Soldier: I raped Iraqi girl, then helped kill her

[ECH1969]

One of four U.S. soldiers accused of raping an Iraqi girl last spring and killing her and her family pleaded guilty Wednesday and will testify against the others.

Spc. James P. Barker agreed to the plea deal to avoid the death penalty, said his civilian attorney, David Sheldon.

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

The indictment accuses Green and others of raping the girl and burning her body to conceal their crimes. It also alleges that Green and four others stationed at a nearby checkpoint killed the girl's father, mother and 6-year-old sister.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/15/iraq.slaying.ap/index.html

[Dinger]

1. Words Escape Me (nt)

[NVMojo]

2. Bush's war trophies ...sick new low

[Jim Warren]

3. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war

Ya think they debate the political ramifications of impeachment in hell?

[Totally Committed]

4. OMG.

There are no words.

TC

[Dangerously Amused]

5. Hand him over to her family.

[Jim Warren]

6. Right

except they are all dead.

[Dangerously Amused]

27. Immediate family members are dead, yes.

But I was talking about whomever remains... brothers, uncles, cousins, in-laws, etc...

[ECH1969]

7. He killed them all with Green

[Dangerously Amused]

41. "Green"?

Sorry, I'm missing something.

[MountainLaurel]

65. One of the others charged, I believe

The one who was kicked out of the army for psychiatric issues, if memory serves correctly. .

[zbdent]

21. You know these guys don't want to be punished

according to the laws of the land where they committed the crimes ... I hear stoning is pretty inhuman ... and I think that's the lenient sentence ...

[Dangerously Amused]

42. Funny how that works.

[spoony]

56. Do you support mob justice here too, or only there? n/t

[Dangerously Amused]

60. Well gosh, I guess it depends on the circumstances.

:eyes:

[Morgana LaFey]

61. What she doesn't support is

coddling child rapists and murderers.

Or going to bat for them. Obviously.

[MonkeyFunk]

8. .....

It's just so sad. A young fucked-up guy threw his life away.

[lukasahero]

14. "young fucked-up guy threw his life away" - Sorry, but he threw HER life away.

:wtf:

[The Count]

17. And the lives of her family too...

[ThomCat]

25. Yes, he threw his life away

and made sure that young girl and her entire family preceded him. x(

What he did to his own life doesn't bother me. What he did to theirs outrages me beyond compassion.

[Bluebear]

48. Yeah, I feel sooooooo sorry for him

PS Any word about the victim?

[MonkeyFunk]

50. Sure...

I mourn for the victim, too.

That doesn't preclude having sympathy for the dumb-ass who did it. It's not either/or.

[AZBlue]

51. They killed her to get rid of any evidence.

eom

[leftchick]

62. It's just so sad he threw her life away

and her whole fucking family!!! fuck him!

[riderinthestorm]

9. How many other crimes are going unreported, unremarked, unpunished?

I can't help but weep that there are so many other crimes that are being committed that will never be brought to light - from BFEE's crimes, to Halliburton and Cheney, Rumsfailed and his arms dealing buddies all the way down to these despicable soldiers.

:cry:

[texpatriot2004]

10. "gang rape" she was 14 yrs old...spreading democracy huh nm

[oc2002]

11. sad, very sad that these things happen.

there is not excuse or words.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. the truth

no matter how ugly, will always come out-

Odd, how 'human' we ALL are- Our societies use incidents like this to justify group hatred- I'm sure many Iraqi's see 'all Americans' as potential murdering, child rapists and 'monsters'-
Just as * tries to portray groups of 'evildoers' based on the horrendous actions done by individuals- If he hadn't forced this war down the worlds throats, it is likely Abeer, and her family would still be alive- And these men would never have considered doing what they did.

War is hell- and it is a hell that cannot be controlled, or un-done.

It is proper that this terrible crime not be swept under the rug, silenced- or minimized....It is too bad that everyone bearing responsibility will not have to face the concequences. (at least in this world).

