Posted on 07/09/2006 10:21:17 AM PDT by jamese777
5 U.S. GIs Charged in Iraq Rape-Slay Case Jul 9, 10:26 AM (ET) By ROBERT H. REID
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Four more U.S. soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya, the military said Sunday.
The five were accused Saturday following an investigation into allegations that American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division raped the teenager and killed her and three relatives at her home south of Baghdad.
Ex-soldier Steven D. Green was arrested last week in North Carolina and has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four counts of murder.
The U.S. statement said the five soldiers still on active duty will face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether there is enough evidence to place them on trial.
One of the soldiers was charged with failing to report the attack but is not believed to have participated in it directly, the statement said.
The names of the four soldiers were not released.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
MAHMUDIYA ping. If anyone else would like to be pinged to this subject, let me know via freepmail.
I haven't heard of any actual evidence so far.
I have heard a whole bunch of hearsay.
Think it's a frameup?
Do you know if there is a "Status of Forces Agreement" (SOFA) with the Iraqi government?
Your statement implies that you do not have sufficient faith in the U.S. justice system, or perhaps a surplus of faith in the Iraqi justice system. Myself, I have great faith in the integrity of military justice system, there will be no whitewash, no cover up.
Robert Bork, who was a tank commander during the Korean War, said if he were guilty, he'd prefer a civilian trial, if he were innocent, he'd prefer a military trial.
Which is why this allegation, like the Haditha Hoax, will fall apart under cross. Our military is infected with too many JAG wannabes. Scummy lawyers. Nuff said...
Thank you for your comment.
I also was wondering how they all managed to pull this off in what appears to be a hostile neighborhood, and how they would have had to get out alive without back-up or cover, and how their superior officers didn't know where they were at any given time.
I think it's another example of the media going off half-cocked before any real evidence is presented.
Heard much about Haditha lately? That's because the story -- based in large part on tales told by Iraqi "neighbors" -- is unraveling.
Iraqis now know that if they come forward to report some "atrocity" to the Western press, they will get their name in the papers, at least. Our terrorist enemy knows stories like that hurt our efforts.
I'm viewing ALL of these stories as likely bogus until the decision of a real, live military court.
Thanks to liberals in the government and press, it is now just too easy for profiteers, our enemies, and the mentally-unbalanced to "game the system."
And even if they, or he, was off duty, how he, or they, managed to leave their billet and go into a hostile neighborhood and pull this off and then get back without anyone knowing where they went.
The Justice Department brought the case against Steven Green after an investigation by the FBI.
Don't count on these charges to fall apart any time soon. Most of the timeline has come from those involved.
Prove it...
I wonder how many "home-grown" crimes were blamed on allied troops when we occupied Germany after WWII?
With this many soldiers involved, all the prosecution has to do is get one to turn completely. I predict this will happen, as doing a life sentence at Leavenworth when in one's 20s will be an unwelcome prospect.
Ever thought Steven Green might be just a ittle off his rocker?
This story started to stink for me when I read the article that said these Marines had carefully planned the rape and murder for days.
Yeah, sure, four or five guys always spend their time sitting around planning rapes.
And I'm sure they ALL were nuts enough to want to destroy their careers and spend their lives in prison for one hotsy-totsy Iraqi girl.
This simply doesn't work. As I intimated in my previous post, it is MUCH easier to surmise that -- the Iraqis or Al-Queda having seen the damage "atrocity" stories do to our war effort -- the Americans were blamed for a "home-grown" atrocity.
Yep. It's a theater of lies, now.
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