Posted on 07/03/2006 3:46:35 PM PDT by motife
Ex-Soldier Charged in Brutal Rape, Slayings By TIM WHITMIRE
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (July 3) - A former Army soldier was charged with the alcohol-fueled rape and killing of a young Iraqi woman and the murder of her family, a crime the attackers apparently tried to cover up by burning the victims' bodies.
Steven D. Green, a 21-year-old former private first class discharged this spring for a "personality disorder," made an initial appearance on rape and murder charges in a federal courtroom Monday morning, three days after he was arrested by FBI agents in western North Carolina.
Green was ordered held without bond while waiting to be taken to Louisville, Kentucky, where he faces four counts of murder and one of rape stemming from the March incident. Each of the murder charges carries a possible death sentence.
According to an affidavit unsealed during his court appearance, Green was part of a group of four soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based 101st Airborne Division who invaded a home near the traffic checkpoint they manned in Mahmoudiya, Iraq, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad. Once inside, the affidavit said, Green and another soldier raped a young Iraqi woman who lived there.
Two other soldiers from the division's 502nd Infantry Regiment who were present and interviewed by investigators said Green fired shots from an AK-47 submachine gun that killed the woman, as well as three members of her family: a man, woman and a young girl.
The FBI affidavit estimated the rape victim's age as 25, but a neighbor in Mahmoudiya said Monday she was 14.
The military's investigation into the killings first became public last week. U.S. officials in Iraq have said they learned of the deaths in March, after the family's bodies were found inside a burned residence. They initially believed the killings were a result of sectarian violence.
Investigators in Iraq have said they believe the soldiers planned the rape for up to a week. According to the affidavit, written by Louisville-based FBI agent Gregor Ahlers, Green and fellow soldiers discussed the attack while drinking on the night of March 11, then changed clothes in an effort to disguise themselves before going to the woman's home and carrying out the assault.
Upon arriving at the residence, Green took the woman's relatives into a bedroom, according to one soldier interviewed by investigators. The sound of gunshots from inside the room followed, and Green emerged to say, "I just killed them, all are dead," the affidavit said.
"Immediately after this, (the soldier) witnessed (another soldier) and Green rape the woman ... . After the rape, (the soldier) witnessed Green shoot the woman in the head two to three times," Ahlers wrote.
Another soldier present during the attack told a similar story and said he was instructed afterward to dump the murder weapon in a nearby canal, which he did.
Investigators also interviewed a fifth soldier, who was left behind to man the radio at the traffic checkpoint. That soldier said Green and three others returned from the woman's house "with blood on their clothes, which they burned. Immediately after this, they each told (the soldier) that this is never to be discussed again."
Ahlers said in the affidavit he reviewed photos taken by Army investigators in Iraq of bodies found inside the burned house, including photos of an Iraqi man, woman and young girl who all appear to have died of gunshot wounds. He said he also reviewed a photo of a burned body of "what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."
An official familiar with details of the investigation in Iraq has told The Associated Press that a flammable liquid was used to burn the rape victim's body in an attempted cover-up.
The satellite channel Al-Jazeera gave wide coverage to the alleged attack. But according to the affidavit, military officials learned of the American role in the deaths less than two weeks ago, after a soldier confessed to involvement during a routine military counseling session.
[b]The soldiers accused in the rape and killings are from the same platoon as two soldiers whose mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents near Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad. Military officials say they believe guilt over the mutilations may have spurred the confession.[/b]
No other soldier has been charged in the case, said Maj. Joseph Breasseale, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. However, military officials have said four Army soldiers have had their weapons taken away and are confined to their base near Mahmoudiya.
Authorities did not say why Green was arrested in Marion. According to the affidavit, he was expected to return a rental car to Fort Campbell on Friday or Saturday, after attending a funeral in Arlington, Virginia, for one of the mutilated soldiers.
Green served for 11 months with the 101st Airborne Division, according to the affidavit, and he received an honorable discharge "before this incident came to light. Green was discharged due to a personality disorder."
Green will have a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing on July 10 in Charlotte, and will then be brought to Louisville, said Marisa Ford, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Louisville.
The mayor of Mahmoudiya, Mouayad Fadhil, said Monday that Iraqi authorities had started their own investigation. He said U.S. Army officers were also seeking permission to exhume one of the bodies; the U.S. military declined to comment on the report because the investigation is ongoing.
