... He was given an honourable discharge "before this incident came to light. ... One of the soldiers said he witnessed another soldier and Green rape
Ex-US soldier charged in Iraq rape, killing
From Our Special Correspondent
NEW YORK: - US prosecutors charged a former U.S. soldier with murder and rape Monday following an investigation into the killing of a young Iraqi woman and three members of her family.
Steven Green, a 21-year-old former private first class who was discharged from the Army "due to a personality disorder," appeared in a federal magistrate's courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday.
The charges grew out of a military investigation involving up to five soldiers in the March rape and killing of the woman in Mahmoudiya and three of her relatives, one of them a young girl believed to be about 5 years old.
Prosecutors said Green and others entered the home of a family of Iraqi civilians, where he and others raped the woman before Green shot her and her relatives. According to an accompanying affidavit, photos taken by Army investigators showed a burned body of "what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."
FBI agents arrested Green on Friday in Marion, N.C., where he is being held without bond.
The case is being handled by US prosecutors there because Green, who served 11 months with the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is no longer in the military.
According to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, he was given an honourable discharge "before this incident came to light. Green was discharged due to a personality disorder."
He faces a possible death sentence if convicted of murder.
The affidavit, filed by FBI special agent Gregor Ahlers of Louisville, said Green and three other soldiers from the 101st's 502nd Infantry Regiment were working a traffic checkpoint in Mahmoudiya on March 12 when they conspired to rape a woman, who investigators estimated was 25 years old, who lived nearby.
According to the affidavit's account, the soldiers changed their clothes before going to the woman's residence to avoid detection. Once there, the affidavit said, Green took three members of the family _ an adult male and female, and a girl estimated to be 5 years old into a bedroom, after which shots were heard from inside.
"Green came to the bedroom door and told everyone, 'I just killed them. All are dead,'" the affidavit said.
The affidavit is based on interviews conducted by the FBI and investigators at Fort Campbell with three unidentified soldiers assigned to Green's platoon. One of the soldiers said he witnessed another soldier and Green rape the woman.
"After the rape, (the soldier) witnessed Green shoot the woman in the head two to three times," the affidavit said.
Ahlers said in the affidavit that he also reviewed photos taken by Army investigators in Iraq of bodies found inside a burned house, including photos of an Iraqi man, woman and young girl who all appear to have died of gunshot wounds. He said he also reviewed a photo of a burned body of "what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."
An official familiar with details of the investigation in Iraq has said that a flammable liquid was used to burn the rape victim's body in a cover-up attempt. U.S. officials have said they believed the victims were killed in sectarian violence.
On Friday, the U.S. military acknowledged that Maj. Gen. James Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family in Mahmoudiya.
Four members of the 502nd have had their weapons taken away and were confined to a U.S. base near Mahmoudiya, officials said.
The Nation
From Our Special Correspondent
NEW YORK: - US prosecutors charged a former U.S. soldier with murder and rape Monday following an investigation into the killing of a young Iraqi woman and three members of her family.
Steven Green, a 21-year-old former private first class who was discharged from the Army "due to a personality disorder," appeared in a federal magistrate's courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday.
The charges grew out of a military investigation involving up to five soldiers in the March rape and killing of the woman in Mahmoudiya and three of her relatives, one of them a young girl believed to be about 5 years old.
Prosecutors said Green and others entered the home of a family of Iraqi civilians, where he and others raped the woman before Green shot her and her relatives. According to an accompanying affidavit, photos taken by Army investigators showed a burned body of "what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."
FBI agents arrested Green on Friday in Marion, N.C., where he is being held without bond.
The case is being handled by US prosecutors there because Green, who served 11 months with the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is no longer in the military.
According to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, he was given an honourable discharge "before this incident came to light. Green was discharged due to a personality disorder."
He faces a possible death sentence if convicted of murder.
The affidavit, filed by FBI special agent Gregor Ahlers of Louisville, said Green and three other soldiers from the 101st's 502nd Infantry Regiment were working a traffic checkpoint in Mahmoudiya on March 12 when they conspired to rape a woman, who investigators estimated was 25 years old, who lived nearby.
According to the affidavit's account, the soldiers changed their clothes before going to the woman's residence to avoid detection. Once there, the affidavit said, Green took three members of the family _ an adult male and female, and a girl estimated to be 5 years old into a bedroom, after which shots were heard from inside.
"Green came to the bedroom door and told everyone, 'I just killed them. All are dead,'" the affidavit said.
The affidavit is based on interviews conducted by the FBI and investigators at Fort Campbell with three unidentified soldiers assigned to Green's platoon. One of the soldiers said he witnessed another soldier and Green rape the woman.
"After the rape, (the soldier) witnessed Green shoot the woman in the head two to three times," the affidavit said.
Ahlers said in the affidavit that he also reviewed photos taken by Army investigators in Iraq of bodies found inside a burned house, including photos of an Iraqi man, woman and young girl who all appear to have died of gunshot wounds. He said he also reviewed a photo of a burned body of "what appears to be a woman with blankets thrown over her upper torso."
An official familiar with details of the investigation in Iraq has said that a flammable liquid was used to burn the rape victim's body in a cover-up attempt. U.S. officials have said they believed the victims were killed in sectarian violence.
On Friday, the U.S. military acknowledged that Maj. Gen. James Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family in Mahmoudiya.
Four members of the 502nd have had their weapons taken away and were confined to a U.S. base near Mahmoudiya, officials said.
The Nation
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