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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 30th, 2006 - Soldier's Story is
Written in Contrasts |
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Soldier's Story is Written in Contrasts An easygoing, obedient Fresno boy grew up to be a suspect in an Iraqi
crime. By Doug Hoagland The Fresno Bee Updated Sunday, July 30, 2006, 5:49 AM James "Bunky"
Barker was going nowhere in a life of bad choices and blown opportunities. He
dropped out of high school, got a girl pregnant and worked as a go-cart
attendant at a Fresno amusement park for two months. So he joined the Army.
He got through basic training, earned a promotion and shipped out to Iraq,
where he may have made the biggest mistake of his 23 years. Today he is being held at a
camp near Baghdad, awaiting a military hearing on charges that he and other
soldiers raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer al-Janabi, killed her and her
family and then burned Abeer's body. "In some respects, it doesn't
surprise me that he's in trouble," said former Fresno neighbor Malyn
Rose, "and in some respects it does. Mostly, it's disappointing. He was
very needy for affection, for recognition." Rose is among the friends,
relatives and acquaintances who are filling in details about Barker, who went
from hanging out in Fresno to fighting insurgents in Iraq. People in his life
describe him in contradictory terms. He was easygoing, yet
troubled. He was an obedient son, but
his mother kicked him out because he didn't have a job. He's short and not
remembered for being rugged, but he ended up in a famed air assault division,
the 101st Airborne, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles." Fourteen-year-old Linda
Agueros, a friend from southeast Fresno, saw Barker as safe. "He was like our gay
friend, but he wasn't gay," she said, explaining that Barker always hung
out with girls and that he was a lovable dork, not a macho guy. His life has always been
complicated. He ended up with a wife and a girlfriend at the same time, and
children with both. Barker was in elementary
school when his parents went through a divorce filled with charges about how
badly the children were treated. He floated through high school, a face that
many people saw, but few apparently knew. He had two children with his wife
and a newborn with his girlfriend. Marisol Sanchez, an aunt in
Fresno, said Barker is a good father and she cannot believe he would harm the
14-year-old Iraqi: "I don't think he would touch the heart of another
kid because he loves his kids." And yet he is charged with
premeditated murder, rape and arson, and also of violating
"Multi-National Division-Baghdad General Order Number One," a
military order that bans drinking alcohol. News accounts have said six
soldiers were implicated in a March 12 attack in the town of Mahmoudiya,
south of Baghdad. The men noticed the 14-year-old girl near a traffic
checkpoint they manned close to her home, and they allegedly planned the
attack while drinking alcohol at the checkpoint. One soldier stayed behind to
man the radio while others headed to the girl's house armed with weapons,
according to news accounts. When they got to the residence, one soldier
forced a man, woman and young girl, estimated to be 5, into a room and shot
them with an AK-47 rifle they had found in the house. Two soldiers then allegedly
raped the girl while two soldiers stood watch outside the house. Initial
accounts identified former Pfc. Steven D. Green, 21, as the shooter and one
of the alleged rapists. The other alleged rapist was not identified in court
documents. David Sheldon, a lawyer in
Washington, D.C., representing Barker, said his client and the other accused
soldiers were "numb" from the effects of combat and that
investigators in the case might have scripted some of their statements about
the alleged crime. Early troubles Barker's entry into the
legal system began before he was born. In August 1982, four months
before his birth, his mother filed for divorce, listing her 3-year-old
daughter and "unborn child due 12/82" on her divorce petition. Roselia Palma Barker did not
follow through with that petition, and James Paul Barker was born at
then-Valley Medical Center on Dec. 10. His mother was 25; his father 57. Attorney Sheldon said Roselia
Barker declined to be interviewed for this story. Barker's father — also
named James — is dead. When little James was a boy
living in a neighborhood east of Roeding Park, his mother sold Mexican
pastries from the back of a small truck, and his father didn't work because
of health problems, said former neighbor Rose. She said Roselia Barker was
a hardworking, personable woman born in Mexico who seemed to love her
children deeply, adjusting her work schedule, for example, to spend time with
her son. James Barker, the father, could be a boisterous man who cursed a
lot. "Oh, the language was
terrible," said Rose, "but he was always there if there was a
problem." James' sister, Jammie Marie,
excelled in school and at drawing, Rose said: "She was smart and on the
ball, and he was the kid brother and outshone by her." As a child, he was smaller
than other kids — Barker grew up to be 5-feet-6 — and Rose remembers him as
cute, mischievous and near the bottom of the pecking order of neighborhood
children. "He tried to fit in,
and didn't," she said. "He was the one easy to put down and shame,
to sort of beat up." In 1990, when he was 7,
James' mother again started divorce proceedings, and this time she followed
through. In court papers, each parent charged that the other one hurt the
children with words or objects. The elder Barker said his
wife told the family, "I want to build a new life with none of you
involved." Roselia Barker said her husband hit James with a belt and
sticks, pulled his hair and put him down verbally. One document said young
Barker repeatedly said he wanted to live with his parents together. Fresno Unified School
District records show that he attended Tehipite Middle School near downtown,
and then began at Fresno High School as a freshman in 1997. Finding someone
there who knew him is difficult. Fresno High classmate Joe
Halleck, now a mechanic, said, "I remember seeing him, but I didn't know
him." Fresno Unified records show
that Barker left Fresno High in April 1999, toward the end of his sophomore
year, and enrolled at Cambridge Continuation High School in May, but dropped
out the next month. (Barker's sister completed her education, getting a
bachelor's degree in Spanish from California State University, Fresno, and
going on to earn a teaching credential. She could not be reached for this
story.) Barker reportedly earned a
GED, and could not have joined the Army without at least that piece of paper,
said Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks. While Barker was still in high
school, he lost his father. The senior Barker died at 73 in October 1998
while living in Solano County near San Francisco. His son was 15. Young Barker visited his
father in the hospital during his final illness. During that time, Barker got
to know his half sister, Joyce Johnson, the child of an earlier marriage who
became acquainted with their father only in the last year of his life.
