American soldiers are in a court battle for their lives, but the mainstream media does not let that get in the way of their agenda.
Identification cards issued by the Iraqi government show Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi (C) in 1993 with a date of birth of August 19, 1991, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muheisin al-Janabi (L), in 1990, and her father Qasim Hamza Rasheed al-Janabi, in 2006. A U.S. military court heard graphic testimony on Monday on how U.S. soldiers took turns to hold down and rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her and her family. (Handout/Reuters)
As if Reuters could stand to lose any more credibility after the Adnan Hajj debacle, they come out with this report today painting American soldiers as complete animals…
…It’s too bad that Reuters does not give you the whole story!
Court told US troops gang-raped Iraqi girl
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A U.S. military court in Baghdad heard graphic testimony on Monday of how three U.S. soldiers took turns raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before murdering her and her family.
At the hearing into whether four U.S. soldiers should be court-martialled for rape and murder, a special agent described what took place in Mahmudiya in March, based on an interview he had with one of the men, Specialist James Barker.
The case, the fifth involving serious crimes being investigated by the U.S. military in Iraq, has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops’ immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
…Barker also told the special agent he heard shots from the bedroom and shortly afterwards Private Steven Green emerged from the room, put down an AK-47 assault rifle and raped the girl while Cortez held her down.
Barker told Bierce that Green then picked up the weapon and shot her once, paused, and shot her several more times.
Military prosecutors are expected to set out their case against Private First Class Jesse Spielman, 21, Barker, 23, Cortez, 23 and Private First Class Bryan Howard, 19, who face charges of rape and murder among others.
If court-martialled after the Article 32 hearing — the military’s equivalent of a U.S. grand jury — and found guilty, they could face the death penalty. The hearing began on Sunday and is expected to last several days.
Green, 21, faces the same charges in a U.S. federal court in Kentucky, home of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, his former unit. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for a “personality disorder.”
A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement and will also appear at the hearing at a U.S. base next to Baghdad airport.
An Iraqi army medic told the hearing on Sunday he entered the house and found the body of 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi naked and burned from the waist up, with a single bullet wound beneath her left eye.
Bierce said Barker told him he poured kerosene from a lamp on to the girl. It was not clear who set her on fire.
Barker later signed a sworn statement based on the interview, in which he said that on the day of the attack he, Cortez, Spielman and Green had been playing cards and drinking whisky mixed with an energy drink. They then went to the rear of the checkpoint where they ware based to hit golf balls.
Green said he wanted to go to a house and kill some Iraqis, Barker wrote in his sworn statement.
After the rape and murders, he wrote that he began to grill chicken wings.
The hearing continues.
Source: REUTERS
Both the AP and Reuters get too caught up in their own reporting that they forget to mention this little fact in their gruesome reports:
A soldier from Chambersburg accused of raping and killing an Iraqi teen and murdering her family has passed a lie detector test.
An investigator says Pfc. Jesse Spielman passed a polygraph test after denying shooting or having sex with anyone in the house.
This was confirmed on Monday.
You would think that the AP and Reuters might mention that in their very thorough (and gruesome) reports on this US soldier murder trial.
More shocking is that Reuters and the AP are starting to sound like Cindy Sheehan (or vice versa).
A Jacksonian has a good read up today on the media quagmire.
