GI Gets Life Sentence, Chance Of Parole

Plea Bargain For GI Charged With Consipiracy In Rape Of 14-Year-Old Iraqi, Murder Of Teen And Her Family

(AP)  A soldier was sentenced Thursday to 90 years in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years for conspiring to rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and kill her and her family.

Spc. James P. Barker, one of four Fort Campbell soldiers accused in the March 12 rape of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the killings, pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against the others to avoid the death penalty.

“This court sentences you to be confined for the length of your natural life, with the eligibility of parole,” said Lt. Col. Richard Anderson, the military judge presiding over the court-martial.

Under the plea agreement, Barker got a life sentence but will not serve more than 90 years in prison, Anderson said. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years.

Barker, 23, showed no reaction when the sentence was read.

Earlier Thursday, Barker wept during his closing statement, accepted responsibility for the rape and killings and said violence he encountered left him “angry and mean” when it came to Iraqis.

“I want the people of Iraq to know that I did not go there to do the terrible things that I did,” Barker said, his voice quivering as he began to weep. “I do not ask anyone to forgive me today.”

After Barker's sentencing, military prosecutors declined to comment because three other soldiers have yet to be tried in the case. Defense attorneys planned a news conference.

Barker confessed Wednesday to the crimes as part of a plea agreement to avoid a possible death penalty that requires him to testify against the others.

In his closing statement, Barker said Iraq made him angry and violent.

“To live there, to survive there, I became angry and mean. The mean part of me made me strong on patrols. It made me brave in fire fights,” Barker said. “I loved my friends, my fellow soldiers and my leaders, but I began to hate everyone else in Iraq.”

During testimony intended to show the judge that Barker could be rehabilitated, Barker's fellow soldiers described weeks with little support and sleep while manning distant checkpoints.

Capt. William Fischbach, the lead prosecutor, told the court that such conditions were no excuse for Barker, who led the group to the family's house, and that no one deserved such unspeakable horrors.

“This burned-out corpse that used to be a 14-year-old girl never fired bullets or lobbed mortars,” Fischbach said as he held pictures of the crime scene. “Society should not have to bear the risk of the accused among them ever again.”

The killings in Mahmoudiya, a village about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Baghdad, were among the worst in a series of alleged attacks on civilians and other abuses by military personnel in Iraq.

The defendants are accused of burning the girl's body to conceal the crime.

Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, and Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 22, members of the 101st Airborne Division along with Barker, have also been charged. Cortez has deferred entering a plea, and Spielman will be arraigned in December. Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 19, also deferred entering a plea at his arraignment in October.

Private Steven Green, 21, pleaded not guilty last week to civilian charges including murder and sexual assault. He was discharged from the Army for a “personality disorder” before the allegations became known, and prosecutors have yet to say whether they will pursue the death penalty against him.

In earlier testimony, Barker described in detail how he raped Abeer Qassim al-Janabi with Cortez and Green before Green killed the girl, her younger sister and parents.

“Cortez pushed her to the ground. I went towards the top of her and kind of held her hands down while Cortez proceeded to lift her dress up,” he said. “Around that time I heard shots coming from a room next door.”

Howard, Cortez and Spielman could face the death penalty if convicted. Cortez and Spielman are both being held in confinement, and Howard is restricted to post.

Barker did not name Spielman and Howard as participants in the rape and murders but said Spielman was at the house when the assault took place and had come knowing what the others intended to do. Prosecutors on Thursday said Howard had been left behind at a checkpoint.

[feelfree1]

Our President, or Resident, as the case may be, does not have the authority to launch an illegal war of aggression against another country.

This is a most serious war crime all by itself. Many Nazis were sentenced and hung, following WWII, for committing similar offenses.

[tinker3478]

Unless by "their God" you mean the godless UN, I'm afraid I don't follow. They are following the orders of their president and I don't quite see him up there with Him, if you see what I mean.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Don't you mean who all did Muhammad rape?"

No. I wrote what I meant, but my comment was intended as sarcasm. Perhaps I should have placed a sideways 'smiley' face next to it, like so: 8-)

Unfortunately many of 'our troops' are incouraging atrocities against innocent people, in the name of their God, including fanatical top commanders like General Boykin.

[tinker3478]

Don't you mean who all did Muhammad rape? The Bible doesn't record any for Jesus but the cuckoo-ran is pretty specific.

[tinker3478]

Excuse me?

[feelfree1]

Who would Jesus rape?

[tinker3478]

Go Santo_Marco! My family's men have been fighting this countries wars since before 1776 in the army, navy, and marines. They've been in the Civil War, both WWs, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq and all the little mess in between. None of them have ever raped little girls or murdered innocent civilians. Should the soldiers have been in Iraq to start with? Not No but H___ No! It doesn't excuse them for what they did. In the US they would be charged with capital murder for the equivalent crime. In Texas, that carries the death penalty.