May Abeer and her family rest in peace eternally-

[helderheid]

13. I can only imagine her terror. God this is so awful I want to throw up.

[EST]

15. How many of the nutters screamed so loudly that the whole

thing was a disingenuous trick by the libruls.
All the ignorant ideological geniuses such as Limbaugh, Bush, Weiner, Reagan-on and on went absolutely nuts about this and lied their asses off.

How in the hell could anyone believe them now?

I am disgusted beyond words.

[SouthernBelle82]

16. I was wondering

what happened with the case of this and I'm glad to hear the guy is going to help even if he is helping himself. Perhaps there can be some closure with any other family members of this family and their friends. :( The only thing I wish was the Iraqi court was doing the trial since it's a crime in their country and they're invaders.

[Jokinomx]

43. I agree completely... however...

If I understand things correctly.... that this year is the end of the U.N. resolution that allows the U.S. to be in Iraq. I heard somewhere that the Iraqi Prime Minister is going to ask not to renew this because it does not allow the Iraqi government to try crimes of U.S. soldiers in Iraqi courts.

If I heard correctly and this is what the Iraqi government wants now that they are a sovereign nation and will try all crimes committed in their borders in their own country... we won't be there very much longer...

[BlueEyedSon]

18. These things always happen in wartime. That's why you should be careful

when you start one.

[elehhhhna]

20. True. War does not bring out the best in people.

[LTR]

28. Madness begets madness

Sad, but true.

[jpwhite]

19. this is disgusting

I know no one from my unit would do anything this disgusting. As a soldier in the united states army I am disgusted that this happened and I hope that justice is brought about quickly. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior at all.

James
[e-mail]

[BlooInBloo]

22. All enlisteds under the gun. Dammit - I want the officers who either...

... looked the other way, or participated in the event and/or the cover-up.

The enlisteds gotta go for sure - but I'm fucking sick of the rich kids always getting off.

[mirandapriestly]

23. The Powers that Be are responsible for this

they know things like this are going to happen.

[lukasahero]

24. Maybe so but so are the damn soldiers who did it.

Even in war, people have choices. This was not some random adrenaline filled act - it was premeditated. These soldiers need to be punished to the full extent of the law. That is a far more reasonable sentence than they perpetrated on this young girl, her family and her 6 - 6! - year old sister.

[durrrty libby]

26. War destroys humanity

[GymGeekAus]

32. No. Humanity overcomes War.

War is an evil, to be certain. But sometimes it is necessary. Sometimes, you must stand up against evil to protect the world at large. To protect humanity at large.

We used to have high standards for our military. This was changed by the GOP. Look into it.

You're putting the cart before the horse here, durrrty libby.

[Beelzebud]

29. ...And one more piece of what America once was, dies...

[wicket]

30. May he rot & burn in hell

n/t

[GymGeekAus]

31. Rumsfeld's Military lowered standards. What did you expect?

Aryan nation grafitti popping up in Baghdad. Remember that story? Gosh, how could that have happened?

The reason our Military was worthy of the greatest respect (and I'm a 100% pacifist and still maintained this respect) was because we DID send our best and brightest, our nation's future, into the line of fire when the need arose.

But that is no longer the case.

Standards for entry into the military have dropped to the point that criminals, gang members, and white supremists have had an easy route to infiltrating the service.

Thank you, Donald Rumsfeld. And thank you, George W. Bush.

We have a lot more corruption to clean up than just that which has taken root in Congress, people.

A lot more.

[rman]

35. I think Rumsfeld lowered the standards of the military

Same result though.

[GymGeekAus]

39. Yes. Sorry if I was not more clear.

By the way, I suspect they'll drop even more if we permit the executive branch to stay in the region. And by region, I most certainly include Iran and Syria.

