Questions about the Affidavit against Pvt. Green (Iraqi Rape/Murder case)

Findlaw.com/Pissant ^ | 7/5/06 | Pissant

[La Enchiladita]

From the story cited above:

In Mahmoudiya, Mayor Mouayad Fadhil said Iraqi authorities have started their own investigation into the rape-killing.

This addresses another question I had, so: Is this their first investigation into the crime, 4 months later?

[TexKat]

U.S. Raid in Baghdad Draws Fire from Iraqi Religious Leaders

"The infidel American troops supported by the so-called Iraqi dirty division raided the city, killing and injuring a lot of innocent people using all kinds of weapons," Sheik Abdul Zahra Swaidi told thousands of worshippers gathered for prayers in Sadr City, a vast Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad that is home to many loyalists of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr.

"This is an unexcusable act," Sheik Sadraldin Qabanchi, a cleric linked to a rival Shiite group, told worshippers in Najaf. "I demand that the Iraqi government show some explanation for this matter."

Sunni religious leaders took to the pulpit today to attack American soldiers for the alleged rape and murder of an Iraqi woman and her family that came to light in recent days, as well as alleged abuses committed by Iraq's Shiite-dominated security forces.

"Where do we start to reflect upon our calamities?" Sheik Ahmad Abdul-Ghafoor Samaraii, leader of Baghdad's influential Um Qura mosque, told worshippers. "Shall we start with the Iraqi girl, who was raped, killed, burned and then her family killed and her house burned? Is this American civilization? Is this the American liberation?"

[TexKat]

Completion of Al Buhaira School in Mahmudiyah is gift to children, Soldiers

Last Page Update: Sunday, March 19, 2006 4:16 PM

[TexKat]

Joint Raid Captures 2 Linked to Rebel Shiite Leader

In the criminal case involving Steven D. Green, the former Army private accused of raping an Iraqi teenager and killing her and three family members, a military official disclosed Friday that three other soldiers still under investigation include a sergeant, a specialist and a private first class.

The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about these details, said all four men were in the same platoon, which is part of the First Battalion, 502nd Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division.

[TexKat]

Not Just Another Abuse Scandal

[La Enchiladita]

Relevant info: three other soldiers still under investigation include a sergeant, a specialist and a private first class.

I am assuming these three are "named" in the affidavit, and not three additional troops.

[TexKat]

U.S. military ready for "pain" over Iraqi killings

Disciplinary action now seems likely, officials said, over failures by 2nd Marine Division officers in their command duty.

"The Marines will go through their day of pain," said a military official in Baghdad familiar with recommendations made by ground forces commander, Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli.

Its findings should be made public soon, possibly in a week, as U.S. generals and diplomats strive to assure a sceptical Iraqi public -- and their new government -- that soldiers are being held accountable for a string of suspected abuses.

Those include a rape-murder case that has outraged the nation and fuelled calls for the 127,000 Americans to go home.

[TexKat]

I am assuming these three are "named" in the affidavit, and not three additional troops.

I believe so.

[TexKat]

From the Fort Campbell Courier, published on December 16, 2005, titled, 'First Strike' begins Iraq Street patrols ,” PFC Steven Green was interviewed:

Dogs barked incessantly as Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment began to patrol their sector of Mullah Fayed Dec. 2…

The mission was a ‘cordon and knock’, where the perimeter of an area is secured, usually by Soldiers manning machine guns in vehicles, while the Soldiers who are performing the patrol go from house to house conducting searches…

As the searches continued, it became obvious to the Soldiers they probably would not find anything they were looking for, but the mission continued. Some of the Soldiers were surprised at how relatively uneventful the day was.

“We succeeded in clearing Mullah Fayed, but it’s kind of disappointing that we didn’t find anything,” said Pfc. Steven Green. “I was surprised by how many people weren’t home, but the ones who were there were submissive and let us look through their things.”

Even though the Soldiers of Company B were slightly disappointed they were not able to find any weapons or insurgents, they accomplished an equally important mission: creating a climate of fear for insurgents…

[TexKat]

Soldiers at Yusafiyah see it all go up in smoke

February 20, 2006

No one was injured in the blaze, which soldiers believed was caused by faulty electrical wiring. But here in a deadly region known as “the Triangle of Death,” the fire was just the latest hardship to befall the soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment.

Ryan Crosby / U.S. Army Sgt. Nathan Loper shows where his company kept its headquarters and barracks until an electrical fire on Feb. 5 destroyed the building.

In an area where catastrophic roadside bombs and mortar fire are seen nearly every day, the 140 soldiers with the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based unit of the 101st Airborne Division have seen six soldiers killed in action and more than 20 wounded since arriving in November.

“We thought: what else can go wrong? But then I thought, ‘I don’t really want to ask that question,” said Capt. John Goodwin, a Wisconsin native and the company commander. Indeed, about two hours after the fire, six mortar rounds rained down on the small camp, damaging a portable toilet and the windshield of a helicopter.

It’s been a fast-paced and stressful deployment for the soldiers. They often spend days at a time living at fortified traffic checkpoints, sleeping in their trucks or fending off attacks along the dangerous roads leading from the Euphrates River into Baghdad’s city center.

