Col. Ann Wright: U.S. Military Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers’ ‘Suicides’?

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



U.S. Military Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers’ ‘Suicides’?
Posted on Aug 26, 2008

By Col. Ann Wright



Since I posted on April 28 the article “Is There an Army Cover Up of the Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers,” the deaths of two more U.S. Army women in Iraq and Afghanistan have been listed as suicides—the Sept. 28, 2007, death of 30-year-old Spc. Ciara Durkin and the Feb. 22, 2008, death of 25-year-old Spc. Keisha Morgan. Both “suicides” are disputed by the families of the women.

Since April 2008, five more U.S. military women have died in Iraq—three in noncombat-related incidents. Ninety-nine U.S., six British and one Ukrainian military women and 13 U.S. female civilians have been killed in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as probably hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women and girls. Of the 99 U.S. military women, 64 were in the Army active component, nine in the Army National Guard, seven in the Army Reserve, seven in the Marine Corps, nine in the Navy and three in the Air Force. According to the Department of Defense, 41 of the 99 U.S. military women who have been killed in Iraq died in “noncombat-related incidents.” Of the 99 U.S. military women killed in the Iraq theater, 41 were women of color (21 African-Americans, 16 Latinas, three of Asian-Pacific descent and one Native American—data compiled from the Web site www.nooniefortin.com).

Fourteen U.S. military women, including five in the Army, one in the Army National Guard, two in the Army Reserves, three in the Air Force, two in the Navy (on ships supporting U.S. forces in Afghanistan) and one in the Marine Corps, one British military woman and six U.S. civilian women have been killed in Afghanistan. According to the Department of Defense, four U.S. military women in Afghanistan died in noncombat-related incidents, including one now classified as a suicide. Four military women of color (three African-Americans and one Latina) have been killed in Afghanistan. (Data compiled from www.nooniefortin.com.)

The deaths of 14 U.S. military (13 Army and one Navy) women and one British military woman who served in Iraq, Kuwait or Afghanistan have been classified as suicides. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080826_us_military_keeping_secrets_about_female_soldiers_suicides/

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. I wish I could say I was glad to recommend, but...

This is nothing to celebrate. I recommended it anyway, to get it someplace people will be able to find it easily.

[TheWraith]

2. It would be a mistake to assume Spc. Ciara Durkin was "just" a murder.

She was an accountant assigned to a finance unit in Afghanistan, and told her family that she'd found something she didn't like, that she was worried for her life because of it, and if she died to make sure that there was an investigation. More than likely, she caught someone embezzling funds from the military, and they murdered her to cover it up.

[kas125]

3. AND the guy who had her job before she did was found

shot in the head in the shower. And although witnesses said that they saw him go into the shower with nothing but a towel and his Captain told his father at the funeral NOT to believe the Army's story, his death was also ruled a suicide.

[kas125]

4. Thank god for Col. Ann Wright!! She is working so hard to

try to find some justice for these women. A few weeks ago our CodePink chapter had a fund raiser for the mother of Blanca Luna ( http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/murderonthebase/ ) and someone who knew Ann arranged for her to accompany Blanda's mother to Texas to try to get some answers. She is an amazing woman.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. I think what might prove very illuminating would be a comparison with the rate of non-combat

deaths of female troops of the other "Axis" countries serving in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.