Posted on 08/07/2006 12:41:28 PM PDT by MizSterious
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago
U.S. soldiers accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl drank alcohol and hit golf balls before the attack, an investigator said Monday at a U.S. military hearing to determine whether they should stand trial.
Criminal investigator Benjamin Bierce said he interviewed one of the accused, Spc. James P. Barker, on June 30, and recorded graphic and brutal details of the alleged assault on March 12.
Bierce was testifying on the second day of the hearing to determine whether five U.S. soldiers must stand trial in the rape-slaying of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the killing of her father, Qassim Hamza; her mother, Fikhriya Taha; and her 5-year-old sister, Hadeel Qassim Hamza, in the town of Mahmoudiya, one of the most violent areas in Iraq.
The rape and murders are among the worst in a series of cases of alleged misconduct by U.S. service members that have tarnished the American military.
Barker's sworn and signed statement was submitted as evidence during the hearing and Bierce revealed portions during his testimony.
Barker is accused along with Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, Pfc. Bryan L. Howard of rape and murder. Another soldier, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is accused of failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.
Former Pfc. Steven D. Green was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder" after the incident and was arrested in North Carolina in June on rape and murder charges. He has pleaded not guilty in federal court and is being held without bond.
At Monday's hearing, Pfc. Justin Watt testified that Howard told him before the incident that Green, Cortez and Barker had planned to rape a girl, and Howard was to be the lookout.
"There's nothing I've read that says what to do if your buddies have raped and murdered a family," Watt said.
Another investigator, Michael Hood, testified that he interviewed Spielman, who denied shooting or having sex with anyone in the house. Spielman passed a lie detector test, Hood said.
According to Barker's sworn statement cited by Bierce, Green not only raped the girl but also shot her and her family members after telling his comrades repeatedly that he wanted to kill some Iraqis.
Bierce testified that on the day of the attack, Barker, Cortez, Spielman and Green had been playing cards and drinking Iraqi whiskey mixed with an energy drink. Afterward, they practiced hitting golf balls, Bierce quoted Barker as saying in his statement.
Bierce said Barker's statement made it clear that Green was very persistent about killing some Iraqis and kept bringing up the idea. At some point, they decided to go to the house of Abeer, whom they had seen passing by their checkpoint earlier.
According to Bierce, Barker told him that when they arrived at the house, Abeer and her father were outside. Spielman grabbed Abeer while Green seized her father and took them into the house, Bierce said, quoting Barker. Cortez and Barker also went in.
Green took the father, mother and the younger sister into the bedroom and closed the door, while Abeer remained in the living room with the others.
Barker wrote that Cortez pushed Abeer to the floor, lifted her dress and tore off her underwear while she struggled, Bierce said. Cortez appeared to rape her, according to Barker's statement, Bierce said.
Barker then tried to rape the girl, Bierce said. Suddenly, the group heard gunshots. According to Barker's statement, which was read by Bierce, Green came out of the bedroom, holding an AK-47 rifle, and declared: "They're all dead. I just killed them."
Green put the gun down, then raped Abeer while Cortez held her down; Barker claims Green picked up the AK-47 and shot her once, paused, then shot her several more times, Bierce said.
Barker confirmed he got a kerosene lamp and poured the fuel on the girl's body, Bierce said. The body was set on fire, but Barker does not say who did it. Barker's statement also does not say if Howard or Spielman participated in the rape.
Barker's statement says he grilled chicken wings when they got back to their checkpoint, Bierce testified. A few hours later, Barker wrote, Iraqi soldiers came to report they had found a family murdered.
Since the case became public last month, U.S. officials have said they were concerned it could strain relations with Iraq's new government if Iraqis perceive that the soldiers receive lenient treatment.
The Americans have offered assurances that the case will be pursued vigorously and that the soldiers will be punished if convicted.
The case has already increased demands for changes in an agreement that exempts U.S. soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts. And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation into the case.
He's the head of the hospital that received them. He was quoted contemporaneously. He was apparently in charge of the autopsies. I'd be calling him to testify.
The testimony of the Iraqi army medic does not say he performed an autopsy.
You know what I think of the alleged confessions already, so I won't repeat it here.
If anything, the testimony of the last two days would seem to indicate that a courts-martial will take place.
No one is arguing there wasn't an event. We thoroughly exhausted that one on the last thread.
Yes, so far it does. But once again, we get one sentence from the defense in the AP's two major stories on the subject but inundated with what the Iraqi medic said and what Investigator Benjamin Bierce said.
It would be exceedingly refreshing, and unlikely, for the AP quote the defense lawyers extensively. But perhaps they will in the next few days.
Courtesy PING
The girl was sprawled naked in the house, her torso and head burned by flames, and she had a single bullet wound under her left eye, he said.
He said he found Abeer's 5-year-old sister, Hadeel, in an adjacent room dead from a bullet wound in the head. The children's father, Qassim, and mother, Fikhriya, suffered similar deaths, he said. The mother's abdomen and chest were riddled with bullets, he added.
