IRAQ/USA: Iraqis urge strong reaction by government on rape of Iraqi girl by U.S. soldier

Record ID: 490853

  • Title: IRAQ/USA: Iraqis urge strong reaction by government on rape of Iraqi girl by U.S. soldier
  • Date: 4th July 2006
  • Summary: STREET SCENE / TRAFFIC DRIVING AROUND WITH KAHRAMANA STATUE OF FIGURE TIPPING WATER IN JUGS
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2006 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVAEMLGIOQ5MHMPBDVPPLNRIJ0JZ
  • Story Text: A former U.S. soldier was arrested on Monday (July 3) and charged with killing four Iraqi civilians and raping one of the female victims, U.S. officials said. The charges relate to the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager after the killing of her parents and young sister.
    Former Pfc. Steven Green, 21, who was stationed in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, appeared in court in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is expected to be sent to Kentucky where he has been charged with the attacks that took place near Mahmudiya, Iraq.
    Iraqi people on Tuesday (July 4) denounced the rape of a 15-year-old girl by U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad in March as an ugly crime, urging a decisive act and strong condemnation by their government.
    Iraqi citizen Hussein Al-Shimmari called for protest in the streets. "All the people should revolt because it is a case of honour and what happened to this girl today may happen to our sisters and wives tomorrow. I feel really sorry for the stand of the people and the officials. Sweeping demonstrations should hit streets and we should not let the Americans drive in the cities. This act reveals the false democracy of the Americans and shows the Americans' barbarism and aggressive nature. It also showed that they (U.S. forces) have not come as liberators but for their own interests and they brought mercenaries and strange behaviour," he said.
    And Ahmed Hammed said Iraqis should join together to protest at the crime. "It is a heinous act and Iraqis should stand against this act and the Iraqi government should take a clear stand and should put an end to U.S. degrading acts against the Iraqi people," he said.
    Green faces a possible death penalty if convicted. He has been charged as a civilian, but could be brought back on military duty and charged as a soldier, a defense official said.
    According to a statement by the U.S. attorney in Kentucky, Green is charged with going to a house near Mahmudiya with three others to rape a woman living in the house.
    The statement said that after drinking alcohol and changing into dark clothes, Green and others went to the house where Green allegedly shot and killed a man, a woman and a 5-year-old girl. He and another person raped a 25-year-old woman who was in the house, and then Green shot her in the head, court documents said.
    Reports from Iraq and the military have given different ages for the girl and the rape victim. The two adults and child were the rape victim's parents and sister, according to a defense official.
    The U.S. Army is still investigating and has not charged other soldiers suspected in the case. Those soldiers remain in Iraq, the defense official said.
    Green's arrest comes amid a series of other investigations in which U.S. troops are suspected of killing civilians in Iraq, including an investigation into the suspected role of U.S. Marines in the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in the western town of Haditha last November.
    Green was honourably discharged early from the U.S. Army due to what court documents said was a "personality disorder."
    He was from the same unit as the two U.S. soldiers -- Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas Tucker -- who were abducted and killed by insurgents in Iraq last month. A defense official said there was no information indicating Menchaca's and Tucker's killings were in retaliation for the alleged murders and rape by Green.
    While the Army is investigating the allegations in Iraq, the FBI is conducting the investigation in the United States.
    Green is subject to civilian prosecution under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows crimes committed in foreign countries by members of the military to be prosecuted as if they had been committed in the United States.
    The rape and killings near Mahmudiya were first reported by unidentified Iraqi men, according to court documents. Officials discovered during a combat stress debriefing that U.S. soldiers were involved, the documents said.
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