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The War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings,
Torture and Big Money |
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August 7th, 2006 - An Itchy Finger |
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Steven Green went to Iraq eager to 'Kill 'em all.' The Army thinks he
took things way too far. By Sarah Childress and Michael Hirsh Newsweek August 7, 2006 issue Even before he went to Iraq,
Steven Green scared people. Growing up in oil-rich Midland, Texas, a small
community full of pumping jacks, pickup trucks and fast-food restaurants, Green
was known as a petulant loner and a hard-drinking druggie. Mostly what people
remember is his seething, seemingly random rage. In high school, Green would
jump on other kids for offenses like wearing a green shirt, or using a white
cigarette lighter—anything he'd arbitrarily claim to hate. His best friend,
Mike, recalls remarking to Green once that he wanted to punch another kid
standing nearby. "I'll do it!" Green said, and ran over and socked
the boy. Another friend remembers the time when they were hanging out at his
place and Green wanted to play a Guns N' Roses CD. When the others said they
wanted to hear something else, Green put the disc on anyway, blasting the
music at full volume until people left, one by one. "A lot of people
didn't accept Steve," says Mike, who requested that his last name be
withheld. Green's parents had divorced
when he was 4; his parents drank, and he drifted from home to home. But he
was anxious to better himself, acquaintances say. And the Army seemed to
offer everything Green lacked: money, friends, a place to stay, possibly even
fame. Boot camp, Green later told friends, was great. He bragged about being
a part of the world's most powerful military, and he was excited to get to
Iraq. "He wanted to be a hero," says Hugh Bailey, 54, a
Vietnam-veteran Marine who befriended Green. When he enlisted in February
2005, Green exultantly told Mike and others, like the mother of one of his
friends, Alma Thomas: "I'm gonna go over there and kill 'em all." Just a week into his tour,
Green's mood changed. His unit, the 502nd Infantry Regiment, was on the front
lines of the insurgency in the Sunni Triangle town of Al Mahmudiyah. On his
MySpace page, which was oddly titled "imalittlegirl," he sent
messages to Mike saying he'd seen body parts flying through the air. It was
nothing like Red Faction, his favorite videogame. "Dude, I can't do all
this. I thought it'd be cool to kill people, but I saw my buddy get shot in
the face. It's not pretty," Green wrote, Mike recalls. After one tough
day, he wrote, "Screw this s--t. Every time I make a new friend, they
get killed." Exactly what happened to
Steven Green in Iraq is not clear. All that is known is that seven weeks
after being honorably discharged for what the Army called a "personality
disorder," Green was arrested last month for a horrific crime. According
to the indictment, he raped an Iraqi girl in Al Mahmudiyah and murdered her
and her family. Five other soldiers in the 502nd have also been charged with
complicity in the crime. Among the accused is Jesse Spielman of Chambersburg,
Pa., whose mother, Nancy Hess, blames the charges on Green. "That kid
should have never ever been let in the military," Hess told NEWSWEEK,
adding that her son would refer to Green in conversations as "the total
idiot who's trying to get out" of the Army. "Goes to show you what
kind of scum the military lets in. The recruiters will take anything with
warm blood." Green's lawyer, Patrick Bouldin, says he can't comment on
the case but added: "Critical comments about Mr. Green from a
codefendant or his camp are always viewed with heavy skepticism because of
the high likelihood of bias." Green's case has helped to
spur a closer look at the Army's standards for recruitment and training.
Green enlisted and passed basic training at a time when the Army was under
terrific pressure to bring in new soldiers and had relaxed its entry
requirements. In 2005, about the time Green was accepted, the Army raised the
limit on the so-called Category 4 recruits it would allow, the designation
for soldiers with the lowest scores on its aptitude test. (Green's score is
not known.) The Army has also been handing out more waivers - including
case-by-case exceptions for criminal offenses - which increased by 3 percent
last year. Basic training has slipped as well. In years past, basic was
geared to "wash out" those unfit for the stresses of military life.