Johnson, who lives in Solano County, answered questions through associate
Latisha Halling. "She sensed that [James]
was a troubled teen," Halling said. "She's sorry to hear that he's
in trouble, but not really surprised." Halling said Johnson tried
"to share the Gospel" with James and his sister and she invited
them for Thanksgiving but then had no further contact with her half siblings. Sketchy details Barker developed stronger
bonds with friends he met after moving with his mother to a small house near
the Fresno Fairgrounds in southeast Fresno. Sixteen-year-old Bianca Vega said
they used to talk about boy-girl relationships: "He'd say, 'Don't let
any guy talk you into doing things you don't want to do.'" Now she's shocked that he's
accused of rape. "I wouldn't expect this
from him," she said. "He wasn't like this." Details of Barker's life in
his late teens and early 20s are sketchy. Jesus Caranza, a friend from
southeast Fresno, said Barker was spoiled and got whatever he wanted from his
mother, but her patience eventually wore out and she kicked him out because
he didn't have a job and wasn't working. However, Marisol Sanchez,
his aunt, said Barker was an obedient son who stayed close to home playing
Nintendo. The obedient son became a
young father. Barker and Jamie Lorraine
Winters had a baby on Nov. 9, 2001, in Fresno, according to a birth certificate.
The new parents were both 18, and they named their son Anthony James. After the baby came, Barker
worked as a go-cart attendant at Boomers in northeast Fresno, but he stayed
for only two months in the spring of 2002. He eventually enlisted in the Army
and went to basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia in March 2003. "When he left, he
didn't want to," said Caranza, his 23-year-old buddy. "But he went
out of obligation. He had nothing else going for him." That July, Barker came home
and married Jamie Winters at Sierra Heights Baptist Church in northeast
Fresno. They were both 20. The Rev. John Bonine
performed the wedding, but didn't know the couple well. Jamie Winters had a
friend whose grandmother regularly attended the church, and Bonine said he
did the wedding as a favor to his parishioner's family: "It was a
standard wedding. They wanted it quick and fast and paid me 50 bucks." Thuy Doung, Barker's cousin,
was the best man. Growing up, they'd hang out at Roeding Park on Sundays,
playing volleyball and having water-balloon fights. In August 2003, Barker
joined the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Records show
an address for a James P. Barker in base housing, but no one returned
telephone messages left by The Bee. In November 2004, Barker was
promoted to specialist, meaning he completed required training and stayed out
of trouble, said Army spokesman Banks. In October 2005, his regiment went to
Iraq. He kept in touch with friends in Fresno through MySpace, a social networking
Web site. "I'd say, 'How are you
doing?' and he said, 'Pretty good,'" said Bianca Vega. "He wanted
to come back to Fresno. He's funny. He's easy to get along with." Complicated life But things were not easy in
Iraq. Barker told Caranza about seeing an Army buddy killed in front of him,
and of not knowing which Iraqi civilians were friendly and which were
insurgents. "When he came home, he
had pictures of him smoking with Iraqis," Caranza said. "He said,
'These are the cool ones, but the other ones try to blow you up and
stuff.'" Barker apparently came back
to Fresno on a 15-day leave that troops are eligible for after six months in
Iraq, but he returned to finish a year's stint in the country. His personal life had become
complicated, too. He and his wife had had a second child, but they are in the
process of divorcing, and now he has a newborn with a girlfriend, Marisol
Sanchez has told reporters. She and other family members
are trying to cope with the situation. "He was always a good
kid," Sanchez said. "What can you say? We're in shock. We don't
believe this. The people who are going to investigate have to find out the
truth. I feel really, really bad." Malyn Rose said she keeps
thinking of what good neighbors the Barkers were: "Because one thing
happens in a family doesn't mean that's the sum total of who they are." And yet she also thinks of
the rape and murder of the 14-year-old Iraqi girl. How could the little
neighbor boy who once shot a BB gun and hit her house be involved, she
wonders. "Oh, what a mess,"
Rose said. "It's a shame. It's more than a shame. My God, the
victim." Bee staff writer Diana
Marcum contributed to this report. External link:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12521976p-13236092c.html |