July 3, 2006

Ex-G.I. Accused in Murders and Rape in Iraq

By DAVID STOUT and KIRK SEMPLE

WASHINGTON, July 3 — Federal prosecutors said today that an American soldier killed an Iraqi man, two women and a little girl in their home the night of March 12 after the soldier and his comrades plotted to rape one of the women while drinking at a traffic checkpoint a short distance away.

 

The prosecutors charged the suspect, Steven D. Green, 21, with shooting the four victims to death. They said he and others raped one of the women. If found guilty, the defendant could be sentenced to death.

 

The charges were announced by the United States attorney for western Kentucky, David L. Huber, who said the defendant is expected to be brought to Louisville after his initial appearance, held earlier today, in Charlotte, N.C. The defendant, who was arrested on Friday in Marion, N.C., was a private first class in the 101st Airborne Division and had been stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., before going to Iraq.

 

Prosecutors said the defendant was discharged from the Army "due to a personality disorder" before the March 12 incident came to light. An affidavit filed in connection with the charges raises the possibility that others will be charged, since the document states that "members" of the 101st Airborne Division killed the Iraqis and that "the same individuals" raped and killed one of the women. The others were not identified by name.

 

The affidavit, by an F.B.I. special agent, Gregor J. Ahlers, said details of the crime emerged during a "combat stress debriefing" on June 20. Private Green and at least three others planned the rape and told another soldier to monitor the radio while they went to the house near Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, according to the affidavit. Some of the participants changed out of their uniforms before going to the house and had blood on their clothes when they returned, the affidavit said.

 

After the murder-and-rape rampage, the affidavit states, the soldiers burned their clothes and told the comrade who had been left to monitor the radio that "this is never to be discussed again."

 

The F.B.I. affidavit portrays a crime at once chilling and calculated. Before raping one woman, Private Green confined her relatives to a bedroom, the document states. Shots were heard inside, after which Private Green came to the door and said, "I just killed them, all are dead," the affidavit goes on. Then Private Green and another "known participant" were seen raping the woman before Private Green shot her in the head "two to three times," the document states.

 

An AK-47 already in the house was used in at least some of the slayings and was dumped in a nearby canal afterward, the F.B.I. agent said.

 

The affidavit says prosecutors have 15 crime-scene photographs that corroborate the accounts of witnesses. "These photos include, but are not limited to, pictures of an Iraqi female, an Iraqi male, a young girl," the affidavit says. "These photos also depict the burned body of what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."

 

The United States attorney's office in Louisville said the defendant is subject to civilian prosecution under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows crimes committed in foreign countries by members of the United States military to be prosecuted as if they had been committed within the United States. The defendant will appear at a preliminary hearing on July 10 in Charlotte and be transferred to Louisville afterward, The Associated Press said it had been told by the United States attorney's office in Louisville.

 

Even as the new details of the charges were disclosed, there was some lingering confusion. In Iraq, the mayor of Mahmudiya said the woman who was raped and killed was only 15, whereas the F.B.I. document describes her as about 25. And the girl is described by the F.B.I. as about 5, while the mayor of Mahmudiya, Mouayid Fadhil, said the girl was 7.

 

Reading from a hospital report, Mr. Fadhil said the body of the suspected rape victim, Abeer Qasem Hamzeh, had multiple bullet wounds and burn marks. Abeer's sister, Hadeel, was shot in the head, the mayor said; her father, Qasem Hamzeh Rasheed, who was in his mid-40's, suffered head trauma; and her mother, Fakhariya Taja Muhassain, was shot multiple times.

 

Three sons were at school at the time of the March 12 attack and were unharmed, the mayor added.

 

An American military official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said investigators still had no firm ages for the family members and said the victim of the suspected rape had been classified by Iraqis in Mahmudiya as an "adult." But in Iraq, girls who have reached child-bearing age are often referred to as adults.