[TexKat]

War stories: Soldier's death leaves others thinking 'what if' Routine search of Iraqi house turned into a fatal firefight

[OmahaFields]

"They often spend days at a time living at fortified traffic checkpoints,"

Clearing the fog.

[TexKat]

Clearing the fog.

Article written February 20, 2006

[TexKat]

Stars and Stripes Article dated February 27, 2006

U.S. troops avoid both sides of sectarian fight south of Baghdad

Tension between Sunnis, Shias rises in Mahmudiyah

The Mahdi militia has been operating openly in Mahmudiyah in recent weeks, intimidating Sunni residents and possibly killing some of them, according to U.S. intelligence reports.

But the Mahdi militia members avoid confrontation with U.S. troops by concealing their weapons when U.S. troop patrols approach. Troops here say they will seize weapons or detain militia members who operate openly.

U.S. troops were pleased to see local Iraqi security forces respond, allowing a patrol of U.S. soldiers to monitor the situation from a safe distance.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of that,” Bordwell said. “I don’t want to pick a side. It would be the first people who engaged us and it would probably make a bigger mess than was already there.”

[OmahaFields]

Wonder who posted this? Sort of clashes with some posts made by that person on this thread.

"there is bound to be more than a few retards in the officer corps"

[TexKat]

"there is bound to be more than a few retards in the officer corps"

Where did that come from?

[TexKat]

Stars and Stripes Article dated March 4, 2006

Air assault spearheads push to hurt insurgency in area south of Baghdad

The 101st Airborne’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team has faced one of the toughest fights in Iraq. The Fort Campbell, Ky.-based unit has seen 31 soldiers killed since arriving here in November.

The targeted area is thick with a mix of Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters. A Saudi Arabian man and several Iraqis were arrested last week after an Iraqi army unit found them carrying an anti-aircraft gun in their pick-up truck, officials said.

In keeping with the clear-and- hold strategy employed by U.S. troops in recent months, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion plan to set up a permanent patrol base in the village of Sadr Yusufiyah, officials said.

The insurgents’ attacks have fallen particularly heavy on the 1st-502nd’s Company B, which has lost six men and sent several others home with serious injuries since its arrival. Capt. John Goodwin, Company B commander, hopes this week’s assault will ease the daily attacks on the patrol bases and traffic checkpoints.

“We’ve kicked the hornets nest a few times already, now we are going to take a baseball bat and give it a good whack,” Goodwin said.

[OmahaFields]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662344/posts?page=7#7

[TexKat]

Stars and Stripes Article dated February 25, 2006

In Mahmudiyah, tensions were at a boiling point before Samarra mosque attack

Intelligence reports say gun-toting Shiite militiamen are roaming the city’s Sunni neighborhoods, intimidating Sunni residents, throwing them out of their homes and in some cases killing them.

On Friday morning, U.S. troops watched as dozens of trucks bearing caskets drove south from Baghdad into the city. Soldiers fear the coffins may be a method for Sunnis to discretely smuggle weapons into the region to prepare for open sectarian warfare. Traffic checkpoints run by the Iraqi army found no weapons, U.S. troops said.

*******

In response, U.S. troops have stepped up patrols, with soldiers looking for telltale signs of sectarian aggression, such as a black flags over a Sunni mosque, indicating Shiite militias have overtaken the holy site.

Shiite militias and sectarian violence in the city are just one concern for Kunk and his battalion. Several miles to the west, troops securing farmland near the Euphrates River are battling a tenacious Sunni insurgency that has taken the lives of 14 soldiers since the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based unit arrived here about four months ago.

Buildings at the base shook Friday as American artillerymen fired large counter-battery missiles at Sunni insurgents lobbing mortar rounds at U.S.-run traffic checkpoints several miles away.

The Shiite militias operate openly in Mahmudiyah, but they carefully avoid doing so in front of U.S. forces. A network of informants tells the militants when U.S. troops are nearby, giving them time to conceal their weapons and blend into the general population, U.S. soldiers said.

[TexKat]

Stars and Stripes Article dated March 3, 2006

U.S. troops in 'Triangle of Death' see independent Iraqi army as distant goal

Progress noted, but force's equipment, competence level, trustworthiness debated

On one recent afternoon, Whitaker and several other U.S. soldiers were printing identification cards for brigade soldiers, who previously had no standardized way to verify their employment status with the Iraqi army.

And there are other problems. An Iraqi colonel — who was a Sunni and well-respected by U.S. troops for bringing local Sunnis and Shiites together — was killed recently, found in a roadside canal with several bullet wounds in his head.

U.S. troops believe that Shiite militias with ties to the local Iraqi army unit or rogue elements in the Iraqi unit itself may have played a role in the colonel’s death.

Skepticism is an essential tool for dealing with the Iraqis, U.S. soldiers say.

“We should trust no one,” said Maj. Fred Wintrich, the battalion’s executive officer. “The majority of Iraqi soldiers are honest and committed to the Iraqi security forces’ role in a stable Iraq. But even the Iraqis know they have individual people out there who are not necessarily vested in the legitimacy of the army leadership.”

Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk, the battalion commander, recently urged his staff to accept the fact that the Iraqi security forces are not completely reliable.

“The Iraqi army and the Iraqi police pretend like they work together, but they really don’t,” Kunk said at a recent staff meeting at Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah. “We just have to understand that there are corrupt people in all of the organizations.”