SMH ---thats all I can do when reading this article.
Remembering the Forgotten
"For all the somber speeches and ceremonies, an untold number of people impacted by war remain all but forgotten on Memorial Day.
In the Nation, Helen Benedict takes a look at the hidden war of women soldiers (excerpted from her recent book), pointing out that Iraq has brought more women into battle, and to their deaths, than all US wars since World War II combined. Yet a silent war rages in an epidemic of sexual assault, which seldom leads to formal punishment and probably goes vastly underreported due to fear or coercion. She notes a harrowing trend: “More female troops have died in Iraq of non-hostile causes than have been killed in battle, and several of those deaths have either been labeled suicides or been left unexplained by the military.”
The mysterious death toll includes Pfc. LaVena Johnson, a Black female army soldier from Missouri whose death in Iraq was deemed a suicide, despite evidence that she was brutally raped and murdered.
Although the Pentagon has initiated reforms to address sexual assault and provide resources for treatment and legal redress, data is lacking on who these women are and how many are denied justice. Similarly, little is known about the overlap or racial and gender oppression in the military, though Colorlines has previously reported on the unique challenges that women soldiers of color face. Compared to white male veterans, a greater share of female veterans are people of color. The pattern perhaps reflects the promises pushed by recruiters: social and economic empowerment in communities where structural sexism and racism leave many young women with few real opportunities."
-By Michelle Chen
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