 

American military officials announced their investigation into the attack last week and said they were pursuing allegations that soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment, attached to the Fourth Infantry Division, were involved. The case is one of four current investigations into allegations that American military personnel were involved in civilian killings, according to an American military spokesman, Maj. Todd Breasseale.

 

A committee of Iraqi officials opened its own investigation into the case on Saturday following conversations with the American military, Mr. Fadhil said. The committee includes Mr. Fadhil, a judge from Mahmudiya, the director of the town's hospital, the local police chief, a member of the Mahmudiya town council and a representative from the Iraqi Army, the mayor said.

 

Major Breasseale said the American authorities welcomed the development. "We would encourage any civilian judiciary or any civilian legislative arm to explore their own investigation," he said in a telephone interview. "That's what a free and open government system does. We wouldn't even think to hinder it."

 

David Stout reported from Washington for this article, and Kirk Semple from Baghdad. Edward Wong and Mona Mahmoud contributed reporting from Baghdad.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/us/03cnd-arrest.html?hp&ex=1151985600&en=6735e03ea1f6c7f9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

MORE REPORTS.............FROM THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS

 

GIs may have planned Iraq rape, slayings

 

Associated Press/RYAN LENZ | July 1 2006

 

BEIJI, Iraq - Investigators believe a group of U.S. soldiers suspected of raping an Iraqi woman, then killing her and three members of her family plotted the attack for nearly a week, a U.S. military official said Saturday.

 

Up to five soldiers are being investigated in the March killings, the fifth pending case involving alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops.

 

The Americans entered the Sunni Arab's family home, separated three males from the woman, raped her and burned her body using a flammable liquid in a cover-up attempt, a military official close to the investigation said. The three males were also slain.

 

The soldiers had studied their victims for about a week and the attack was "totally premeditated," the official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The family had just moved into the home in the insurgent-riddled area around Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

 

The U.S. military issued a terse statement about the killings Friday, saying only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family of four in Mahmoudiya.

 

U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims were killed in sectarian violence. But Mahmoudiya police Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi officials received a report on March 13 alleging that American soldiers had killed the family in the Khasir Abyad area, about 6 miles north of Mahmoudiya.

 

There were some discrepancies over how many soldiers were being investigated. The U.S. military official said it was at least four. Two other U.S. officials said Friday that five were under investigation but one already had been discharged for unspecified charges unrelated to the killings and was believed to be in the United States.

 

The four still in the Army have had their weapons taken away and were confined to a U.S. base near Mahmoudiya, officials said. If convicted of premeditated murder, the soldiers could receive a death sentence under U.S. military law.

 

The suspects were from the 502nd Infantry Regiment and belonged to the same platoon as two soldiers kidnapped and killed south of Baghdad this month, another official close to the investigation said Friday. The soldiers' mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents near Youssifiyah southwest of Baghdad.

 

The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded. The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one member of the platoon to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.

 

One soldier was arrested after admitting his role in the alleged attack on the family, the official said on condition of anonymity because the case was under way. The official said the rape and killings appeared to have been a "crime of opportunity," noting that the soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.

 

One of the family members they allegedly killed was a child, said a senior Army official who also requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The senior official said the alleged incident was first revealed by a soldier during a routine counseling-type session. The official said that soldier did not witness the incident but heard about it.

 

A second soldier, who also was not involved, said he overhead soldiers conspiring to commit the crimes and then later saw bloodstains on their clothes, the official said.

 

The allegations of rape could generate a particularly strong backlash in Iraq, a conservative, strongly religious society in which many women will not even shake hands with men who are not close relatives.

 

The case is among the most serious against U.S. soldiers allegedly involved in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. At least 14 U.S. troops have been convicted.

 

Last week, seven Marines and one Navy medic were charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of an Iraqi man near Fallujah west of Baghdad.

 

U.S. officials are also investigating allegations that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians Nov. 19 in the western town of Haditha in a revenge attack after a fellow Marine died in a roadside bombing.