Now it has been reformulated to keep as many recruits as possible. "What
you're seeing is the reverse of what made the Army so effective," says
Sen. Jack Reed of the Armed Services Committee. The most recent washout
numbers show a dramatic decline in standards: currently only 7.6 percent of
new recruits fail to get through their first six months of service, down from
18.1 percent in May 2005, according to the latest Army figures. "That's
a heck of a drop," says Leo Daugherty, the Army's command historian at
Fort Knox. "The young man who got in [Green] should never have gotten in
the Army. He slipped through the system." The Army says it has adapted
basic training to lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, and helps soldiers
to improve their weaknesses. "We will get rid of those individuals who
have no business being a soldier," says Col. Kevin Shwedo, director of
operations, plans and training for Army Accessions Command. "We're not
going to quit on a soldier when they're trainable. That's a big
difference." In truth, it's not clear
whether a candidate like Green would have washed out even if his superiors
had known about his alleged personality problems sooner. He had posted
adequate scores on his General Equivalency Degree test, or GED, a substitute
for a high-school diploma. And his troubles with the law were minor: two
prior misdemeanor convictions for possession of drug paraphernalia and
tobacco as a minor, and being a minor in possession of alcohol. "Around
here, kids get those like candy," says one Midland recruiter who asked
not to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. Even the most
psychologically fit recruits have buckled under the stress of watching their
buddies die around them. Troubled kids are often the most susceptible.
Certainly Steven Green seemed to snap, judging from the government
indictment. On the night in question in Al Mahmudiyah, Green dressed in dark
clothes, ducked away from his post and persuaded some of his comrades to come
along. According to the indictment, he then led them to the house of a
14-year-old Iraqi girl. At the home, Green herded the mother, father and a
young girl, about 5 years old, into a back bedroom while another soldier
threw the teenager to the floor. Green closed the bedroom door. Shots were
fired, and he emerged with an AK-47, which had been in the home, and said,
"I just killed them. All are dead." He and another soldier then
allegedly raped the teenager. Afterward, Green shot her two or three times in
the head, killing her, the indictment says. (Green has pleaded not guilty.) Should the Army have seen
trouble coming? It's hard to say. Back in Midland, "he didn't fit in, he
never got around to knowing people," says B. J. Carr, Green's former
stepgrandfather. With so many people coming and going in his life, "he
didn't know what side to be on." But to others like Alma Thomas, Green
could be kind and full of energy. When he boasted to her, as he had to his
friends, that he was going to Iraq to "kill 'em all," Thomas said
she warned him, as perhaps no one else had, that serving in Iraq would be
"like a real nightmare that you can't wake up from." Green probably
never will. With Michael Hastings in New
York External link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14097559/ Investigator: U.S. Soldier Poured
Kerosene on Raped, Slain Iraqi CNN Monday, August 7, 2006; Posted: 9:17 p.m. EDT Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) - One of
the U.S. soldiers accused of raping and killing an Iraqi and slaying her
family told investigators that after the killings he poured kerosene on the
girl's bullet-ridden body, according to testimony Monday in a military
hearing. In an interview with the
U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division in June, Spec. James P. Barker,
23, said that he held the girl down while she was raped by another soldier,
Sgt. Paul Cortez, during an incident in March in Mahmoudiya, according to
testimony from CID Special Agent Benjamin Bierce. Barker said that he then
attempted to rape the girl himself, before she was shot to death by former
Pfc. Steven D. Green, Bierce said. Barker told investigators he
was not sure if he penetrated the girl, because he was having trouble getting
an erection. Bierce also testified that
Barker admitted pouring kerosene from a lamp onto the girl's body, although
it was unclear from the testimony who set the girl on fire. Bierce's testimony came
during the second day of a preliminary hearing in Baghdad for Barker, Cortez,
23, and two other soldiers, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 21, and Pfc. Bryan L.
Howard, 19, who are charged in connection with the killings in Mahmoudiya,
south of Baghdad. The hearing will determine
whether there is enough evidence to proceed to a court-martial, where they
could face the death penalty. Green, who was discharged
from the Army in May because of an "anti-social personality
disorder" and returned to the United States, is facing rape and murder
charges in a civilian federal court. He is being held in a Kentucky jail. Another soldier, Sgt.
