Posted on 05/28/2009 10:50:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A U.S. soldier convicted of murdering an Iraqi family spoke out for the first time Thursday, issuing a public apology for his crimes.
Former U.S. soldier Steven Green got life in prison after being convicted of murdering four Iraqis.
Steven Green, who escaped the death penalty this month, told relatives of the victims that he is "truly sorry for what I did in Iraq."
"I helped to destroy a family and end the lives of four of my fellow human beings, and I wish that I could take it back, but I cannot," Green said, reading a statement at a victim impact hearing. "And, as inadequate as this apology is, it is all I can give you."
The family refused to accept the apology.
Green was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Kentucky of raping a 14-year-old girl and murdering her, her parents and her 6-year-old sister in the town of Yusufiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, in 2006.
A jury could not reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty, which means the judge is required under law to impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Green will be sentenced September 4, but the victim impact hearing was held Thursday so surviving members of the al-Janabi family could testify before they return to Iraq.
They decried Green's sentence and testified about how the heinous crime had shattered their lives and how it will haunt them always.
Jurors can't reach decision; ex-soldier gets life Green said that he knows "you wish I was dead, and I do not hold that against you. If I was in your place, I am convinced beyond any doubt that I would feel the same way."
(Excerpt) Read more at us.cnn.com ...
I think the surviving members of the al-Janabi family should get some “alone time” with this sick $%$##@#@.
“Green said he now sees the Iraq war as “intrinsically evil, because killing is intrinsically evil.”
Your fellow soldiers are not evil-you are you sick piece of dirt.
Now here’s a military story CNN can really get behind.
little ambiguity that is except killer-rapists of little girls ratting out one another to escape the noose
who knows....they all probably have blood on their hands...
good thing for their sorry hides Lt General CSA Thomas Jonathan Jackson was not in charge at the time,..
Hey Steven, you got your parting shot and your 15 minutes of fame. Once the 60 Minute crew leaves, and you’ve done whoring out your miserable life’s story, the slow drumbeat of “LIFE IN PRISON” will hit you in the face.
You may now scream, there is no shame.
Have a nice, lonely, miseable life in a dark, damp cell.
Listen closely.....(PING)..... here that? It’s the key and it just got thrown away.
I disagree with this. I think he should have been tried in a military court, because he was under the UCMJ, when the crime was committed.
Had he been tried in a Military court, it's possible he would have been executed; as he should be.
Yepper
Absolutely, as for all of them.
“he apologizes for raping and killing”.........
Oh, I guess that makes everything OK now. Sheesh!
Muslims are not taught to forgive so of course his apology has no meaning to them.
The Army and especially the officer corps should be ashamed of themselves for not prosecuting this. I guess it’s just too much responsibility for the Generals, as if we don’t have enough of them wallowing around.
He should of, been dragged back in. He wasn’t out. He’s a member of the militia until his fifties.
Anyways, this really shows the bureaucratic nature of the military, and responsibility dumping.
...He reaps what he sows. I just don’t understand how some get so sick and twisted. The crimes he committed were as evil as they come.
Can’t he be tried on the Federal level?
and we are supposed to care about him getting right with the atrocity he committed precisely why?
are supposed to worry about Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson getting right about it?
i don't think like that...
guess AM on this thread doesn’t like the W-word...what are we supposed to call them?
“white kid who mimics black thugs in every manner”?
that’s a lot of words...
The kid will have to deal with his actions the rest of his life, apologizing for them to those most affected by them is the best way to start, this life is only a prerequisite to the next, as long as a man still has life in him he can find forgiveness and redemption for his sins.
you have no evidence whatsoever that he cracked under any pressure
read about him and look it up....he was a thug with issues
wartime does not turn civilized folks into predatory monsters although the media and Hollywood would have you believe so in wars that the GOP are in charge of..
that argument is similar to poverty is why we have crime
btw, that is tween him and God, nothing to do with us and I as an opinion holder owe him no such deference for his cruelty
good works Christianity will be the end of us as surely as Humanist Secular Judaism
I cannot for the life of me understand folks who think like you do....this is a tough world...and behavior has consequences....God's mercy or not
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