Associated Press writers Brett Barrouquere in Louisville, Mark Sherman in Washington and Kim Gamel and Robert H. Reid in Baghdad contributed to this report.
7/3/2006 16:22 EDT
Since you seem to be the self-appointed arbiter of morality around here, Syncro, I guess my life must be pretty pathetic compared to yours.
Rejoice that you are not like the rest of men!
>>>>>i wonder how you could interpret my comment that way??
Maybe it was where you said "they on the other hand are ALL sick fiends."
Well, yea but that is not the point.
The point is you do not address the points addressed to you.
As I said before, your rush to judgment on almost every accusation against our Military and our Country is revealing as to who you are. And not very supportive of our system of justice.
You simply don't know what you're talking about. But, then, that is you, Syncro.
Pontificating and judgement is what you do.
Our system of justice demands that rapists and murderers be punished. If Green is guilty, he will be punished.
You are correct not to trust the enemy media, they have not earned our trust.
But our soldiers have earned respect, and support.
Tucker and Menchaca were from the same platoon as the GIs that allegedly committed these crimes. Apparently the way that they were mutilated made some of the other guys in the platoon associate their abduction and murder with the events in March.
I read in comments elsewhere that the two GIs killed were beheaded, castrated, and had their members stuffed into their mouths. (This would support a sex-attack retribution interpretation.) However, the poster didn't have any citations. Has anyone else read any confirmation of this? The brigade itself has been placed on a news blackout since the end of June, so there are no emails or phone calls coming from them to the folks back home.
The 502nd is on its second tour over there, arriving back there last October. They've lost over 160 troops since the war began, and suffered over 230 IED attacks on this tour. Their FOB burned down in February. Mamoudiyah is a hell-hole - that's the city where a suicide bomber blew up the emergency room of this hospital a few months ago.
These guys have been through the meatgrinder, and don't see an end in sight. If this crime is indeed confirmed, they are going to be the targets of even less cooperation and more retributive attacks.
Projection. As expected.
They make the most noise and only hear themselves.
They don't hesitate to call our troops murderers before any facts are presented, and then later claim that if guilty they should be punished.
As was mentioned more than once, these types of accusations (and crimes) occur much more often in other groups of the same size than in the Military.
It's interesting I don't see these accusers of our Military jump on the terrorists case when they kill and mutilate our Troops. That is quite telling in it's self.
Thank goodness for the AP. /sarc
They manage to always get the story of a soldier who has been charged with murder of an Iraqi. A charge of murder a week.
They can't seem to find or report on anything good out of Iraq.
I am curious as to why you edited the story before posting it.
I believe I heard him say the two GIs from the 101st were killed by Iraqi policemen who were still being trained by Americans.
Two separate incidents.
Agree. It's wildly imaginative. Remember, all this came from a soldier who was not on scene.
It is also a statistical fact that a private getting four fellow soldiers to go along with it is about one in 10 million.
No, and Quagmire ... er, I mean sinkspur... will not respond to downtownconservative.
Because DTC basically ended the discussion thus:
...this happens less in the military than it does in civilian life. Military induction and training tends to weed out the criminals and psychos and military leadership does not tolerate the presence of these types of people in their commands. When this happens, and if it happened, it is an anomaly and it is dealt with harshly in accordance with the UCMJ!
AND, because DTC knows what he is talking about and Quagmire DOESN'T.
Aren't soldiers supposed to be in radio contact with their immediate superiors at all times, who should be aware of their whereabouts and activities at all times? And are they not strictly following orders at all times when outside the wire?
I contend this group of 4 (or 5) soldiers would not have had the freedom to commit these alleged deeds.
And I believe, even in a squad, there is a designated leader. That was not the PFC's position, so he could not convince a superior to go along with his alleged plan.
New York SLIMES??!!
Are you joking? Get it out of here.
It's called Leadership. That's what the NCO Corp stands by, regardless of the branch of service.
You already answered some of my questions. I would assume that accountability is built into all SOP.
The Americans took Qasim, his wife, and their daughter Hadil and put them in one room of their house. The boys Ahmad and Muhammad were at school since the time the Americans invaded the home was about 2pm. The Americans shot Qasim, his wife, and their daughter in that room. They pumped four bullets into Qasim’s head and five bullets in to Fakhriyah’s abdomen and lower abdomen. Hadil was shot in the head and shoulder.
