GIs May Have Planned Iraq Rape, Slayings

El_KabongEl_Kabong Posts: 4,141
edited July 2006 in A Moving Train
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/AR2006070100545.html

GIs May Have Planned Iraq Rape, Slayings


By RYAN LENZ
The Associated Press
Saturday, July 1, 2006; 3:00 PM

BEIJI, Iraq -- Investigators believe American soldiers spent nearly a week plotting an attack in which they raped an Iraqi woman, then killed her and her family in an insurgent-ridden area south of Baghdad, a U.S. military official said Saturday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the attack appeared "totally premeditated" and that the soldiers apparently "studied" the family for about a week before carrying out the attack.

According to the official, the Sunni Arab family had just moved into a new home in the religiously mixed area about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The Americans entered the home, separated three family members from the woman, then raped her and set fire to her body, the official said. The three others were also slain. A senior Army official who also requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing said one of the victims was a child .

U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died due to sectarian violence. A local police official, Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman, said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that American soldiers had killed the family in the Khasir Abyad district about 6 miles north of Mahmoudiya.

He said he did not relay that report to American forces.

The satellite channel Al-Jazeera gave wide coverage to the alleged rape-slaying, which threatens to stoke public anger in the wake of a series of other cases of U.S. troops allegedly killing and abusing Iraqi civilians.

An Iraqi human rights activist in Amman, Jordan, pointed to other abuse allegations, in the western Iraqi town of Haditha, and called for international intervention.

"What happened in Mahmoudiya and Haditha are extreme violations of human rights. We call on the international community to intervene immediately," Mohammed al-Shekhli, head of the head of the Transitional Justice Studies Center, said in an interview with the pan-Arab satellite station.

However, Iraqi media has so far paid little attention to the allegations. There was no comment from the government, which has been focused on restoring security since it took office in May.

One of the officials familiar with details of the investigation told The Associated Press that a flammable liquid was used to burn the woman's body in a cover-up attempt. It was unclear if it was gasoline or lighter fluid.

If convicted of premeditated murder, the soldiers could receive a death sentence under U.S. military law.

The U.S. official said at least four soldiers were being investigated. Two other U.S. officials said Friday that five were under investigation but one already had been discharged for unspecified charges unrelated to the killings and was believed to be in the United States.

The U.S. command has said only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. forces in the Baghdad area, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family of four.

Those troops under investigation are from the same platoon as two soldiers kidnapped and killed south of Baghdad this month, another official said Friday. Their mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents near Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad.

The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded. The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one member of the platoon to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.

The senior Army official said the alleged incident was first revealed by a soldier during a routine counseling-type session. The Army official said that soldier did not witness the incident but heard about it.

A second soldier, who also was not involved, said he overhead soldiers conspiring to commit the crimes and then later saw bloodstains on their clothes, the Army official said.

Iraq is a conservative, strongly religious society where many women are sheltered from contacts with males who are not family members.

The case is among the most serious against U.S. soldiers allegedly involved in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. At least 14 U.S. troops have been convicted.

Last week, seven Marines and one Navy medic were charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of an Iraqi man near Fallujah west of Baghdad.

In Haditha, U.S. officials are investigating allegations that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians Nov. 19 in a revenge attack after a fellow Marine died in a roadside bombing.

Other cases involve the deaths of three male detainees in Salahuddin province in May, the shooting death of unarmed Iraqi man near Ramadi in February, and the death of an Iraqi soldier after an interrogation in 2003 at a detention camp in Qaim.

___

Associated Press correspondent Ryan Lenz is embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji, Iraq. He was previously embedded with the 502nd Infantry Regiment in Mahmoudiya. AP writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Bassem Mroue in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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Comments

  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 22,130
    if that is true, then hang those fuckers. i understand combat stress and even revenge but their behavior is fucking ridiculous.
    There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • PaperPlatesPaperPlates Posts: 1,745
    Should they hang them alongside the "beheaders"? Or is that kind of sentence only reserverd for evil American Imperialist forces?
    Why go home

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  • flywallyflyflywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    Should they hang them alongside the "beheaders"? Or is that kind of sentence only reserverd for evil American Imperialist forces?


