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
Alcohol-fueled?
Another, not good...
It may be true, but...
Is it just me, or have accusations like this been flying since Haditha? Hardly a week goes by that doesn't see charges of rape and murder leveled against GIs.
I have not seen anybody on any thread say "our military does not do stuff like this." I have seen many that want to extend to the accused the presumption of innocence.
Charges have been brought against this soldier but that doesn't mean he is guilty. I'll admit it doesn't look good.
Lt. Pantano was charged with premeditated murder and a courts marshal was convened and all charges were dropped so I would question who is making knee jerk reactions.
You have never been in the military, obviously. As a Marine legal officer and pilot from 1972 to 1980, I can tell you that 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 anomoly and it is delt with harshly in accordance with the UCMJ!
All I said was that I'll wait for the facts to come out. I never implied or suggested that the soldier should get off or stoop to the terrorists' level.
Thanks...
DITTO....
You're not the only one SE Mom. He can't pass up a thread without supporting the media that presume our soldiers and Marines guilty.
..look at the leadership in this unit...
This morning on BookTV, Ron Suskind was talking about his book, "The One Percent Doctrine" and I believe I heard him say the two GIs from the 101st were killed by Iraqi policemen who were still being trained by Americans.
wow. I agree with you on something. That hasn't happened in quite some time :>
Seriously, you should take a break. Sinkspur is a realist.
Try and execute any guilty parties, and then get on with the business at hand.
"Discharged due to a personality disorder"?Anyone know what that means?
It requires a grasp of reality in order to be a realist. Pessimist, maybe, at best.
I've read Sinkspur's posts for some time. His/her feet are firmly on the ground.
"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."
There have been quite a number of news posts on FR over the past few years detailing the following: lowering of standards / increase in waivers for recent enlisted into the Army, relaxing the rigors of Army bootcamp and lastly a surge in gang activity / petty criminality in the Army in general but in Iraq in particular. So for you to claim that the Army "weeds" the scumbags out, is misplaced faith. That branch has been doing all it can to keep them in with the inevitable bad consequences. Let's hope that this isn't one of them.
Are the prosecutors US military, or are they a bunch of creeps who have it in for the guys in the trenches?
I'm sorry you'd rather everyone on these threads be cheerleaders, even for lawbreakers.
I look forward to lawbreakers, whether in military or out, being rooted out and punished.
People like Green make men like my son, ex-military who spent three years in Kosovo, very angry. It's hard not to catch a little of that from him.
That, of course, is not true, but it is one of the traits of those who have called the 15 year old who was raped a "whore," and state that her family killed her and burned her body, to imply that any discussion of these incidents not straight down a certain party line is unpatriotic.
Well, you made most of my points for me! I was just listening to Lt. Ilario Pantano on Rush, during lunch, today. If anything, I'd guess that our military justice system would tend to be overly-presumptious of guilt in a case* like this, but, then again, guilt surely is possible.
The problem is of course how this will be taken in Iraq. We need to, and I am confident our investigators will, find out what really happened. IF, and I stress the IF... IF this guy or someone else is guilty, then a public execution in Iraq would be the best bet (but probably not "legal", though I know little about UCMJ.) Oh, wait, that's right, the accused is already in our civilian legal system 'cause he's already out of the service.
*I was once foreman on a jury in a much lesser case with a former M.P. -- a great guy, actually. But the other 11 of us on the jury had the darndest time convincing him that even though all of us were pretty suspicious of the accused, the state simply did not prove it's case. Not even close. But Mr. M.P. was sure the guy was guilty. I didn't think we were ever going to get out of that jury room. But, I wasn't mad at the M.P., I just made sure to never vote for that dang lousy local prosecutor!
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