Support, old and new

A couple of posts regarding LaVena Johnson came across my desk yesterday. One of them is a reprised article from early in the effort to prompt a renewed investigation of LaVena's death in Iraq; the other is a new entry commenting on the provisional Oversight Committee report released this week.

The revisited post by jurassicpork at Welcome Back to Pottersville:

To die unsung would really bring you down
Although wet eyes would never suit you
Walk through no archetypal suicide
Die young is far too boring these days - “Unsung“, Helmet

With the exception of several administration officials both past and present and every other rabid warhawk in PNAC and the American Enterprise and Cato Institutes, I can’t think of a single American who belongs in Iraq.

And 19 year-old LaVena L. Johnson certainly had no business being there.

The new post by Shark-fu at AngryBlackBitch:

Like many St. Louisans I was deeply touched by the story of Private First Class LaVena Johnson, who died as a result of a non-combat incident near Balad, Iraq. PFC Johnson, who was from Florissant Missouri, died July 19, 2005 and was the first woman from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. I will never forget seeing her family interviewed on local television and witnessing their pain and frustration over the lack of information they’d been given concerning their loved one’s death. It was wrenching and emotional…and I was left frustrated that this story had not garnered national media attention like other similar investigations.

Each of these bloggers - like many others unmentioned here, bloggers or no - has put in a lot of time and effort on behalf of LaVena and her family. All of these efforts are greatly appreciated.