[tinker3478]

jn122736, a recognizable uniformed enemy? Once they were halfway into an "unoccupied" French village when snipers cut down on them. For the Presidential Unit Citation, he stood in a foxhole with two other soldiers-one of them was dead-and fired a anti-aircraft cannon from a half-track cason for all he was worth while wave after wave of airplanes flew over him dropping bombs. Fear and terror are fear and terror, regardless of whether you "can see the whites of their eyes" or the color of their uniform.

[finewoven]

This was premeditated murder, and then conspiracy to hide the truth. He should have gotten the death sentence.

[feelfree1]

These soldiers gang-raped this 14-year-old Iraqi girl, then executed her, and burned her corpse to cover up their crimes.

They executed her parents, and her 7-year-old sister, then they stuck around and prepared themselves a nice chicken dinner. The scene was discovered by the remaining little brothers, of this young Iraqi girl.

As sickening as these acts are, even these "troops" deserve a minimum level of support. They too, are victims of the criminal Bush regime invasion of Iraq. Even these horrific criminals deserve an apology from the Bush regime.

Bush/Cheney 4 Prison in 2008!!!

Sounds like snflwr4real got in with a real bad crowd, guess that is what happens to those that do drugs

[santo_marco]

I'm with Tinker. If a member of our armed forces, which I have been a part of for 12 years and going, justifies their disgraceful actions upon innocent civilians because of "war", they need their head checked. The US military is about self-discipline, honor and doing what is right. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a traumatic environement to see where one's control is lost completely. The fact remains that these soldiers committed a major crime and deserve what is served; probably more. It is hard for our military's image to recover from the stains inflicted by these cowboys.

[jn122736]

Tinker3478

My respects to your father and the many equably honorable soldiers in WW2, as well the ones currently serving. However, as I pointed out in my previous comment, your father faced a recognizable uniformed enemy. He did not have to daily stand among many people not knowing which was the enemy until after being fired on. The fact that soldiers were warned against rape at that time also indicates theses things were indeed happening or at least suspected.
All people have basically the same tendencies or weaknesses. The only difference is how we control those tendencies. The more severe the stress factor the more people will be susceptible to following these natural tendencies.
From reading ketch65%u2019s comment I believe he has a bitter memory of and actual hatred for the military.
He seems to cast the majority of soldiers as %u201Cwhite trash%u201D and the rest as corrupt cops. It%u2019s not clear if he fits into one of these groups or is a lone outcast. I would deduce that he places soldiers like your father in one of the above groups, at any rate he shows absolutely no respect for any of them.

Reading many of the other posts here shows some of these same tendencies. The rage/hatred showing in their comments say if they were gathered into a pack they would scalp these guys and burn them at the stake without a trial. Of course the guilty must be fairly tried and punished, but not lynched.

[retbtc86]

What's wrong LIMBAUGH, COLTER, SAVAGE, HANNITY, think all of you just don't get it do you people realize we are war.

[mh4cbs1]

These horror stories always emerge from the HELL of War. Have you forgotten the Vietnam massacres?

We also need to hold accountable the true War Criminals who unleashed this hell on earth. Bush & Cheney. LIED us into it. That is a CRIME. A serious CRIME. But the media will give them a complete pass. The spineless Democrats will look the other way and do nothing.

JAIL for BUSH JAIL for CHENEY

End the Occupation of IRAQ - Right Now


And throw away the key.

[mh4cbs1]

When can we throw BUSH and CHENEY into JAIL where they belong?

They were they ones that LIED us into this needless, horrific War OF Terror. While they and their super-wealthy friends profit, middleclass kids are dying every day. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civillians have died. Hudreds of Billions of dollars of OUR money has been spent (that is, transferred to the Haliburtons and defense contractors).

Yes, Bush IS responsible for more innocent dead than Osama and Saddam combined.

When will we put our own War Criminals in JAIL ??

[tinker3478]

jn122736, I understand and agree with some of what you say but I have to agree with what ketch65 says as well. Obviously, when a person gets into a killing rage, they don't turn on and off like a switch-consider Pat Tillman's murder. But my dad was a decorated WWII vet, including a Presidential Unit Citation. His company shot down nearly 100 German planes one week. He spent a winter in a trench, marched over a bridge literally carpeted with bodies of dead Germans, and helped liberate a Jewish concentration camp. What he did not do was rape and murder Germans. American GIs were told if they acted like the Russians in that respect, they could expect an immediate court martial and execution.

"Prosecutors on Thursday said Howard had been left behind at a checkpoint."

Did the other soldiers just leave him (Howard) alone at the checkpoint?

Effectively, they abandoned their post, left one soldier behind, raped a 14 year old girl, murdered her and her family, burned the body.

If the remainder don't get the death penalty, then there is no justice.

[fascistusa]

The fact is the soldier had choices. He didn't need to be involved, he could have reported it, or at the very least, he could have stopped it.

I agree completly. The soldier had a choice. I'm just starting to notice that a Fascist society produces Fascist youth. Our Country has no values.

Greed Wrath Pride Lust Envy Sloth Gluttony.
Materialism. The REAL American Values.

[peacethinker-2009]

Ok, sending Green back to Iraq for some home-grown justice isn't realistic, so he gets the death penalty.