Posted on 07/03/2006 3:46:35 PM PDT by motife
Ex-Soldier Charged in Brutal Rape, Slayings By TIM WHITMIRE
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (July 3) - A former Army soldier was charged with the alcohol-fueled rape and killing of a young Iraqi woman and the murder of her family, a crime the attackers apparently tried to cover up by burning the victims' bodies.
Steven D. Green, a 21-year-old former private first class discharged this spring for a "personality disorder," made an initial appearance on rape and murder charges in a federal courtroom Monday morning, three days after he was arrested by FBI agents in western North Carolina.
Green was ordered held without bond while waiting to be taken to Louisville, Kentucky, where he faces four counts of murder and one of rape stemming from the March incident. Each of the murder charges carries a possible death sentence.
According to an affidavit unsealed during his court appearance, Green was part of a group of four soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based 101st Airborne Division who invaded a home near the traffic checkpoint they manned in Mahmoudiya, Iraq, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad. Once inside, the affidavit said, Green and another soldier raped a young Iraqi woman who lived there.
Two other soldiers from the division's 502nd Infantry Regiment who were present and interviewed by investigators said Green fired shots from an AK-47 submachine gun that killed the woman, as well as three members of her family: a man, woman and a young girl.
The FBI affidavit estimated the rape victim's age as 25, but a neighbor in Mahmoudiya said Monday she was 14.
The military's investigation into the killings first became public last week. U.S. officials in Iraq have said they learned of the deaths in March, after the family's bodies were found inside a burned residence. They initially believed the killings were a result of sectarian violence.
Investigators in Iraq have said they believe the soldiers planned the rape for up to a week. According to the affidavit, written by Louisville-based FBI agent Gregor Ahlers, Green and fellow soldiers discussed the attack while drinking on the night of March 11, then changed clothes in an effort to disguise themselves before going to the woman's home and carrying out the assault.
Upon arriving at the residence, Green took the woman's relatives into a bedroom, according to one soldier interviewed by investigators. The sound of gunshots from inside the room followed, and Green emerged to say, "I just killed them, all are dead," the affidavit said.
"Immediately after this, (the soldier) witnessed (another soldier) and Green rape the woman ... . After the rape, (the soldier) witnessed Green shoot the woman in the head two to three times," Ahlers wrote.
Another soldier present during the attack told a similar story and said he was instructed afterward to dump the murder weapon in a nearby canal, which he did.
Investigators also interviewed a fifth soldier, who was left behind to man the radio at the traffic checkpoint. That soldier said Green and three others returned from the woman's house "with blood on their clothes, which they burned. Immediately after this, they each told (the soldier) that this is never to be discussed again."
Ahlers said in the affidavit he reviewed photos taken by Army investigators in Iraq of bodies found inside the burned house, including photos of an Iraqi man, woman and young girl who all appear to have died of gunshot wounds. He said he also reviewed a photo of a burned body of "what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."
An official familiar with details of the investigation in Iraq has told The Associated Press that a flammable liquid was used to burn the rape victim's body in an attempted cover-up.
The satellite channel Al-Jazeera gave wide coverage to the alleged attack. But according to the affidavit, military officials learned of the American role in the deaths less than two weeks ago, after a soldier confessed to involvement during a routine military counseling session.
[b]The soldiers accused in the rape and killings are from the same platoon as two soldiers whose mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents near Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad. Military officials say they believe guilt over the mutilations may have spurred the confession.[/b]
No other soldier has been charged in the case, said Maj. Joseph Breasseale, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. However, military officials have said four Army soldiers have had their weapons taken away and are confined to their base near Mahmoudiya.
Authorities did not say why Green was arrested in Marion. According to the affidavit, he was expected to return a rental car to Fort Campbell on Friday or Saturday, after attending a funeral in Arlington, Virginia, for one of the mutilated soldiers.
Green served for 11 months with the 101st Airborne Division, according to the affidavit, and he received an honorable discharge "before this incident came to light. Green was discharged due to a personality disorder."
Green will have a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing on July 10 in Charlotte, and will then be brought to Louisville, said Marisa Ford, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Louisville.
The mayor of Mahmoudiya, Mouayad Fadhil, said Monday that Iraqi authorities had started their own investigation. He said U.S. Army officers were also seeking permission to exhume one of the bodies; the U.S. military declined to comment on the report because the investigation is ongoing.
Associated Press writers Brett Barrouquere in Louisville, Mark Sherman in Washington and Kim Gamel and Robert H. Reid in Baghdad contributed to this report.
7/3/2006 16:22 EDT
Maybe not as bad, but the Marines probably have the same problem.
Vocabulary not quite right. Where would they have gotten flammable material to burn the body?
Just something not fitting here.
Suskind is not to be believed on any count. Not one precent of his words can be taken as truth. Just my opinion. He hates this President and everyone in his administration.
Since when is an AK-47 a "submachine gun"?
He did have the crowd at Politics & Prose Bookstore (enemy territory in NW DC) collectively peeing down their legs. Very entertaining fellow though. A poetic chap.
You had better come up with better facts than that. I have seen articles that say she was 15, 20 and 25 and don't imply I have traits like those who have called her a whore or have said her own family killed her.
I call some of the media liars which is probably too strong a term but there have been retractions made and it is evident to me that much of the media are anti military.
I have not called you or anyone else unpatriotic that seem to take the side of the media and are too quick to deny the presumption of innocence.
I think this situation may well to turn out to be horrible as it sounds. The witnesses here don't seem to come from a suspect "human rights" group as in Haditha. Instead it looks like other soldiers came forward. And the Army had already gotten rid of the one person who's been arrested for "personality disorder" which sounds like code for out-of-control psycho. The four Iraqis who were terrorized here, the young woman raped and the whole family killed (per the reporting) deserve justice and I hope they get it. I'm fairly sure pretty much everyone wearing an American uniform in Iraq right now would agree.
His book signings for the O'Neill book were quite enlightening. He hates the President and has no respect for him or anyone in this administration.
Does he get a trial first, or do we assume that whatever Al Jazeera says is the gospel truth?
They've got 8 of them locked in the Camp Pendleton brig being charged with similar actions even as we speak.
Um, siphoned gas from a jeep?
I'm more troubled (either way) that if 4 or 5 knew about this, it hasn't come out earlier. On the one hand, that makes the story seem a little fishy. (No sense of right in any of them?) But if they did keep it a secret, well, that's troubling too. (No sense of right in any of them?)Many unknowns, I'm sure it'll all come out...
Yes, of course. Trial and if he's found guilty, string him up..
I heard a news report on the radio today that he has admitted killing all four and one of his buddies witnessed the rape. If all true, give him to the people in that village
I'll wait for the facts, but will not excuse under any circumstances this type of activity if true.
I would normally think that this guy would be reactivated to face UCMJ charges. Is this federal proceeding normal or would his discharge for this personality disorder prohibit that.
Sounds like a death penalty case to me....personality disorder ain't going to cut it....
Having discharged a few for that...It basically means non-conformist screw-up. Pain in the ass... ten percenter. It is a dsm-(whatever) psychiatric diagnosis.
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