''I was feeling very bad,'' he said. ''I was sick for almost two weeks.''
He told the hearing that because Mahmoudiya's hospital did not have enough space to store the bodies, they were kept in an air-conditioned ambulance overnight, then buried the following day.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/cst-nws-iraqrape07.html
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Now we have "first guy on the scene" #1, Abu al-Janabi from July 6th LA Times.
He was the first to enter the charred farmhouse where the bodies of his relatives lay strewn about the floor, shot and bludgeoned to death.
(snip) Entering the home
He and his wife had to douse some of the flames before they could enter the home.
"Kassim's corpse was in the corner of the room and his head was smashed into pieces," he said. The 5-year-old daughter, Hadeel, was beside her father, and Janabi said he could see that both of Fakhriya's arms had been broken.
In another room, he found 15-year-old Abeer, naked and burned, with her head smashed in "by a concrete block or a piece of iron."
"There were burns from the bottom of her stomach to the end of her body, except for her feet," he said.
Together, they went to a checkpoint manned by Iraqi soldiers to tell them what had happened. Then they went back to the house and watched as the bodies were placed in nylon bags and taken to a nearby Iraqi base.
http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060706/NEWS/607060375
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Now here is "first guy on the scene" #2, Omar Janabi via the Washington Post July 3:
Janabi was one of the first people to arrive at the house after the attack, he said Saturday, speaking to a Washington Post special correspondent at the home of local tribal leaders. He said he found Abeer sprawled dead in a corner, her hair and a pillow next to her consumed by fire, and HER DRESS PUSHED UP TO HER NECK.
(snip) Janabi said U.S. soldiers controlled the scene of the killings for several hours MARCH 11, telling neighbors that insurgents were responsible. The bodies of the victims were taken to Mahmudiyah hospital by March 12, according to Janabi and an official at the hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On March 13, a man identifying himself as a relative claimed the bodies for burial, the hospital official said. An hour after the man left with the bodies, U.S. soldiers came to the hospital and asked about the bodies, the hospital official said.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060703/REPOSITORY/607030356/1013/48HOURS
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Then we have "first guy at the scene" #3, from the the AP via Kuwait Times, Ahmed Taha, an uncle.
"We found them dead in the house. We also found the house blackened and smoke coming from it," Ahmed said, holding a shovel and sitting near a mud puddle with a cow grazing behind him.
FBI documents have estimated the rape victim was about 25, but Ahmed Taha said his niece was 15. He said Iraqi police were informed and came with US troops to take the bodies to the nearby AMERICAN base. The family retrieved the bodies at the BASE the next morning. "Nobody knew who killed them," he told an AP Televsion News cameraman. "Some said it was insurgents, and in fact, we ruled out the American troops" until the US investigation was announced on Friday.
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/Navariednews.asp?dismode=article&artid=998587717
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And one more "first guy at the scene", just for sh*ts and grins, Mahdi Obeid Saleh, a cousin, via Time Magazine's ever reliable reporting.
If there was an element of strategic calculation behind the public remarks of U.S. officials, there was genuine emotion too. In private meetings with Abeer's relatives, military officers apologized repeatedly, and a one-star general hugged her two orphaned brothers. "The general seemed emotionally distressed. He was not pretending," concluded Mahdi Obeid Saleh, Abeer's cousin, who says he rushed to the crime scene and doused the flames on her burning body. Both Saleh and Army investigators initially thought the attack was the work of insurgents. "This is what happens when you harbor terrorists," a military translator lectured Saleh on the day of the slayings.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211562-1,00.html
Sounds to me that there were more than a few hands in this mess, and the locals cannot get the story straight.
I've documented previously what was wrong with the timelines.
See posts 13 and 16 as well.
"Barker's statement says he grilled chicken wings when they got back to their checkpoint, Bierce testified. A few hours later, Barker wrote, Iraqi soldiers came to report they had found a family murdered."
Why would Iraqi soldiers report to Barker that a family was murdered, when 4 of our guys went with the Iraqi soldiers and photographed the murder victims?
"Barker claims Green picked up the AK-47 and shot her once, paused, then shot her several more times, Bierce said. "
The Iraqi medic testified yesterday that Abber Al-Janabi had a single gunshot wound under the left eye.
Sounds like Barker's alleged confession to Bierce is pretty shaky.
Last 3 paragraphs say it all. I will not trust any of the investigations done by the military. They don't care about the truth, only appeasing their civilian masters, who are appeasing terrorists. I am furious. Maybe things happened, but why no exam of the body by US authorities?
One would think the Iraqis would determine avenging the honor of their daughter more important than Islam's foolish rules... Body never exhumed. I don't buy it.
How do we even know they were "murdered"? If they were, what about the autopsies? There weren't any. It is disgusting how the military is handling these cases.
Thank you very much pissant!
We know they were murdered because two Marines gave sworn statements saying they were.
Bierce is the guy the defense lawyers are targeting for having been sloppy, and "creative".
You need to get Barker up there speaking for himself.
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