"You probably think I'm a monster"

[RedRalph]

From CNN

"You probably think I'm a monster."


Former U.S. soldier Steven Green has been convicted of raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl.

That's what FBI agents said former U.S. soldier Steven Green told them nearly three years ago about accusations that he had raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family.

Green was found guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Paducah of the crimes and could face the death penalty.

Green spoke as the agents and he drove from his grandmother's home in Nebo, North Carolina, where he'd been arrested, to a detention center 45 minutes away in Asheville, North Carolina, authorities said.

According to court documents:

Green had taken his grandmother to dinner, and the two had plans for a movie. Agents asked the former Army private whether they could tell her the reason for his arrest. Green initially said yes, but changed his mind, not wanting to upset her. Agents let him smoke a few cigarettes before putting him in the car for the drive.

Without prompting, Green spoke.

"Knew you guys were coming," he said.

The agents asked no questions. They listened as Green talked during the drive.

"All of my buddies were getting killed over there. My lieutenant got his face blown off. ... George Bush and Dick Cheney ought to be the ones that are arrested."

Green, a high school dropout, was a product of Bush's hometown of Midland, Texas. He had enlisted in 2005, leaving the hot, dry, oil-rich land of the Permian Basin for another hot, dry, oil-rich land.

"Joining the Army was the worst decision I ever made," he said.

Now, Green stands convicted for crimes he committed as a soldier.

Prosecutors said he and others in his unit plotted an attack on an Iraqi family. Green herded the parents and younger sister of 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi into another room of a house while two accomplices raped her. He then gunned down her parents and her 6-year-old sister, before joining in the rape and killing the teenager.

The crimes happened in the Mahmoudiya area of Iraq, south of Baghdad, in 2006. Last week, a federal jury in McCracken County, Kentucky, deliberated for more than 10 hours before convicting Green for murder, rape, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, according to the court's Web site. Guilty on all 17 counts.

Four other former soldiers are in prison for their roles in the crime and the cover-up that followed.

Pvt. 1st Class James Barker, Sgt. Paul Cortez, Pvt. 1st Class Jesse Spielman and Pvt. 1st Class Bryan Howard received sentences ranging from 27 months to 110 years, with the possibility of parole in 10 years in the most severe cases.

They were convicted and sentenced in a military court. On Monday, as the penalty phase of his trial begins, Green might become the first former U.S. soldier to face the death penalty for war crimes before a civilian court.

The reason for the distinction: Green was discharged from the military before his crimes came to light.

When the killings became public in 2006, the Iraqi public was enraged and some Iraqi officials demanded that American soldiers accused of crimes against civilians face prosecution in Iraqi courts.

U.S. military and civilian officials condemned the attack and vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

Now we've had several threads before detailing crimes, and whether they deserve the death penalty, this is an interesting one.

Do you think he deserves to die for this? There are both mitigating and unmitigating corcumstances here

 

[Aegis]

"Joining the Army was the worst decision I ever made," he said.

Really? I would have said raping a 14 year old girl and murdering her and her entire family would have been your worst decision ever.

 

[downtown]

F

Do you think he deserves to die for this? There are both mitigating and unmitigating corcumstances here

What are they in this case? Do you think the man was mentally ill?

 

[aronnax]

No he doesnt deserve to die. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind.

But a long long LONG prision sentence is in order here. My eyes flared up at "27 months".
Anyway, he needs to be punish though, but I dont think anyone has the right to kill him, much like he has no right to kill the family.

 

[RedRalph]

What are they in this case? Do you think the man was mentally ill?

The effect of seeing his colleague having their faces blown off would likely have unbalanced his mind I would have thought. It might not be the cause, but it almost certaintly would have made him more crazy than he possibly weas to begin withy

 

[Masada]

He deserves a single mercy to be able to face a firing squad with a blindfold, nothing else.

 

[Abaddon]

[/thread]

Thankyou Aegis

 

[AngryZealot]

Do you think he deserves to die for this?

I don't believe in the death penalty, so no, Life in prison is more fitting. Iraqi prison.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Life in prison, no parole.

 

[Aegis]

[/thread]

Thankyou Aegis

*Bows*

It's pretty clear that he's blaming everyone but himself for what he did. He gains no sympathy from me and deserves the harshest punishment possible.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

It's pretty clear that he's blaming everyone but himself for what he did. He gains no sympathy from me and deserves the harshest punishment possible.

I concur with this point.

 

[Munch]

I can't imagine how you could go through with a rape. But then again I can't imagine murdering a family either. I'm afraid to say that I think he deserves trial and punishment under the Iraqi law, whatever that may entail.

It is sad that these things occur, but 'that's war'. There are doubtless many crimes that we know little about. If this soldier had been a private contractor, perhaps we would have never known about this, or at least been powerless to act.

 

[Mise]

Nobody in their right minds would defend someone who gangraped a 14 year old girl before murdering her and her family.

 

[Brighteye]

Yes, he deserves the death penalty, as do the other soldiers who committed the murders.

 

[Shekwan]

He deserves the maximum punishment but not death - I don't believe in the death penalty. I really can't think of a worse crime than what he did.

Such bs blaming Bush and Cheney. All it takes for evil to suceed is for good men to do nothing. That quote certainly fits the whole Iraq debacle, this being just one of the myriad crimes and human suffering caused by American corporate greed. The American people should never have allowed it.

 

[.Shane.]

I'm not sure the point of the thread.... To the OP, clearly, by now you must realize that people who are opposed to the DP don't really have a list of exceptions. So, it would really only matter for people who are for the DP. And, if you are, then this is about as clear cut as you can get.

 

[Defiant47]

He is an animal, and the kind of scum that disgraces us all.

 

[Flying Pig]

From CNN



Now we've had several threads before detailing crimes, and whether they deserve the death penalty, this is an interesting one.

Do you think he deserves to die for this? There are both mitigating and unmitigating corcumstances here

He should be given a year's compulsory military service with no pay, no chance of promotion and a sergeant that hates his guts. That would be better - war does things to some people that makes them go mad; so capital punishment is not good for this.

 

[eoc]

More than a monster.

 

[RalofTyr]

But he raped that girl and killer her family for YOUR freedom.

"We must remember all life is sacred, from Maine to the Florida Keys"

Jerry Brickhammer's "They All Come Home"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VovRTt0hAPk