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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 5th, 2006 - Charges not Imminent
in Army Rape-Murder Probe |
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Charges not imminent in Army
rape-murder probe By Kristin Roberts Reuters Wednesday, July 5, 2006; 2:13 PM Washington (Reuters) - The
U.S. Army has restricted the activities of soldiers suspected in the rape and
slaying of an Iraqi woman and killings of her family amid an investigation
but charges are not imminent, a defense official said on Wednesday. The Army plans to interview
former Pfc. Steven Green, 21, who was detained in the case earlier this week
in the United States, before deciding on charges against as many as four
soldiers still in Iraq. Green might not be
questioned before he appears in U.S. court, likely next week, an official
said. "Why at this point do
we need to charge anybody else until we've heard Green's version of the
story?" the defense official said. "We have these other individuals
and they are within our control. We now have Green back within the control of
the United States government." The official said the
soldier suspects in Iraq had been restricted to their unit area but were not
in confinement. The Iraqi government called
on Wednesday for an independent inquiry into the case and said foreign
troops' immunity from Iraqi law should be reviewed. The Pentagon would not
comment on those demands, saying an investigation was under way, but Pentagon
spokesman Bryan Whitman indicated the United States has jurisdiction in the
case. "I don't believe it's
an open question," he said. Green, discharged from the
Army due to a "personality disorder," was accused of shooting a
couple and their young daughter in their home near Mahmudiya, Iraq, around
March 12. According to court documents, he and another soldier then allegedly
raped a woman in the home before Green shot and killed her. Reports from Iraq and the
U.S. military have given different ages for the young girl and the rape
victim. U.S. officials call the rape victim an adult aged 20 to 25, while
local Iraqi officials say she was 16 years old. As many as four other
soldiers may have participated in some way, according to court documents
based on information gathered through the Army's interviews with soldiers
serving in Iraq. Green was from the same unit
as two servicemen -- Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas Tucker --
recently kidnapped and killed in Iraq. Some have questioned whether
those killings were a response to the rape and slayings in Mahmudiya but the
Pentagon's spokesman said the evidence does not yet support that link. "At this point there's
no evidence that I know of that suggests that there should be a linkage
between the two of them," Whitman said. The Mahmudiya case is the
fifth in a series of U.S. inquiries into killings of Iraqi civilians in
recent months. Green faces the death
penalty if convicted of murder. He now faces a U.S. court but could be
returned to military duty and face charges as a soldier. © 2006 Reuters External link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070500993.html |