Court-Martial Urged In Rape-Slay Case

Four U.S. Soldiers Accused Of Raping, Killing 14-Year-Old Iraqi Girl

(AP)  A U.S. Army investigator has recommended that four American soldiers accused of raping a a 14-year-old girl and of killing her and her family face a court-martial, a lawyer in the case confirmed on Monday.

Col. Dwight Warren, the investigator in the case, said in a report issued Sunday that "reasonable grounds exist to believe that each of the accused committed the offense for which he is charged."

The report was given to lawyers in the case and obtained by The Associated Press from David Sheldon, the lawyer of one of the defendants.

The four soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division are charged with raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi in her family's home in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, then killing her along with her parents and her younger sister. Military prosecutors say the four set the teenager's body on fire to hide their crime.

The soldiers accused of rape and murder — Spc. James P. Barker, Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard — could potentially face the death penalty. Another soldier, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is accused of failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.

Another soldier who was said to have allegedly planned the attack, Pfc. Steven D. Green, was discharged from the army because of a "personality disorder" before the allegations became known. He was arrested in June shortly after the allegations became known. He has pleaded not guilty to rape and murder charges and is being held in a civilian court in the United States.

Sheldon, who is counsel to Barker, said the soldiers were abandoned by a military command that did not give them the support that they needed either in the field or in the courtroom.

"I'm not surprised given the events in this case. It was apparent that neither Spc. Barker nor any of the other soldiers were going to get a fair hearing," Sheldon told the AP. He added that he would be filing an objection within the five days allowed after he received the recommendation from the investigator.

Mahmoudiya is an extremely violent region in Iraq in an area known as the "triangle of death" for the numerous attacks by insurgents, and lawyers are expected to use extreme combat stress as a defense.

Testimony in early August during the soldiers' Article 32 hearing — similar to a civilian grand jury hearing — painted a picture of a unit almost constantly on edge from repeated attacks and demoralized by the loss of fellow soldiers.

"Each one of these soldiers had experienced extreme combat distress," Sheldon said.

In his report, the army investigator did not make a recommendation on whether the accused should face the death penalty, but he outlined aggravating factors that could be considered.

"I believe evidence exists that the actions of the accused could have created a grave risk of substantial damage to the mission of the United States, and that substantial damage to the national security might have resulted," Warren wrote.

The allegations of rape and murder have bolstered Iraqi accusations of misconduct by soldiers, including illegal killings, beatings and inhuman treatment. The allegations have increased the mistrust and resentment among Iraqis of the American military and increased calls for their withdrawal.

[parakash]

jms_cheung a Chinese with Chinese thoughts?

[parakash]

Come on boys, show us your di*ks. Who did it heyan? You aren't in my country India where no one keeps record of who is doing what. here you will reap what you may sow.

[alphaa10-2009]

Are we surprised? Where else in the world can four soldiers accused of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl, burning her body and killing her whole family in gangland-execution style-- all after plotting their act for a week-- be recommended for only a official courts martial?

Answer-- Maybe in a few failed rogue-states, scattered around the world. The former Iraq, under Saddam's secret police, immediately comes to mind.

Is this what we came to "liberate" Iraqis from? If so, how could Mahmoudiya be covered up by Army officials? Unjust and outrageous doesn't begin to describe the Army's attempted whitewash. And what the Army couldn't contain by simply writing the massacre off its logs, it officially denies through prosecutorial misconduct.

In contrast, when America earnestly cares about local opinion, official remedies have been radically different. In 1996-- exactly a decade ago-- three US Marines in Okinawa raped (but did not kill) a 12-year-old girl. At that time, Okinawa retained great strategic value to the US, so each of the soldiers got 10 years at hard labor.

No wonder the world winces at the hypocriasy whenever Bush starts preaching about "democracy".

[alphaa10-2009]

jms_cheung-- In other words, rather than admit the truth, simply deny everything. Apparently, you do not understand stonewalling and secrecy did not protect but endangered Nixon, and it certainly will not work for Bush.

Besides, the Iraqis <b>already</b> believe American troops are guilty of widespread killings of civilians, not only this one. Poll after poll shows most Iraqis regard us negatively and want us out-- the only difference between them is how quickly we should leave. We are not viewed as liberators, but invaders. Not only are Al Qaeda and other insurgents eager to capitalize on incidents like Haditha and Mahmoudiya-- the pity for us is that many of their claims are not fabrications, but the truth.

The problem for American ethics, as even one GOP senator pointed out earlier thhis year, is "This is not about them (our enemy). This is about us. ..." Much of the world believes we Americans are embarked on an imperialist course, the rest suspects it, so the last thing we should do-- if we mean anything at all when we preach about democracy-- is to fail to practice what we preach.

First and foremost is a profound regard for the truth, not some do-and-die rationale for staying on with a fraudulent, non-starter of a policy in Iraq. That is called self-destruction, and we already can see it happening.

[jms_cheung]

The allegations of so-called rape and murders by coalition forces could be used effectively by the Islamist terrorists in Iraq to instigate the local people and government to KICK OUT the US and coaltion forces....then these terrorists would wreak havoc and civil wars so that they can walk over to rule once the whole nation is devastated. Afghanistan and Iraq must be protected from Islamist terrorist rule (as happened now in Iran) AT ALL COST by the US, UN and world community. In order not to give the enemy `ammunitions' to wreak havoc, the only wise thing to do is to CONDUCT ALL INVESTIGATIONS INTO SUCH MILITARY MISCONDUCTS WITHIN THE ARMY TRIBUNALS SECRETLY and not let the insensitive/biased press to lend support to the cause of global Islamist terrorism