    These two acts have nothing to do with each other whatsoever. Compare the number of people beheaded to the number of Iraqi citizens killed during this so called war and get back to us with a new thread.
  • MrBrianMrBrian Posts: 2,673
    Nice of the troops to be spread n' some of that good o'le ameriii-can rape to the people of iraq.
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 22,130
    Should they hang them alongside the "beheaders"? Or is that kind of sentence only reserverd for evil American Imperialist forces?

    the beheaders have nothing to do with this story. the us forces should hold themselves to a higher standard. we are occupying their country, so in my opinion those US citizen contractors got what they deserved by profitting from this war. i call it war profitteer's justice. they did not need to be over there in the first place.

    the difference is that the US occupying force used their "authority" to stake out this family, rape their daughter and kill the entire family. it was premeditated, and that is several counts of murder one, plus sexual assault. grounds for death penalty in the states.

    i will bet that they get off though.
    There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • PaperPlatesPaperPlates Posts: 1,745
    These two acts have nothing to do with each other whatsoever. Compare the number of people beheaded to the number of Iraqi citizens killed during this so called war and get back to us with a new thread.
    Funny, but I read this as a thread about a particular case, involving rape. Not as a discussion of whether we've killed more "innocents" than them. And your right, the two cases ARE totally different. ONE is proven, and was video taped and shown to the world, and celebrated by most of the citizens there, and the OTHER hasnt been proven one bit, and if proven, will be a sad thing for most of the citizens here.


    Why is it that sooooooooooo many of you are soooo quick to judge, sentence, and hang American troops, but give the real enemies every bit of "benefit of the doubt" humanly possible? You truly are a terrorist's best friend.

    How bout you go make a thread comparing the number of beheadings vs citizens killed. Since thats NOT what this thread is about.
    Why go home

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  • FahkaFahka Posts: 3,187
    if this is true than i seriously am completely ashamed to be apart of this country anymore....



    'you kill me, ill kill you' fuck everyone... i wish the world would hurry up and end already... if there is a god, he needs to be told that the end of times, is past due
  • flywallyflyflywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    Funny, but I read this as a thread about a particular case, involving rape. Not as a discussion of whether we've killed more "innocents" than them. And your right, the two cases ARE totally different. ONE is proven, and was video taped and shown to the world, and celebrated by most of the citizens there, and the OTHER hasnt been proven one bit, and if proven, will be a sad thing for most of the citizens here.


    Why is it that sooooooooooo many of you are soooo quick to judge, sentence, and hang American troops, but give the real enemies every bit of "benefit of the doubt" humanly possible? You truly are a terrorist's best friend.

    How bout you go make a thread comparing the number of beheadings vs citizens killed. Since thats NOT what this thread is about.


    Show me an example of me giving the enemy "the benefit of the doubt".Hell, an example of anyone on this board doing that. And PLEASE explain how condemning rapist murderers makes me a terrorist's best friend. Please explain that one to me. Please.

    As for the beheadings/citizens killed thread -- you are the one who tried to compare these acts, not me. That is an ignorant way to try to change any debate/discussion about what this thread is about -- the murdering/rapist soldiers. Did the beheadings cause these soldiers to do this shit? NO, didnt think so. Nice try but it wont work Hannity.
  • PaperPlatesPaperPlates Posts: 1,745
    Show me an example of me giving the enemy "the benefit of the doubt".Hell, an example of anyone on this board doing that. And PLEASE explain how condemning rapist murderers makes me a terrorist's best friend. Please explain that one to me. Please.

    As for the beheadings/citizens killed thread -- you are the one who tried to compare these acts, not me. That is an ignorant way to try to change any debate/discussion about what this thread is about -- the murdering/rapist soldiers. Did the beheadings cause these soldiers to do this shit? NO, didnt think so. Nice try but it wont work Hannity.

    If you seriously cant find any posts in here giving the "other side" the benefit of the doubt, or any examples of extreme liberals NOT giving our own soldiers that same benefit, you're either blind, illiterate, or not really looking.

