U.S. military names soldiers charged in rape, murder probe

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/07/10/soldiers.charged/

U.S. military names soldiers charged in rape, murder probe

(CNN) -- The U.S. military Monday released the names of five soldiers, including two sergeants, charged in the rape and murder of Iraqi civilians in Mahmoudiya, Iraq.

The military said that Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Spc. James P. Barker, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard were charged on Saturday in connection with their alleged participation in the rape and murder of an Iraqi female, and the murders of three other family members.

Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe was charged with dereliction of duty "for his failure to report the rape and murder of these Iraqi civilians, but is not alleged to have been a direct participant in the rape and killings," the military said.

[atreides1]

1. This is real bad

Two Sergeants taking orders from a PFC?

Note I didn't say NCO's, Cortez and Yribe are sergeants, or sarges, that film on the ocean floor that's lower then whale sh*t!!!!!!

[Judi Lynn]

2. So we are given permission to forget their first claim that Green

was the one who accomplished all this mayhem alone, and was discovered to have a quirkly personality, and discharged. Hmmmm.

From the article:

A Justice Department affidavit says Green and other soldiers planned to rape a young woman who lived near the checkpoint they manned in Mahmoudiya.

The affidavit says three soldiers allegedly accompanied Green into the house, and another soldier was told to monitor the radio while the assault took place.

The affidavit says Green shot the woman's relatives, including a girl of about 5; raped the young woman; then fatally shot her.

Soldiers are quoted in the affidavit as telling investigators that Green and his companions then set the family's house afire, threw an AK-47 rifle used in the killings into a canal and burned their bloodstained clothing.
(snip)

We should stand by to receive spin that these men, too, were driven mad with grief over some wild attack on their fellow soldiers by Iraqiis.

[kurth]

3. 14-year-old is not a "young woman"

Why are the brain-dead parrots in the media repeating this crap? It's been days since word got out that Abeer was only 15 years old.

[Judi Lynn]

8. I'd like to know their reason. Is it shame? Denial? They know we're all

going to know, yet they can't bring themselves to admit it publicly. Afraid of repercussions from the White House? From the rightwingnuts?

The wingers obviously hate people outside their rightwing world so much it doesn't matter how young this child is. She's not a W.A.S.P., so she doesn't matter.

I hope something happens in their lifetimes which will straighten them all out the fast way! They're not likely going to come to their senses on their own.

[TomInTib]

11. I believe, in some part, to play the Israeli card.

There is currently an issue in the Middle East regarding the defintion of 'child'. The Palestinians claim that a 'child' is a person 14 or younger, the Israelis claim it should be 12 or younger.
Israel actually holds 13 year old Palestinian children in adult prisons.

[Virginia Dare]

4. Do we need any further evidence?

Iraq is in chaos. There is a civil war raging. The military can't or won't control what is happening on the ground. Isn't it obvious that the capture and killing of the two soldiers was in direct retaliation for these crimes because the U.S. military wouldn't acknowledge them? "Combat stress" my ass. Those guys were afraid they were next, so they started talking.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/07/03/iraq.charge/index.html

Iraqis reported the killings to U.S. troops the day they occurred, but the deaths were blamed on insurgents or "other entities" at the time, according to an FBI agent's affidavit. (Watch how Army probe into deaths began -- 1:00)

But three months later, during combat stress debriefing sessions that followed the killings of two U.S. soldiers kidnapped from a checkpoint in Yusufiya, members of Green's platoon began recounting the killings.

[Fierce]

5. If we blame every crime on the insurgents,

What is Iraq going to learn about the rule of law?

[Virginia Dare]

6. Vigilante justice is the rule of law in Iraq now apparently...n/t

[wicket]

7. May those who committed this crime rot and burn in hell

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[WhiteTara]

9. this is the first article that calls the

adults killed family members. That is, I guess, easier to say than "raped and killed a 14 year old girl, after having killed her Mother, her Father and her little sister, whose arms were both broken before her death."

We have sent monsters into the world and they are going to come back and haunt us too. I remember after Vietnam soldiers came home; the number of serial murderers in the U.S. increased enormously. Returning soldiers of this illegal war are killing themselves and wives; and this is only the 3rd year of this hell.

[Rose Siding]

10. Psychopath. They killed a child *before* the rape.

AND a man and a woman. That clearly wasn't an impulsive act to cover anything up.

If there are any decent people in their families, what a nightmare for them.