UPDATE: We have met our goal for the Care2 Justice for LaVena Johnson petition with 3007 signatures. Arranging a meeting with Congresswoman Shelley Berkley. Please go to Color of Change and sign their petition for LaVena UPDATE
There are clear signs of progress in reaching our goal of manifesting Justice for LaVena Johnson. The non-profit organization Color of Change has created the newest petition calling for answers in this case directed to Congressman Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Color of Change has been instrumental in pursuing justice in recent years for the Jena 6, victims of governmental neglect in Hurricane Katrina, Darfur, Voter Rights and many other issues.
Today, on Amy Goodman’s radio and television show Democracy Now! had Ms. LaVena Johnson’s family and Ann Wright, who spent twenty-six years in the US Army/Army Reserves and was a diplomat in the State Department for sixteen years before resigning in March 2003, protesting the then-impending invasion of Iraq.
Click here for the Real Video Coverage.
A segment from the transcript:
AMY GOODMAN: Army Private First Class LaVena Johnson would have turned twenty-three this month, but three years ago the African American teenager from Missouri was found dead in Balad, Iraq, just a few weeks short of her twentieth birthday.
Her body was found in a tent belonging to the private military contractor Kellogg Brown & Root. She had abrasions all over her body, a broken nose, a black eye, burned hands, loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals, a bullet hole in her head. The Army labeled LaVena Johnson’s death a suicide. They told her parents she died of “self-inflicted, non-combat injuries.”
But her parents never believed that story. They think she was raped and murdered and that the Army’s investigators ignored physical evidence that would have proved this. The Johnsons are now demanding a full congressional investigation into their daughter’s death.
We invited the military to come on the show; they declined. The Criminal Investigation Command told us that “facts are facts.” They stand by their investigation that concluded LaVena Johnson’s death a suicide.
I’m joined now from St. Louis, Missouri by Dr. John Johnson and Linda Johnson, the parents of slain Iraq veteran Private LaVena Johnson. They claim that she was killed. Again, the military says it was a suicide.
We’re also joined by a former Army Reserve colonel, Ann Wright. She served in the US Army for twenty-nine years, was also a US diplomat for sixteen. She resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the war in Iraq. Ann Wright joins us on the phone from Dallas.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! I want to start with Linda Johnson. Can you tell us about why your daughter went into the military and how you learned that she had been killed?
LINDA JOHNSON: Why she went in? Because my daughter LaVena was a very patriotic person. She loved this country. And she thought she was doing something good. She thought she was doing something right.
She first had discussed this with her dad. I was not in agreement with this at all, because she was—I just thought she was just going straight on to college. She was an honor roll student. She was a very good student and the most beautiful daughter that any mother would want to have. So, like I said, she had discussed this with her dad first, and finally they told me.
AMY GOODMAN: In July of 2005, your daughter LaVena became the first female soldier from Missouri to die in Iraq. How did you learn of her death, Linda Johnson?
LINDA JOHNSON: At 7:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, July 19th, there was a knock at my front door. I immediately jumped up, because everyone was still asleep, and I looked out the window, and I saw one soldier standing at the door. And I immediately told John, and he jumped up. And I just had a sadness in my heart. John ran downstairs and opened the door. And I began crying, and I couldn’t make it any further than my balcony.
John opened the door, and the soldier took out a little black book, and he asked the question, “Are you Dr. John Johnson, the father of Private LaVena Lynn Johnson?” And he said, “Yes, I am.” And then he looked up, and he saw me, and I’m sure he heard me. And he asked, “Are you Linda Johnson, the mother of Private LaVena Lynn Johnson?” And I said, “Yes, I am. What do you want?” And he opened the little black book, and he began to read and said he regretfully informed us that our daughter, Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, was dead. And I lost it. And I began screaming, and I ran to try to get to my other children. Of course, they heard the commotion, and they began just screaming and hollering.
And then, we were just in shock, disbelief, because I had just spoke with my daughter on Sunday, July 17th, and everything was fine. There was no distress, no sadness. She was her bubbly self. We talked, we laughed, and we were making plans. She was telling me how she would be coming home sooner than she expected and certainly would be home for Christmas, which was her favorite time of the year.
I got chance to finally make it to my two older sons, and I just collapsed in their arms, because I just—I just could not believe it. And my heart broke. And that was the worst day of my life. And we’ve been battling with some lying demons ever since.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. John Johnson, when did you learn how your daughter died?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: Let me make one thing clear. LaVena was a private when she died. They post-mortemly promoted her after she was dead. But the first implication that we got in terms of a mode of death was told to us by the casualty liaison from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He told me that LaVena was found dead in her barracks with a gunshot wound to the head.
