Sexual assault in the US military

When you are just starting to believe that you have heard all the mind blowing stories about the US military in Iraq, what their contractors do, the enormous corruption and abuse going on at that place and there can’t be anything worse in their closets anymore you see a story like this.

GAO released a report last week and the CNN has written an editorial on the report and the House panel investigating the way the cases are handled. Rep. Jane Harman, D-California said that her “jaw dropped” when she was told that 4 of 10 women serving in the US military have been raped or otherwise sexually harassed by “fellow” US soldiers. And the GAO report indicates that real numbers might even be worse.

Seemingly the US military does anything to cover up and is threatening the victims either not to report the cases or stop them in any other way from going to court.

From the CNN editorial:
“…Defense statistics show that military commanders took unspecified action, which can include anything from punishment to dismissal, in an additional 419 cases…”

“… “My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military,” said Harman, who has long sought better protection of women in the military.

Twenty-nine percent say they were raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and downward spirals many of their lives have taken since…
”

And there are various cases reported (CNN includes one case and we provide another example below) that the victims later have been murdered to cover up.

These crimes are against the very essence and the Army’s core values and the most disgusting part is how the Pentagon blatantly - even after years - is not willing to come to terms with the victims or their families.

We would like to express our deepest sorrow for the victim and pay tribute to those women and family members of victims for the courage of speaking about their cases at the panel investigation last week in Washington.

How blatant commanders and the US military are trying to cover up might be visualized with the following quote from the case of U.S. Army Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was raped and later murdered on a military base in Iraq. The US Department of Defense after years and the following facts known, is still saying that she has committed suicide.

So how did LaVena Lynn Johnson’s life end or how does a suicide look like according to the US Department of Defense:

From a web site (see below) describing the case:
“… She punched herself in the face hard enough to blacken her eyes, break her nose, and knock her front teeth loose. She douched with an acid solution after mutilating her genital area. She poured a combustible liquid on herself and set it afire. She then shot herself in the head. Despite this massive self-inflicted trauma, she somehow managed to drag her then fully clothed body into the tent of a KBR contractor, leaving a trail of blood along the way and set the tent ablaze in a failed attempt to cover up her crimes against herself…”

We believe the description of these facts speak for themselves.

More information:
CNN editorial (including a video of the mother of one victim speaking at the panel hearing)
LewRockwell.com on the death of U.S. Army Private LaVena Lynn Johnson in Iraq