Anthony W. Yribe, has been charged with failing to report the alleged rape
and killings but is not alleged to have been a participant. All six men are from the
502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, based in
Fort Campbell, Kentucky. There is some confusion over
the alleged rape victim's age. Identity cards and death certificates of the
victims, which were obtained by Reuters news agency, show that the alleged
rape victim was Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, with the birth date August 19,
1991. The mayor of Mahmoudiya confirmed her identity and birth date to CNN. The U.S. military had
previously referred to the alleged rape victim as a "young Iraqi
woman." A Justice Department affidavit in the case against Green says
investigators estimated her age at about 25, while the U.S. military said she
was 20. Her father, mother and 5-year-old sister also were killed. Two soldiers' accounts Monday's testimony focused
on statements Barker and Cortez gave to investigators, in which both soldiers
described the day of the alleged attack. According to their
statements, the soldiers were drinking whiskey, playing cards and hitting
golf balls when Green brought up the idea of going to a house near the
checkpoint where they were stationed to rape the girl. Barker described Green
as very persistent, Bierce testified. The statements said the five
soldiers - Green, Cortez, Barker, Spielman and Howard - then changed into
dark clothing and covered their faces before going to the house. According to
Barker, Howard was the lookout and was given a radio to use if anyone
approached, Bierce said. The four remaining soldiers
then entered the home, at which point the statements from Barker and Cortez
about what happened diverge, according to Monday's testimony. Barker told investigators
that Cortez pushed the 14-year-old girl to the floor and made "thrusting
motions" as Barker held down her hands, then they switched positions,
Bierce said. Sometime during the assault, Barker said he heard gunshots come
from the bedroom, where the girl's parents and sister had been taken, and an
agitated Green emerged and said he had killed them, Bierce said. According to Barker, Green
then put down the AK-47 he had been carrying and raped the girl, while Cortez
held her down, and then picked up the gun and shot her several times, Bierce
said. Green then went into the kitchen and, when he returned, said he had
opened the propane tank and they needed to get out of the house because it
was about to explode, Bierce said. However, in his statement to
CID investigators, Cortez denied raping the girl, although he admitted
holding her down while Barker raped her, Special Agent Gary Griesmyer
testified. Under questioning, Griesmyer
testified there was no evidence Spielman raped or murdered anyone in the
house. Special Agent Michael Hood also said Spielman passed a polygraph test,
in which he denied shooting or raping anyone. However, in his statement to
investigators, Barker put Spielman at the scene and said Spielman grabbed the
5-year-old girl outside the house and took her inside, Bierce said. After the alleged attack,
Barker also said the soldiers gave Spielman their clothes to burn and that he
threw the AK-47 in a canal, Bierce said. U.S. soldier testifies of his investigation Also testifying Monday was a
soldier in the same platoon as the accused men, Pfc. Justin Watt, who said he
began trying to find out what happened at Mahmoudiya after Yribe confided to
him that Green had told Yribe about the rape and killings. "I wanted to see if I
could confirm my suspicions that there were more people involved," Watt
said. "I believed there were American forces involved." Watt said when he asked
Howard about what happened, Howard revealed the plan to rape the girl and
that his role was to be the lookout. "(Howard) let me know
that he ended up seeing a Humvee and calling them back frantically,"
Watt testified. Howard also told him that when the other soldiers returned
from the house, "Their clothes were covered in blood," Watt said. Watt said after piecing
together the details about what happened, he reported his suspicions to a
combat stress team. "If you have the power
to make something right, you should do it," Watt said.
"Investigation is not my job. But if something went down - something
terrible like that - then it's my obligation to come forward." However, Watt also described
the conditions at Mahmoudiya as a "suck fest," testifying that the
soldiers were living in the basement of a "dilapidated, abandoned water
treatment facility" and had gone 30 days without a shower. He also said
the ongoing violence, including the deaths of two soldiers in their unit
shortly before the slayings of the Iraqi family, had affected everyone. "I was going to get a
memorial tattoo of all the guys (who were killed), but there's not enough
room on my arm," Watt said. External link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/07/iraq.familyslain/index.html |