I know a lot of people, and I know people who knew people over there. So we had a friend of ours that was a police officer, so he immediately emailed a friend of his that was there and asked where she was found. And that friend emailed him back and said that LaVena was found dead in a contractor’s tent. My friend was so distraught over it, he was on his way over to our house and he had a heart attack. He didn’t die, but it was severe. Then, the next day, I had a relative that brought me a message, and that message, in essence, said that LaVena knew some people who were near DFAS 2 [phon.], and that’s where her body was found: in a contractor’s tent.
So, it wasn’t until—so I was told it was a gunshot wound to the head, and the casualty liaison told me that. And when her body got here, I looked her body over, and I saw a hole on the left side of her head near the temporal lobe. And so, I went to the news media the next day, and I said, “They said my daughter shot herself in the head. She’s right-handed, and the bullet hole was on the left side of her head.” On the 10th of August, the pathologist from Dover Air Force Base called me, and he said what I saw was an exit wound. And we got into a debate over what that was an exit wound from, and he finally said it was from an M-16 rifle. And I thought that was ridiculous.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: Because I’m a veteran, and I’m very familiar with that M-16 rifle and its capacity. And first of all, my daughter was 5’1”, and that weapon is forty inches long. And let’s say, if she did manage to get it into her mouth, then the recoil from that weapon would have blown her face off. Let’s say, if she was tall enough and she got it in her mouth pretty well, when that bullet pops out of that barrel, it starts tumbling all over the place. So when it exits, it exits in a straight line, and it tears a huge hole in one’s head. This bullet hit at the temporal lobe, bounced and ended up going two-and-a-quarter inch toward the temporal lobe and popped out. And that is a hand revolver and not an M-16 rifle.
AMY GOODMAN: What other signs did you see or marks did you see on your daughter’s body?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: I could tell that her nose had been broken, because plastic surgery had been done. Even though she had makeup on, I could see an abrasion up under her eye. I could see that her lips had been busted, because right on the edges, right near the edges of both lips, I could see what looked like a cut. And her gloves were glued on her hands, and I thought that was peculiar. So I was pretty confident she had been beaten.
AMY GOODMAN: You’re calling for an investigation?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: Who have you spoken to?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: We spoke with Ike Skelton on the 9th of April. We left some information there. They went through that package, and apparently, I was told that they were impressed with the information that we had. Then, I understand, a subcommittee went to the Army. And of course, I don’t know why they expect the Army to say, “Yeah, we lied.” The Army said, “Yeah, everything went just fine. Criminal investigators did their job. Pathologists did their job. Everything was just fine.”
And I couldn’t believe that I got a letter from the subcommittee saying that they felt that the Army’s decision was correct, that it was a suicide. When we were back in Washington this past week, we got a chance to speak with Congresswoman Diane Watson. We talked, and we got some positive feedback from her.
AMY GOODMAN: What makes you think your daughter was raped?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: The Army originally sent us black-and-white Xerox copies of everything, and they were airbrushed. So they tampered with those pictures. So, we already went through and could figure out everything that had happened, and we assumed that she had been raped, because there was a distorted picture of her vaginal area that was in those pictures.
But it wasn’t until we got the colored CD that we could really look at that vaginal area, and it was torn—there were tears in the lip, just a numerous amount of tears. In addition to that, it had a substance running out of it, and it looked as if that substance may have been lye. So we assume they poured that in her to destroy DNA evidence. And there’s—
AMY GOODMAN: Lye, the acid?
DR. JOHN JOHNSON: Yeah, it looked like it, because it was lumpy, and we don’t know if the lumps that we saw was the skin that had been burned or loose, or we don’t know if it was because it set around, whatever the case may be. But it was a horrible sight, and it was—you know, and you wouldn’t do that if there weren’t a rape involved.
I want to close by expressing my deepest gratitude to the dedicated activists that have inspired and motivated me to act for Justice for LaVena Johnson.
First, Wayne of The Electronic Village and collaborator of Roots of Humanity, whose recent post informed me of Ms. Johnson’s case.
Second, Philip Barron of Wave Flux, Shakesville and the LaVena Johnson Petition for starting the first call to action collecting 12,000 signatures set to be delivered to the Armed Services Committee and who provided me with the method of action.
I deeply appreciate his recent words of encouragement:
“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.”
Third, Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte of Color of Change who took the noble yet amateur efforts of net activists and is going further with their petition and by working directly with Ms. Johnson’s family is furthering the audience as shown through today’s Democracy Now!’s segment.
Lastly, to all who have signed the petitions, and who have contacted their representatives directly on behalf of Justice for LaVena Johnson. Thank you for utilizing your power potential for the universal call for justice and truth.
I will be closing the Care2 Petition when we reach 3000 signatures. We have successfully gathered 1767 signatures in two weeks, so after you sign Color of Change’s petition and contact your representatives take the additional step in helping to close the petition with 3000 signatures.
Our goals are noble and with pure intent will be realized.
- Care2 Petition
- Color of Change Petition
- Contact your Representatives post from What about Our Daughters.
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