Posted on 08/07/2006 3:57:32 PM PDT by MizSterious
Iraqi testimony opens hearing for five US soldiers in Mahmoudiya rape-slaying case
(AP)
6 August 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Unidentified Iraqi witnesses testified behind closed door Sunday at a US military court to determine if five American soldiers should be court-martialed in the alleged rape-slaying of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl. Three of the girl’s relatives also were killed in the town of Mahmoudiya on March 12, which is among the worst incidents in a series of cases alleging US troops killed or abused Iraqi civilians.
The hearing began Sunday with testimony by unidentified Iraqi witnesses. The media and public were barred from covering the Iraqis after an appeal by the trial counsel to protect the witnesses, who could be at risk if they are seen as collaborating with the Americans.
The soldiers _ Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Spc. James P. Barker, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard _ are charged with conspiring to rape the girl along with former Pfc. Steven D. Green, who was arrested in North Carolina in June. Green has pleaded not guilty in federal court and is being held without bond.
A fifth soldier from the same unit, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is charged with failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.
It was not clear how many Iraqis will testify and when non-Iraqi witnesses will be called during the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding. The hearing will decide whether there is enough evidence to convene a court-martial for the five soldiers.
It is the fifth such investigation against US soldiers in Iraq, including a group of Marines accused of killing 24 people at Haditha last November.
US officials are concerned the case will strain relations with Iraq’s new government if Iraqis perceive the soldiers receive lenient treatment. The case has already increased demands for changes in an agreement that exempts US soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts.
US officials have assured Iraqis that the case will be pursued vigorously and that the soldiers will be punished if convicted. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation into the case.
According to an FBI affidavit, the soldiers drank alcohol before abandoning their checkpoint, changed clothes and headed to the victims’ house, about 200 yards (meters) from a US military checkpoint in a Sunni Arab area south of Baghdad. The soldiers are also accused of setting fire to the girl’s body to destroy evidence.
Iraqi authorities identified the rape victim as Abeer Qassim Hamza. The other victims were her father, Qassim Hamza; her mother, Fikhriya Taha; and her sister, Hadeel Qassim Hamza.
David Sheldon, Barker’s Washington-based attorney, has said the stressful environment in the Mahmoudiya area _ known in Iraq as the “Triangle of Death” _ contributed to the soldiers’ behavior.
May justice be served...
Mahmoudiya pinglist--if you want on or off, let me know via freepmail.
Made-up, faked bullshit, IMO.
Didn't post this earlier because it is so graphic and brutal. Can't believe Americans could do something like this and hope investigators are wrong.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/08/07/int3.htm
Witness describes scene of horror: US military hearing in Iraq rape case
BAGHDAD, Aug 6: An Iraqi army medic described a scene of horror to a US military hearing on Sunday that will decide if four US soldiers are to be court-martialled for the murder and rape of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family.
The medic, who was not named, said that when he entered the house in Mahmudiya in March, he found 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza Al-Janabi naked with her legs spread and burned from the waist up, with a single bullet wound beneath her left eye.
He also told the hearings he had found her six-year-old sister in an adjacent room with the back of her head blown out, and the bodies of both parents riddled with bullets.
The Mahmudiya case, the fifth involving serious crimes being investigated by the US military in Iraq, has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops’ immunity from Iraqi prosecution.
The court heard testimony from three Iraqi witnesses on Sunday, the first day of proceedings.
But the media covering the event were only allowed to record the comments of the medic, who said he was ill for weeks after witnessing the crime scene.
Military prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Private First Class Jesse Spielman, Specialist James Barker, Sergeant Paul Cortez and Private First Class Bryan Howard, who face charges of rape and murder among others.
If court-martialled and found guilty they could face the death penalty.
The medic told the hearing that because there was no space in the hospital morgue, the bodies of Abeer, her father, mother and sister were left in an air-conditioned ambulance overnight and buried the next day.
One of the prosecutors, Captain William Fischbach, showed the witness pictures from the crime scene. Defence lawyers said the bodies in the pictures had been re-arranged from the way in which they were originally found.
Former private Steven Green, 21, faces the same charges in a US federal court in Kentucky, home of his former 502nd Infantry Regiment.
Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for a ‘personality disorder’.
A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement and will also appear at the hearing at Camp Victory next to Baghdad airport.
The hearing is expected to last up to four days.
According to prosecutors, Green shot dead Abeer’s father, mother and her sister at the family home in Mahmudiya, near Baghdad.
He then raped the teenager and killed her, and tried to burn the bodies and house to conceal evidence of the crime.
Prosecutors say a second soldier also raped Abeer.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that it now appeared at least three soldiers raped her, according to a legal memo filed by a military magistrate.
Maliki has voiced frustration with a mounting number of cases against Americans, and the Mahmudiya case is particularly sensitive as rape is a taboo subject in Iraq.
The rape and murder case is the fifth in a series of high-profile investigations into killings of Iraqis by US soldiers.
The military is probing whether Marines unlawfully killed 24 people at Haditha last November.—Reuters
This case can give you a bad case of the Dan Rather moment, Fur Shur.
Uh, huh. A guy gets his own name wrong, twice.
The tinfoil is too tight, muwy.
Now we have secret Arab "witnesses" whose identities must be kept confidential to protect them from ......... Arabs?
Give me a break ~ this story is a regular Dan Rather miniseries.
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