[rman]

55. Yes, we have to start ending the neocon's perpetual war asap

As of yet i think Kucinich is one of very few who actually calls for a reversal of the neocon's doctrine of preventative war and unilateral military intervention.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2723159

The message is very simple:
Bush put us into this mess because of his neocon buddies and their crazy ideas about, as they say, how to bring peace and democracy to the world.
So let's get rid of their crazy and often times criminal ideas. Dems can do this now that they have the majority. The American people gave Dems this power because they are fed up with the policies of the Bush administration. So let's not not commit to ending this war.

So if the Dems don't, they can be asked: why do you not commit to ending this war in the Middle East?

[Tatiana]

33. So one guy escapes the death penalty. Maybe we should just torture him instead.

Sleep deprivation, waterboarding... all day, for an indefinite period of time.

Oh and the others... let's just fry 'em.

[GymGeekAus]

34. Is that position consistent with your support for Wesley Clark?

Because I think it's morally reprehensible. And if that's the philosophy espoused by Clark's supporters, I think the rest of us should know about it.

Let's also not forget that war is very complex, especially the ridiculous war we sent our troops to in this case. Trying to maintain the peace against a home-grown insurgency when we can't even tell the good guys from the bad guys, well it's bound to elevate your sense of paranoia and frustration.

Then leaving these guys in the theatre for three consecutive tours, well that sure exacerbates the situation.

[Tatiana]

36. Forgot the sarcasm tag.

This story bothers me to no end because it's the very ideas espoused in my original response (torture, death penalty, etc. are OK) that led to a situation such as this.

Torture *is* morally reprehensible. "Frying" people *is* morally reprehensible. And the fact that our pResident, his Congressional supporters, and his administration supported and drafted legal positions advocating this type of behavior illustrates that our nation is led by a bunch of morally reprehensible people.

Everyone will want to either

1) throw the book at these people or
2) make excuses for their deplorable behavior.

But I suspect no one will ask the question(s) that need to be answered. How could these people commit such a morally reprehensible act? Why did they do this? I have no doubt the answer will lead to why Rumsfeld, Cheney, Gonzalez, and Bush all should be held criminally responsible for their conduct in office.

P.S. I don't think it's a good idea to use the opinion of one supporter to paint with a broad brush the entire philosophy of any candidate.

[GymGeekAus]

38. Groovy.

There are groups out there that do have those positions, though. Thanks for clarification.

P.S. I think it is valid to ask individual supporters where their beliefs fall in line with or diverge from the philosophy with particular candidates. Predominantly, the purpose of doing so is to separate the wheat from the chaff, to identify those who have examined and informed opinions and those who don't know what they actually believe or why. That's the educator-geek in me, I suppose. Thanks again for posting your clarification.

[Astrad]

37. Race is a key aspect of this atrocity

The extreme nature of this hideous crime indicates to me just how much arab/muslim populations have been dehumanized in the eyes of many Americans. We're back to the days of 'nips' and 'gooks'.

[Laurab]

40. Dehumanized out of necessity in many cases, unfortunately

I think many of our soldiers have had to dehumanize Iraqi's, at least a little, to do the things they have to do over there just to stay alive. To shoot at kids pointing AK-47's at them, and things like that. I think for many of our soldiers, their entire tours are just about surviving, and doing whatever it takes to get home. Sometimes the choices they have to make are choices they'll have trouble living with for the rest of their lives.

I'm not talking about the soldiers involved in this particular incident, really - they sound like the gung ho "let's go kill some iraqi's" kind of guys. I'm talking about the average soldier, like my nephew who just returned from a one year tour. He said all he kept thinking was "I'm going to make it home to my son", and that was what enabled him to do things he could have never done, if not put into a situation where it's either you or them. And he was obviously troubled by the time he spent in Iraq, and the things he did - in his case for self-defense and survival. I haven't talked to him since the election, but I'm guessing he's pretty relieved.

The fact that our soldiers are in this situation lies with the brilliant planners of this war - there are going to be so many screwed up soldiers coming back - my nephew's job wasn't combat, but once in Iraq, EVERYONE is combat - they have to be.

