Tearful U.S. soldier recounts Iraqi rape-murder

By Andrea Hopkins 39 minutes ago

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier under court-martial at a Kentucky military base broke down in tears on Wednesday as he described how he and others planned the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, murdered along with her family.

Sgt. Paul Cortez, 24, is the second U.S. soldier to plead guilty to raping the girl and killing her and her family in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006. The soldiers then poured kerosene on the girl's body and lit her on fire in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Cortez, wearing a dress green uniform and flanked by his civilian and military lawyers, read from papers before him to describe how he, Spc. James Barker and a since-discharged soldier, Steven Green, planned the attack.

"While we were playing cards Barker and Green started talking about having sex with an Iraqi female. Barker and Green had already known..." Cortez said before breaking down. He bowed his head and remained silent, sniffling occasionally, for a full minute before continuing.

"Barker and Green had already known what, um, house they wanted to go to ... knew only one male was in the house, and knew it would be an easy target," Cortez said.

Once at the house, Green, the suspected ringleader, took the girl's mother, father and little sister into a bedroom, Cortez said, while he and Barker took the teenager, Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, to the living room, where they took turns raping her.

"She kept squirming and trying to keep her legs closed and saying stuff in Arabic," Cortez said.

"During the time me and Barker were raping Abeer, I heard five or six gunshots that came from the bedroom. After Barker was done, Green came out of the bedroom and said that he had killed them all, that all of them were dead," Cortez said.

"Green then placed himself between Abeer's legs to rape her," Cortez said, sniffing audibly.

Cortez used tissues from a box on the defense table to wipe his eyes and nose. A recess was granted in the middle of his testimony to allow him to regain his composure.

Cortez could face life in prison without possibility of parole for the rape and four counts of murder. Sentencing was expected later on Wednesday or on Thursday.

In all, four current and one former soldier were charged in the gang rape and murders in Mahmudiya, a crime that outraged Iraqis and ratcheted up tension in the war zone.

Barker pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to 90 years in a military prison. Green was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder" and is in a Kentucky prison awaiting civilian trial.

Barker and Cortez both avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty and are expected to testify against Green and others charged in the crime.

Cortez also pleaded guilty to rape, arson and breaking into the girl's house as part of the March 12, 2006, crime, and to obstruction of justice for helping get rid of the murder weapon, an AK-47, which was thrown into a canal. In addition, he admitted to drinking whiskey prior to the attack, a violation of Army rules against alcohol in that area of Iraq.

The other soldiers accused in the case are Pvt. Jesse Spielman and Pvt. Bryan Howard.

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