US soldier rape-murder case thread

[NYC]

I had been reading about the rape-murder case in Iraq against the four service men and the more I read about it the more intriguing it becomes. First just to make sure we are all on the same page, on Monday Steven Green of from the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division who was arrested in Marion, N.C., last Friday, has been charged with rape and four counts of murder in the March 12 incident in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

According to a federal affidavit, Green and at least two other soldiers drank alcohol, abandoned the checkpoint they were manning, changed clothes to avoid detection and then headed to the victims' house about 200 yards from a U.S. military camp and 600 feet from the checkpoint they were posted at. A fourth soldier stayed in uniform at the vehicle to monitor the radio. They also shot the victims with an ak-47 and the Iraq police initially reported the crime as the work of insurgents. A federal affidavit says Green and other soldiers targeted the young woman after spotting her at a traffic checkpoint in Iraq.

Green took three members of the family an adult male and female, and a girl estimated to be five years old into a bedroom. Shots were heard. "Green came to the bedroom door and told everyone, 'I just killed them. All are dead,"' the affidavit said.

Now, the next part of the story goes back to the 2 kidnapped soldiers who were killed and mutilated in April. In that incident insurgents attacked a checkpoint and US troops followed in pursuit leaving three junior members at the checkpoint by themselves. Another insurgent group ambushed them and killed one of them and kidnapped the other two. These troops and the four charged in the rape-murder case were in fact from the same platoon. A platoon size is 16-44 Personnel. The story of the rape-murder case only came to light because during a military counseling session a soldier brought it up.

According to the affidavit, Green was arrested while traveling back to Fort Campbell after attending a funeral for one of the mutilated soldiers in Arlington, Va.

In both events it is not know how the soldiers were left by themselves with a single vehicle in a known stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.

In a new twist it was released yesterday that Steven Green the accused “ring-leader” was honorably discharged from the Army in May due to a “severe personality disorder”. The exact condition was not released. The Army has said there was no connection. According to press reports Green served eleven months in the US Army.

Today Steven Green pleaded not guilty to charges. He waived a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing today. He's also agreed that his case will be prosecuted in western Kentucky. He's being tried in federal rather than military court because he's no longer in the Army.

All this information can be found in any media source you want.

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=HPIA%2CHPIA%3A2006-08%2CHPIA%3Aen&tab=wn&q=Steven+Green+Iraq+Rape (http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=HPIA%2CHPIA%3A2006-08%2CHPIA%3Aen&tab=wn&q=Steven+Green+Iraq+Rape)

So what are we to make of this story? Is the 101st really out of control? Is it just a few bad eggs? How could so many violations of regulations happen seemingly over and over? How could such junior ranks get into so much trouble from the same platoon? I am no slamming the US troops in Iraq. I am not comforting the enemy. I would like to have a serious discussion and would like to hear other opinions.

[NYC]

well I thought it was interesting maybe it was a slow night lastnight. I would like to know from anyone who's been in the military if this all seems "normal" or was in fact a problem that these guys basically unsupervized, were running their own war.

[keith]

As for the details involved in this issue, I'm not sure, but as a whole, American military doctrine does give its junior NCO's, Sgt's and Cpl's wide latitude, as they often carry out the mission and command their own sections. While in the Marines, as a Cpl, I often ran my own Comm site with multiple underlings and several million dollars worth of equipment, both classified and non-classified. It would seem logical to have the troops running their own C/P, with minimal supervision from the top. Allowing empowerment gives the US Military great flexibility.

As for rapes and murders, these issues occurred during my time also, during peace time. The military is merely a reflection of society at large, so the problems we have with sex and violent crimes would also emerge in the military, as well. Like society, however, these individual make are minority within the greater organization.

[NYC]

As for the details involved in this issue, I'm not sure, but as a whole, American military doctrine does give its junior NCO's, Sgt's and Cpl's wide latitude, as they often carry out the mission and command their own sections. While in the Marines, as a Cpl, I often ran my own Comm site with multiple underlings and several million dollars worth of equipment, both classified and non-classified. It would seem logical to have the troops running their own C/P, with minimal supervision from the top. Allowing empowerment gives the US Military great flexibility.

As for rapes and murders, these issues occurred during my time also, during peace time. The military is merely a reflection of society at large, so the problems we have with sex and violent crimes would also emerge in the military, as well. Like society, however, these individual make are minority within the greater organization.

Thanks for the info Keith, what do you think about the fact that 2 incidents happened within this same platoon. That seems kind of odd. I guess it's true that the rape case was only found out after the kidnapping but the fact that 2 indcidents involving "single convoys" within this same group seems like no one was really paying attention to what they were doing.

[keith]

Thanks for the info Keith, what do you think about the fact that 2 incidents happened within this same platoon. That seems kind of odd. I guess it's true that the rape case was only found out after the kidnapping but the fact that 2 indcidents involving "single convoys" within this same group seems like no one was really paying attention to what they were doing.

It might be an issue, or they may be performing different functions within the platoons. Muhmadiya is quite the shithole and hotspot, so who knows. It appears the insurgents had watch the platoon and goaded them to split up. This is reported to be a common tactic and may have been a blunder on the troops part. Without knowing what the unit's function and placement, it's hard to say exactly what went wrong or what was what.