After that, the Americans took ‘Abir into the next room and surrounded her in one corner of the house. There they stripped her, and then the Americans took turns raping her. They then struck her on the head with a sharp instrument – according to the forensic medical report – knocking her unconscious – and smothered her with a cushion until she was dead. Then they set fire to her body.
The neighbor of the family said: “At 2pm a force of Americans raided the home of the martyr Qasim, God rest his soul. They surrounded him and I heard the sound of gunfire. Then the gunfire fell silent. An hour later I saw clouds of smoke rising from the room and then the occupation troops came quickly out of the house. They surrounded the area together with Shi‘i ‘Iraqi National Guard’ forces, and they told us that terrorists from al-Qa‘idah had entered the house and killed them all. They wouldn’t let any of us into the house. But I told one of the ‘National Guard’ soldiers that I was their neighbor and that I wanted to see them so that I could tell al-Hajj Abu al-Qasim the news about his son and his son’s family, so one of the soldiers agreed to let me enter.
“So I went into the house and found in the first room the late Qasim and his wife and Hadil. Their bodies were swimming in blood. Their blood had spewed out of their bodies with such force that it had flowed out from under the door of the room. I turned them over but there was no response; their lives were already gone.”
“Then I went into ‘Abir’s room. Fire was coming out of her. Her head and her chest were on fire. She had been put in a pitiful position; they had lifted her white gown to her neck and torn her bra. Blood was flowing from between her legs even though she had died a quarter of an hour earlier, and in spite of the intensity of the fire in the room. She had died, may God rest her soul. I knew her from the first instant. I knew she had been raped since she had been turned on her face and the lower part of her body was raised while her hands and feet had been tied. By God, I couldn’t control myself and broke into tears over her, but I quickly extinguished the fire burning from her head and chest. The fire had burned up her breasts, the hair on her head, and the flesh on her face. I covered her privates with a piece of cloth, God rest her soul. And at that moment, I thought to myself that if I go out talking and threatening, that they would arrest me, so I took control of myself and resolved to leave the house calmly so that I could be a witness to tell the story of this tragedy.
“After three hours the [American] occupation troops surrounded the house and told the people of the area that the family had been killed by terrorists because they were Shi‘ah. Nobody in town believed that story because Abu ‘Abir was known as one of the best people of the city, one of the noblest, and no Shi‘i, but a Sunni monotheist. Everyone doubted their story and so after the sunset prayers the occupation troops took the four bodies away to the American base. Then the next day they handed them over to the al-Mahmudiyah government hospital and told the hospital administration that terrorists had killed the family. That morning I went with relatives of the deceased to the hospital. We received the bodies and buried them, may God have mercy on them.”
“Then we decided that we must not be silent so we asked the mujahideen to respond as quickly as possible. They responded with 30 attacks on the occupation in two days. But the Resistance fighters told us that God does not allow the blood of any Muslim to be lost, and they told us to patiently persevere and we would see such a punishment for the blood of ‘Abir and her family, for the violation of the honor of our sister, a punishment that would make people’s hair stand on end.
“I personally wasn’t surprised that Umm ‘Abir [‘Abir’s mother] came to me on 9 March 2006 and asked that ‘Abir be allowed to spend the night with my daughters. She was afraid because of the way the occupation troops looked at her when she went out to feed the cows. I agreed to that because there was an occupation forces’ command post just 15 meters from Qasim’s house, God rest his soul. But frankly I thought it unlikely that anything would happen to the girl because she was only something like 16 and she was just a little girl. But I agreed and she spent one night at our place and then went back to her home in the morning.”
“The occupation troops came last Friday – that is, one day before the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent visited the scene of the crime – and asked the people of the area to exhume the body of ‘Abir to conduct tests on it. And they also asked me to provide eyewitness testimony and I will go anywhere to make sure that justice is served.”
If I heard Suskind say what I believe he said, how can I be wrong? Anyway, if there is any validity to it, we'll hear more eventually.
About Sinkspur, it's my opinion and we're all entitled to our opinions. I can't be wrong about that either. He's rational and makes good sense to me.
Oh, if you talk about another FReeper, be sure to ping them when you post. I'm sure that was an oversight.
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