The soldiers who participated in the rape and murder are a different breed - I would guess they were already somewhat fucked up three tours notwithstanding, and they deserve the worst.

What I worry more about are the "normal" guys who went over there, and how this is going to affect them as the years go on.

[AliceWonderland]

53. Very well put. Dehumanization is key to this incident.

But that's what war is.

[ET Awful]

44. Oddly, I did a search at FR, and there are ZERO posts that I could find

on this story. . . go figure.

[GETPLANING]

45. Hannity is still defending this atrocity

This man has no conscience. It is an open and shut case. The same asshole who is for ending habeus corpus is still defending these guys, saying there "is no proof" this ever happened.

[thingfisher]

46. It makes one wonder

how many other similar incidents went undetected in the chaos of Iraq. These kinds if abuses will occur when vilent prone American youth are taught to be lethal killing machines by the aremed forces. American disdain of the 'ragheads' and their fear of threats that can't be easily and precisely identified lead to an even greater dehumanizing of the people. Very lamentable situation.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

47. Bet the house on it!

I came of age during Vietnam, faced the draft, though thankfully I became eligible the year the draft was ended (1974). I could read stories of atrocities in the papers (Berkeley Barb). Hell - the Barb published pictures of horrible crimes on the Front Page - a skull in the middle of a Saigon street, brains oosing out onto the dusty ground.

The "Winter Soldier" hearings of 1970 or '71 established first-person testimony by The Perpetrators Themselves! John F. Kerry summed it up to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April, 1971.

See: <http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html>

No way this is an isolated incident. It is systemic. THIS is war. EVERY war.

[SammyWinstonJack]

49. Real brave, shooting a six year old child, manly men there.

:sarcasm: :puke:

[TahitiNut]

63. Indeed. It'd be far better if we made sure our military

... was composed of males and females equally. Universal National Service is imperative.

[Zhade]

52. Kill yourself.

You're less than useless to the human race, you fucking scum!

[KansDem]

54. 94 Americans executed during WWII for rape and murder...

Although Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion (the first American soldier since the Civil War), he was buried along with 94 Americans who were executed for rape and murder during WWII.

At his execution, a member of the firing squad said to him, "Try to take it easy, Eddie. Try to make it easy on yourself---and on us."

"Don't worry about me," Slovik replied. "I'm okay. They're not shooting me for deserting the United Stated Army---thousands of guys have done that. They're shooting me for bread I stole when I was 12 years old."

He was buried in France, in a secret cemetery with 94 American soldiers executed for the crimes of rape and murder.

Determined to right what she was certain was a horrible wrong, Antoinette vainly petitioned seven presidents to have her dead husband pardoned. It seemed so unfair that so many others convicted of the same crime were not executed. Why only one soldier, why her husband alone? She worked relentlessly to clear his record and to claim his body until her own death in 1979.

Pvt. Eddie Slovik

One wonders about the fate of these four?

[dogday]

57. When a Mother sends her Son to war, she hopes

and prays he will stay alive, he won't be injured, but in her wildest dreams she could never imagine this... What would drive these young men to do this to an entire family?


I can only hope that my son has been given the tools in life to deal with situations, reagardless of the circumstances, you can only hope and pray.....

[Judi Lynn]

58. I see anyone who would brood about this man's lost freedom as my enemy.

It's desperately sad he was ever out running around lose BEFORE this happened. He's not willing to control himself. Idiot. Fool. Monster.

[Kelly Rupert]

59. Oh, I'm proud to be an American.

[Burma Jones]

64. I hope he is never eligible for parole

and his co-defendants are put to sleep.......

[Orsino]

66. Gotta wonder if his evil impulses...

...predate the war. Would these soldiers have raped or murdered outside of a war zone?

What kind of troops will be coming home, and how much responsibility will we own for their crimes?