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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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May 1st,
2009 - Testimony: Attack on Iraq Family Was Planned News article from the
Associated Press |
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Testimony:
Attack on Iraq Family Was Planned By Brett Barrouquere Associated Press May 1, 2009 Paducah, Ky. - An attack on
an Iraqi family that resulted in the rape and shooting death of a 14-year-old
girl and the shotgun deaths of her family could have been stopped but wasn't,
a soldier involved in planning the attack said Friday. James Paul Barker, who was a
member of the 101st Airborne Division, said Friday that he could have stepped
in after initially planning the attack with then-Pfc. Steven Dale Green. But,
Barker said, he didn't and he knew someone was going to kill the al-Janabi
family once the soldiers made their way to the house. Barker's testimony came on
the fifth day of Green's trial on rape, murder, conspiracy and other charges
stemming from the March 12, 2006, attack near Mahmoudiya, Iraq. Federal
prosecutors say Green was the third soldier to rape Abeer Qassim al-Janabi,
then shot her in the head just after killing her mother, father and younger
sister. Green, 23, from Midland,
Texas, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors say they'll ask the
jury to hand down a death sentence if Green is convicted. He is being tried
in civilian court because he was discharged from the Army before charges were
brought in the case. Defense attorney Darren
Wolff asked Barker if he would have shot the al-Janabi family if Green had
not. "Yes," Barker
replied. Wolff asked, "You knew
that was an end result?" "Yes," Barker
replied. Barker, who is serving a
90-year sentence in military prison for his role in the attack, told Green's
attorneys he feels responsible for the deaths of the al-Janabi family. "I should have had more
sense than that," Barker said. "It was against everything, how I
felt, how I was raised. In a way, it was barbaric." Barker pleaded guilty in military
court to rape and felony murder, among other charges. Barker told jurors that
by testifying, he hopes to either be granted parole or have his sentence
reduced in the years ahead. Another soldier with the
same unit, Paul Cortez of Barstow, Calif., told jurors Friday that Barker and
Green directed the attack, but that he didn't know ahead of time the family
would be killed. "I didn't know that was
the intention," Cortez said. "Stuff just went crazy. Nobody could
control what happened. It just went crazy." Cortez, who is serving a
90-year sentence for his role in the rape and murder, told jurors he directed
the destruction of two pieces of evidence taken from the house. Cortez said
he burned a shotgun shell found in the room where several family members were
shot to keep military investigators from finding it. "I knew that if they
found it, they would probably suspect American soldiers had did it,"
Cortez said. Green took the family's
AK-47 machine gun from the house, Cortez said. Cortez said another soldier
was told to throw the weapon into a canal. Cortez also told jurors how
he pleaded guilty to rape, murder and other charges in military court and
that he was testifying in hopes of getting parole or having his sentence
reduced. © 2009 The Associated Press External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6409019.html Former US
soldiers describe rape of Iraqi girl, killings From Agence France Presse May 1, 2009 Paducah, Kentucky - One of
the five US soldiers who helped rape an Iraqi girl and kill her family told
jurors Friday that he regrets what happened that day in March 2006. "I should have had more
sense that that," James Barker testified, calling the crimes
"barbaric" and saying his actions that day went against how he was
raised. Barker, now serving a 90-year-term
in a military prison, was testifying at the civil trial of the atrocity's
alleged ringleader. Specialist Steven Dale Green
is being tried in federal court in Kentucky because he was discharged from
the army due to a "personality disorder" before his involvement in
the crime came to light. He could face the death
penalty if convicted of raping 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi and killing her
father, mother and six year-old sister in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Barker told jurors how being
stationed in the so-called "triangle of death," working at an
insufficiently fortified traffic checkpoint and having to make daily sweeps
for bombs, caused him to develop a hatred of Iraqis. "They talk to you, they
pretend to be your friend, and then they try to kill you the next day,"
he said. Killing an Iraqi family was
Green's idea, Barker testified, but he said that he was the one who came up
with the idea of raping the Iraqi teenager. Jurors also heard from
former Specialist Paul Cortez, who is now serving a 100-year sentence for his
involvement. Cortez said he attempted to
rape Abeer al-Janabi but could not get an erection. He said he then held her
down while Barker raped her. When he heard gunshots in
the room next door, Cortez said he ran to the door and found the rest of the
family had been killed. He said Green told them
"he killed them all and that all of them were dead." Cortez said that Green then
raped the girl, put a pillow over her face and fired three shots into her
head with an AK-47. Her body was then burned. Copyright © 2009 AFP. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hFZPQgPQlQqemMVgeiNpgX-QAs0g |