    Is calling them "the murdering/rapist soldiers" giving them the benefit of the doubt? Is that assuming innocent until guilty? Or do you have proof that noone else does? Ill pretend you havent already convicted the GI's in your mind, and answer as best as I can. The beheadings caused it in much the same way that the video tapes of beheadings sold in the haditha market may or may not have "caused" (contributed) to ALLEGED acts by said soldiers.


    You must have gone to the Eddie Vedder school of open mindedness.
    Why go home

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  • AbuskedtiAbuskedti Posts: 1,917
    those soldiers are no more representative of the people of the United States than is Osama Bin Laden representative of people claiming assiciations with Al Qaeda.
  • rebornFixerrebornFixer Posts: 4,917
    Abuskedti wrote:
    those soldiers are no more representative of the people of the United States than is Osama Bin Laden representative of people claiming assiciations with Al Qaeda.


    A very sensible post.

    I think ....?
    :)
  • flywallyflyflywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    If you seriously cant find any posts in here giving the "other side" the benefit of the doubt, or any examples of extreme liberals NOT giving our own soldiers that same benefit, you're either blind, illiterate, or not really looking.

    Is calling them "the murdering/rapist soldiers" giving them the benefit of the doubt? Is that assuming innocent until guilty? Or do you have proof that noone else does? Ill pretend you havent already convicted the GI's in your mind, and answer as best as I can. The beheadings caused it in much the same way that the video tapes of beheadings sold in the haditha market may or may not have "caused" (contributed) to ALLEGED acts by said soldiers.


    You must have gone to the Eddie Vedder school of open mindedness.


    Again, show me this "benefit of the doubt" given to terrorists. Show me and I'll give you much kudos. If you really think the beheadings and/or videos are what made these soldiers do this sick stuff then you are truly an idiot. You must have gone to the Veddie Edder school of Vileness.
  • MrBrianMrBrian Posts: 2,673
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060703/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_us_investigation;_ylt=AhSiDD68fDiKAQNdCrZhYmRX6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

    By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer
    19 minutes ago



    CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Federal prosecutors accused a former U.S. soldier Monday of raping and murdering a young Iraqi woman and gunning down her family, all of whose bodies were found burned in an apparent coverup.



    Steven D. Green, a 21-year-old former Army private first class who was recently discharged because of a "personality disorder," appeared in a federal magistrate's courtroom in Charlotte Monday.
  • beachdwellerbeachdweller Posts: 1,532
    I spent 12yrs in the Army, I saw happens during normal daily life, not in extraordinary circumstances like Iraq, that were covered up then, look at the things that happened in Vietnam and were covered up for years, the Army doesn't want anything negative to get out about it. They lie and fabricate to make it look a certain way. So nothing that has gone on and the Army's reaction to them has surprised me.

    Also, the people in the Army aren't special when it comes to being good, bad, or other people. They aren't ethical and/or morally superior people to any of us. There are rapes, murders, etc..of GI's by GI's, just like in the civilian world.

    Now put any of us in Iraq, maybe someone that hates those that are different, whatever specific different quality that is who knows, but don't be surprised or ignorant to the possibility of these things happening, they do.

    I got my ass chewed out by a fellow worker about this specific rape and murder allegations case in Iraq, telling me I was unpatriotic, that no one in our Army would do such a thing....now that we know that one of the GI's confessed and has been officially charged I went back to him and he appologized, saying that he would never have believed it, and I told him that's why Bush is still President, because of people so willing to ignore the truths, or at least to further question the possibilities....

    We can't leave Iraq overnight, regardless of what we want...we have a responsibility to stabilize that government to give it a chance, we broke it, we have to fix it, but what we need to do is get all the world to help with military and other opperations in Iraq. Our countries future, and individual soldiers and their families futures are being drastically effected for the ideology of the very few.

    How many more terrorists has a case like this made??? Were will it end? Where is the peace at the end of the tunnel?
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  • Heineken HelenHeineken Helen Posts: 18,095
    Good post beachdweller - while the Americans are out there saving the Iraqis and spreading their way of life... it wouldn't be good for everyone to see what exactly that way of life entails.

    This is fucking disgusting... and rape is bad enough but they would know how much worse it is in a country like that. She will not be honoured in death because of what was done to her. Very sad. Hope he fries - but I doubt it.
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