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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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August 29th, 2006 - Attorneys Want
Officials Gagged in Ex-Soldier's Murder Case |
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Attorneys Want Officials Gagged
in Ex-Soldier's Murder Case Brett Barrouquere Associated Press Tue, Aug. 29, 2006 Louisville, Ky. - Federal
officials should be barred from speaking about the case of a former soldier
charged with raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, defense attorneys
said. Attorneys for former Army
private Steven D. Green said in court documents that a gag order is necessary
because federal officials have had a "cavalier" attitude toward
commenting on high profile cases. Without the order, the U.S.
Department of Justice, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will
continue to selectively comment on the case, the attorneys wrote in a brief
filed Monday in federal court in Louisville. Green's attorneys, federal Public
Defenders Scott Wendelsdorf and Patrick Bouldin, want U.S. District Judge
Thomas B. Russell to bar all administration officials from talking about
Green's case. Federal prosecutors have
said a gag order is unnecessary and would hamper the ability of
administration officials to talk with Iraqi officials about the case and
other incidents. The gruesome rape and
killing of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, along with the murders of her 5-year-old
sister and parents, bolstered Iraqi allegations of misconduct by American
soldiers, including illegal killings, beatings and inhuman treatment. Investigators said Green,
21, and other soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne
Division plotted to rape the girl in the village of Mahmoudiya. Green is
accused of being the triggerman in the shooting of three of the family
members in a room of the girl's house before she was raped and killed. He was arrested June 30 in
North Carolina, and he has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four
counts of murder in Kentucky. The U.S. Army said five
soldiers will face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury
hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether
there is enough evidence to place them on trial. One of the soldiers was
charged with failing to report the attack but is not believed to have
participated in it directly, the statement said. The four facing murder
charges could receive the death penalty if convicted. Green served 11 months with
the 101st Airborne Division. He received an honorable discharge and left the
army in mid-May. He was discharged because of an "anti-social
personality disorder," according to military officials and court
documents. External link:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/15389291.htm |