Soldier accused of assaulting Iraqi teenager and killing her and her family

updated 6:49 p.m. ET Aug. 26, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A federal judge in Kentucky has upheld civilian charges against a former 101st Airborne Division soldier accused in the sexual assault of an Iraqi teenager and the slayings of her and her family.

Steven Dale Green's attorneys challenged a law that allowed him to be indicted on civilian charges for alleged crimes that happened in a war zone while he was serving in the Army. He was discharged before the military could bring its own charges.

But U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell, in a series of rulings released Tuesday, upheld the constitutionality of the law and found that Green received due process as his case moved through the judicial system.

Green has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to face trial in April 2009. The 22-year-old from Midland, Texas, faces a possible death sentence if convicted on 16 charges that include premeditated murder and aggravated sexual assault. His lawyers have said they plan to use an insanity defense at trial.

Green's public defender, Patrick Bouldon, said the civilian justice system shouldn't handle cases involving the unfamiliar and extreme setting of a war zone.

"Certainly cases involving soldiers in the midst of a violent war are ones that belong within the military system," he said.

Sandy Focken, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Louisville, said prosecutors would review the rulings.

Others involved admitted to rape, murders
Four other soldiers pleaded guilty or were convicted for their role in targeting the 14-year-old girl from a checkpoint near Mahmoudiya, a village 20 miles south of Baghdad, and helping rape and kill her in 2006.

Two of the soldiers testified they took turns raping the girl while Green shot and killed her mother, father and younger sister. They also testified that Green raped the girl and shot her.

Green's lawyers challenged the constitutionality of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a law written in 2000 and amended in 2004 primarily to allow the prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working for the U.S. overseas.

The attorneys argued their client could face death, a much harsher punishment than his alleged coconspirators received in military court. One soldier charged as an accessory was sentenced to five years, while sentences for three others ranged from 90 to 110 years.

Green had been honorably discharged from the military with psychiatric problems when allegations surfaced of U.S. military involvement in the slayings. He was arrested as a civilian.

The defense claimed discharging Green before he was criminally charged in the military system violated his due process rights. They cite testimony that Green reported his involvement to his commanding sergeant twice and was instructed to leave the military.

Russell ruled that the military did nothing wrong in discharging Green.

"This Court finds that Defendant's discharge was reasonably related to the Government's interest in ensuring that its soldiers are fit to serve," Russell wrote.

Russell also turned down multiple challenges to the federal death penalty act and the notice of intent to seek the death penalty in Green's case.

In a similar case, former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr. is on trial in California, charged with killing unarmed detainees in Iraq. The judge in his case also turned away a constitutional challenge to the law.



Source

abu_rashid wrote on Sep 6^th, 2008 at 10:00pm:


This is disgusting, but it is not incited by ideology or a modus operandi.

Where's the extremism?

Here's a little something to add a little spice into it all...

-----

JUNEAU, Alaska — Borrowing the language of wartime President George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-president nominee, believes the US-led invasion of Iraq was a "task from God."

"Our national leaders are sending soldiers out on a task that is from God," Palin, Republican White House nominee John McCain, told ministry students at her former church, according to a newly revealed video.

A video of the speech, delivered in June, was posted on the website of the Wasilla Assembly of God, the evangelical church Palin has belonged to since he was a teenager, before being disseminated across the Internet.

In her address, the Alaska Governor urged the religious students to pray for the troops in Iraq.

"That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

Palin words echo the rhetoric of President Bush, who ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and links to Al-Qaeda, both claimed later proved ungrounded.

Bush has repeatedly portrayed his so-called war on terror, which included the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, as a battle between good and evil.

He upset many Muslims after the 9/11 attacks by referring to his war as a "crusade," a term which for many Muslims connotes a Christian battle against Islam.

The Wasilla Assembly of God and its parent denomination - the three-million member General Council of the Assemblies of God - espouse core beliefs not widely ascribed to by major Christian factions.

The denomination's website says some scholars believe that the "end times" foreshadowing the end of the world was confirmed in 1948, with the founding of Israel, marking the Jews' return to the Holy Land, fulfilling a Biblical prophecy.

The video of the speech gives a sense of how Palin's religion-colored approach to governance.

"What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys," Palin said.

"I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded.

"But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."

Palin asked the ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion gas pipeline in her Alaska state.

"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that."

A first-term governor, Palin is a pioneering figure in Alaska as the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state's top political post.

The 44-year-old mother of five, who comes from a devout Christian family, is graded as a right-wing Republican and a strong social conservative.

She is a family values champion, an upholder of gun rights and a supporter of the capital punishment.

Palin is also an ardent pro-life campaigner who gave birth in April to her fifth child, a boy, who has Downs Syndrome.

He Christian credentials and antiabortion views have been lauded by social conservatives.

She is already making history by becoming the first female on the Republican presidential ticket and the second woman on a major party's ticket.

If the Republicans win the November White House election, Palin will be the first ever woman vice president in American history.

Would you if he was a Muslim quoting koran verses?

Men are inherently evil and easy to take advantage of.

The fact they live in constant fear makes them easy prey to be manipulated and abused by the powers that be, and this can easily be done using organised religion is no big secret.

A Christian is neither permitted to kill and rape.

The Bible clearly states Thou Shalt not Kill, perhaps a pope changed it to murder, but the original tells you not to kill.

Abu, you are doing what you accuse others of doing. Read my signature. You claim "the west" is biased against Islam, you are without doubt, biased against "the west".

abu_rashid wrote on Sep 8^th, 2008 at 9:03am:


This kind of thing is despicable to most people Abu, but how do you know the soldier isn't a Muslim or Buddist or Atheist? I'm not sticking up for the christians they have as many problems as your mob ,but do you know this guys religion?

abu_rashid wrote on Sep 8^th, 2008 at 10:53am:


Well, when I'm biased against Islam, in your view, I'm wrong, but when you're biased against the west it's all fine and dandy, in your view. Perhaps my bias is a response to your extreme bias that I witness against the west. Because, your hatred for all things western seems quite genuine.

Point is, we are each others enemy, plain and simple. We will never get along. You will fight for what you believe, as I will do the same. It will always clash.