Fri May 8, 2009 2:32pm EDT
By Steve Robrahn
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - A former U.S. soldier was convicted on Thursday of raping an Iraqi girl and killing her and her family near Baghdad in 2006 and now faces a possible death sentence. The federal court jury that delivered guilty verdicts on all 16 counts against former Private 1st Class Steven Green will decide his fate in the trial's death penalty phase beginning on Monday.
Green, 24, was tried in federal court as a civilian on murder, rape and obstruction of justice charges since his arrest came after he was discharged from the U.S. Army later in 2006 for a "personality disorder."
The trial, which lasted eight days before 1 1/2 days of jury deliberations, featured prosecution testimony by Green's former comrades in which they detailed the brutal assault, one of several incidents involving American soldiers that enraged Iraqis and strained U.S. relations.
Green, 19 at the time of the crime, was described as the trigger-man in the group of five men, who donned black "ninja" outfits and raped Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, 14, and shot to death her and her father, mother and 6-year-old sister.
The incident unfolded after the soldiers drank whiskey, played cards, and plotted the attack in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.
Green, from Midland, Texas, was described by prosecutors as predisposed to killing Iraqis. Defense attorneys acknowledged he participated in the killings but argued he was suffering combat stress after the death of close colleagues and did not know friend from foe.
Three of the other soldiers pleaded guilty in the attack and the fourth was convicted, all in military courts-martial. They received sentences ranging from five to 100 years, although they could be paroled much sooner.
According to testimony, Green shot the girl's family in a bedroom while two soldiers raped her. Green then took his turn raping the girl, covered her head with a pillow and shot her three times. The soldiers then set fire to her body to try to cover up the crime.
Green later bragged about the assault, saying what he had done was "awesome."
The trial was held in Paducah, Kentucky, because the soldiers were assigned out of Fort Campbell in that state.
(Writing by Andrew Stern and Michael Conlon; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Karen Millen
I am surprised he passed screening to make it into the army - he sounds like he is insane! How disgusting!
1Disgusting.
The Army needs some stricter standards, they've been lowering the standards for years now and it's taken it's toll.
I'm glad there is some justice here, but I feel awful for that poor girl.
2That's what I was thinking Martini, with the US military overcommitted I'm sure more unstable people could be slipping through the cracks.
3People like these give such a bad name to our soldiers. sick f*cker.
4Well, it sounds bad to say but a good side effect of an economic down turn is more applications to the military. Hopefully that spur them to be more choosy.
5Haus, my dad was telling how they've been getting so many applications that they have to turn away a lot of people.
6What a f*cking monster. I hope that he is shown repeatedly what that little girl went through.
7What is most shocking is that there five soldiers involved in that massacre. A six year old girl, I can even imagine circumstances that would allow a sane person to deliberately target an kill a 6 year old girl. I don't care if she was wrapped in explosives and walking towards my family, children and grandchildren, I could not pull the trigger.
8I beleive it Myst! But the USMC has never had a problem with recruiting really. Its interesting how you have two branches, one that rarely has a problem getting people to join and one that always does (Army). And the one with the problem is the one that lowers the standaards and gives the money away etc etc... I find that very interesting.
9Disgusting...
10I knew two boys in my high school whole would tell anybody who would listen about how they wanted to join the army so they could "shoot people." They would huddle together in art class talking about guns and explosives. I always found it kind of odd but also kind of sweet that they found each other. They both went into the army after graduation. Every now and then, I hear a story about brutality and think of them.
I can't imagine how sick these men had to be to embark on this quest in the first place. They all have to be deranged. Gang raping a fourteen year old and killing a six year old? They should never taste freedom again.
11I've heard reports of gangs sending their members to join the military and go to war to get training. Then, they can come back and teach the other members what they've learned. There have been taggings of MS13 spotted in Baghdad, and other areas of Iraq. Those are the individuals we need to worry about upon their return home. I'm not at all saying all our soldiers should be looked at in this regard, but it is happening. Remember the 5 guys that broke into their ?Sergeant's? house in California, raped his wife, robbed the house, then killed them both?
12Brandy, army recruiters have books of gang tattoos. They will not allow anyone with gang ink of any kind into the military. About 10-15 years ago the army went through their active duty service people and those gang tats were interrogated, and generally discharged. I know because my son was in a platoon with a twenty year career soldier, had to prove he was not in a gang. he pointed out how blurred the ink was do to age, and that he joined and then stayed in the army to escape the "neighborhood". The army became his family. He managed to convince the army to let him stay in.
13Are you really trying to say that there are no gang members serving in the military? That's rather naive... Gang graffiti doesn't tag itself.
14http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=42002
I never claimed there were no gang members in the military, I said no gang members with gang tats.
15Sorry, if I read too far into it, but the first post insinuated that.
16
brandy 
17I think you have to remember too that some of these kids are 19/18/17... They might think tagging something is a joke, or throwing a gang symbol for a laugh. So I don't think we should assume that every one who does it is actually in a gang.
18the whole story is disgusting.5 men raping a 14 year old and after killing her and her family?what's more disgusting is that he bragged about it,he's insane and i hope he pays for what he did.
19Pirson is the perfect place for him. Cons hate, despise, and brutalize "short eyes". He should spend every day of the next 30 years going through what that poor girl went through.
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