite the bruises, scratches, teeth imprints and burns on her body, Lavena was found completely dressed in the burning tent. There was a blood trail from outside a contractor's tent to inside the tent. She apparently had been dressed after the attack and her attacker placed her body into the tent and set it on fire.

[PDJane]

1. If soldiers are doing this to their own side,

What the hell are they doing to Iraqis?

[NanceGreggs]

4. Precisely.

[chimpymustgo]

2. That is so depraved. Lord have mercy upon us.

[whistle]

3. Very likely a hate crime

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Is this a reflection of the lowering of the standards for military service?

Is this the result of the dehumanization that war causes?
Is this a poisonous combination of the two?

[Mandate My Ass]

7. I was thinking along those lines myself

sociopaths take their violent anger and hatred out on everyone around them, not just those who are "perceived" enemies, and whose torture and murder is therefore acceptable.

[TexasObserver]

6. another tragic case MSM yawns at and goes back to "Britney, Obama!"

[kwassa]

8. this is horrifying

one human can treat another in this brutal and depraved way.

I hope the perp is found and brought to serious justice.

[Ghost in the Machine]

9. I hope the soldier who did this dies a horrible, painful death...

What a piece of shit he must be, huh?

The Jamie Leigh Jones-Halliburton rape case was horrific, but what happened to PFC Lavena Johnson in Iraq in 2005 was many orders of magnitudes worse.

The parents of the young Missouri woman were told that she died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and her death was ruled a suicide. But her physician father became suspicious after looking at injuries to the body:

After two years of requesting documents, one set of papers provided by the Army included a xerox copy of a CD. Wondering why the xerox copy was in the documents, Dr. Johnson requested the CD itself. With help from his local Congressional representative, the US Army finally complied. When Dr. Johnson viewed the CD, he was shocked to see photographs taken by Army investigators of his daughter’s body as it lay where her body had been found, as well as other photographs of her disrobed body taken during the investigation.

The photographs revealed that Lavena, a small woman, barely 5 feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, had been struck in the face with a blunt instrument, perhaps a weapon stock. Her nose was broken and her teeth knocked backwards. One elbow was distended. The back of her clothes had debris on them indicating she had been dragged from one location to another. The photographs of her disrobed body showed bruises, scratch marks and teeth imprints on the upper part of her body. The right side of her back as well as her right hand had been burned apparently from a flammable liquid poured on her and then lighted. The photographs of her genital area revealed massive bruising and lacerations. A corrosive liquid had been poured into her genital area, probably to destroy DNA evidence of sexual assault.
http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/28/rape-victims-death-ruled-suicide-by-army-henry-waxman-where-are-you/

[Catherine Vincent]

10. We have to find out who did this to that poor girl.

And all the other girls that were raped and/or murdered. :(

[jillan]

11. Jeff Farias on NovaM was covering this, and alot of other suspicious deaths

of women in the military that are in NON-combat roles.

He was livid. So were his listeners.

[Mnemosyne]

12. ... n/t