 

Other cases involve the deaths of three male detainees in Salahuddin province in May, the shooting death of an unarmed Iraqi man near Ramadi in February and the death of an Iraqi soldier after an interrogation at a detention camp in Qaim in 2003.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060701/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_investigation

Sadly even in the army there are terrible people. So Camille what are you doing for the 4th?

off topic....

 

 

 

sleep and go visit my dead Grandmother's tomb. She loved the 4th of July.. and was proud to be a citizen.... (well she's Puerto Rican) so maybe I'll go do that.

 

 

now back to topic..

despite this guy being an ex-GI and stuff.. this has to speak volumes for the state of mind of youn people today. I mean, seriously.... I have never known more young people (offline and on) who ar suffering from some sort of depression or disorder.... its also been scientifically studied as well... I think it speaks volumes for the state of the world today, as well as our individual views on society.... or society in general.

I agree.......I'm even more worried about people who find this stuff normal, you know.....like it's going to happen in any conflict/war.....so it's best to accept it?

 

It's a deeply sad state.

sad indeed.

I agree.......I'm even more worried about people who find this stuff normal, you know.....like it's going to happen in any conflict/war.....so it's best to accept it?

 

It's a deeply sad state.

 

Thats because it will happen in every war. just like in every war people are going to die, be sad, mad. these are part of human nature. and sadly sometimes people do horrible things. thats how life works. its best to accept facts of life, YES. like death, pain, suffering, happiness, joy, love....i accept and most people should common facts of life. Theres always going to be horrible things like this, im not saying its ok or right, but i realize it will happen.

*slaps forehead*

Ok, we can just pretend band things dont happen....we can live in lala land, where nothing goes wrong. Im just saying people need to live in reality, where bad things happen and will happen. along with good things. But to the far left i guess thats crazy:rolleyes:

*slaps forehead again*

Guess you agree.

Thats because it will happen in every war. just like in every war people are going to die' date=' be sad, mad. these are part of human nature. and sadly sometimes people do horrible things. thats how life works. its best to accept facts of life, YES. like death, pain, suffering, happiness, joy, love....i accept and most people should common facts of life. Theres always going to be horrible things like this, im not saying its ok or right, but i realize it will happen.[/quote']

 

By saying this is obvious you have no idea what real war is: obviously many members of your family haven't died or suffered because of it, your home hasn't been destroyed or you ever worried about your life in the hands of soldiers... no, you're just a passive american confortable in your sofa eating your snacks speaking about war just as any other common subject... naive, naive...

 

I read this is a local new paper... that's awfully terrible... really shocking, hope it doesn't stay in the impunity. :(

By saying this is obvious you have no idea what real war is: obviously many members of your family haven't died or suffered because of it, your home hasn't been destroyed or you ever worried about your life in the hands of soldiers... no, you're just a passive american confortable in your sofa eating your snacks speaking about war just as any other common subject... naive, naive...

 

I read this is a local new paper... that's awfully terrible... really shocking, hope it doesn't stay in the impunity. :(

 

Yes because my house hasnt been destroyed i dont realize bad things happen. Me not suffering from war does not mean i dont realize these types of things happen. ive never suffered from rape, yet i realize rape will always happen in this world. and yes my family has suffered from war, so please dont talk unless you know what the fuck you're talking about.

 

I can speak about war because ive studied war for many years, just because i havent suffered in war does not mean i dont understand what happens in it. IF you use that thing god gave you called a brain, you can realize that in every war bad things WILL happen. but i guess thats only true if ive been in a war....:rolleyes:

yes..... many many years....so wise you are. Shall we call you Master Splinter with your wise wise ways?

 

yes..... many many years....so wise you are. Shall we call you Master Splinter with your wise wise ways?

 

 

The sad thing is, what most people call common sense, you call wisdom....:stunned:

:lol: that was actually funny... wisdom!!! bwaahhaaa!!