Iraqi girl : it was a group rape

[tocqueville]

Military court told soldiers took turns to rape 22 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. military court heard graphic testimony on Monday on how U.S. soldiers took turns to hold down and rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her and her family.

At the hearing into whether four U.S. soldiers should be court-martialled, a special agent described what took place in Mahmudiya based on an interview he conducted with Specialist James Barker, one of the accused.

The case, the fifth involving serious crimes being investigated by the U.S. military in Iraq, has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Special Agent Benjamin Bierce recalled how Barker described to him how he went into the living room of a house and held the hands of the teenage girl while Sergeant Paul Cortez either raped her or attempted to rape her.

Barker then switched positions with Cortez and attempted to rape the girl but said he was not sure if he had done so, Bierce told the hearing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060807/ts_nm/iraq_mahmudiya_dc

[malaise]

1. Fugging sickos n/t

[liberal N proud]

2. The few the proud

Not any more, This is what Rumsfeld and his ban of thugs has done to a once great organization.

[Triana]

3. There is NO question in my mind as to whether ...

..they should be court-martialed. That's the NICEST thing that ought to happen to them.

THIS - is TERRORISM - and THOSE are Americans who were doing it.

NO EXCUSES.

[Hubert Flottz]

4. Just some good ole boys...

Doing Gawd's Work. Spreading GOP/neocon MORALITY and FAMILY VALUES, to the radical Islamic terrorists and heathens over there, so we don't have to do it over here.

Your tax dollars at work...

[lebkuchen]

59. And, by god, American supports 'em!

I know 'cause I seen dem stickers on lots a gas hogs.

[Hubert Flottz]

61. 2 or 3 tours of duty, in 3 or 4 years time, in a combat zone,

does not a nice boy make, sometimes.

There will be so many crippled up American hearts and minds coming back, that the Shrinks will be stressed out, just trying to keep up.

Bush is totally gutting the military and fixing it so someone can just walk in and kick our asses big-time here in CONUS.

Systematically dismantling the industrial capabilities of this country and shipping it to China and India. Tearing down the system of production that made America a world power to begin with. An American industrial base which won WW I and WW II and which kept America and the world safe, from REAL terrorists like Adolf Hitler.

Bush's elective war in Iraq, is wearing out our military equipment, which can be fixed or replaced, at very, very, great expense, but Iraq is also wearing out hearts and souls that will be shattered and broken forever. It's a sick, sad, thing to watch. The saddest thing of all, was the lies that put our kids in harm's way, for no real reason, other than the PNAC's whimsical bullshit dream of domination and subjugation.

This "War pResident," is guilty of every crime committed in Iraq, because he started his elective electioneering war. He wanted to make it CLEAR to all the world that he's without a doubt, the world's worst asshole. The Biggest Cheese on the block...the AWOL that redeemed himself for being a lifelong failure and coward. How could Bush ever notice the troops going nuts, when he's nutty as a damned fruitcake, himself?

When you play down and trivalize war crimes, like what was exposed at Abu Ghraib, as "Frat Pranks" and "Just the troops having a little fun," like Rush went on to preach to the troops on Armed Forces Radio in Iraq, you cause the entire system of military discipline and moral responsibility to start to decay from the bottom to the top. "Young minds learn from examples set by their teachers and leaders"..."experience is the best teacher"...look what their leaders are teaching them.



It's sad to think that the images we saw come from the man made hell at Abu Ghraib, are what the world thinks of now when they think about America. We have gone from being the beacon of freedom and defender of human rights, to being torturers, murders and rapists. in just six years time.

"IS OUR KIDS LEARNING?" Yes they sure as hell are George!

[lebkuchen]

64. Gen. Mattis will decide if the Haditha troops should be court martialed

He's the Marine general who thinks it's "fun to shoot some people." Tell me his sentiments didn't trickle down to the lowest ranks (as per your last sentence).

If that isn't a reap/sow scenario, I don't know what is.

When Rummy told Clinton last week that our troops have never been more prepared, I think he really believes that. By "prepared" he means a kick-ass-take-no-prisoners-show-no-mercy" military that he's been suckling since his entrance into the DoD. Which means, when we look at Syria/Iran next up on the playlist, that things are going to get far worse before they get better.

[Hubert Flottz]

65. The Nazis are here!

These fuckers are crazy from the top down and grabbibg for more power!

[lebkuchen]

66. If they are successful in their power grab, the US will fall, eventually,

as did Germany, and then will have to start from scratch, with a non-aggressive social plan that benefits the country rather than the rich. That's the good news.

The bad news is that a lot of people had to die before Germany got to its present liveable state.

[Hubert Flottz]

70. You're right...

The American people may end up paying dearly for their mistakes.

[lebkuchen]

73. As you know, soldiers are already paying with their lives

...retribution for the US invasion and ruthless occupation of Iraq, though Bush will probably pin medals on the Mahmudiya Six rapists/murders.

[Skidmore]

5. You can probably safely bet that this is not

the only such incident of this nature.

[democrank]

6. Normal continuation of Bush`s policies.

Certain people don`t matter. Never did and never will. Didn`t matter in New Orleans, don`t matter in Iraq. Sickening.

[Bad Penny]

7. I used to think Brian Depalma's 'Casualties of War'

was an over the top depiction of this kind of thing. Not anymore

[tblue37]

28. Actually, _Casualties of War_

was based on a true incident, reported in Susan Faludi's book Against Our Will, about the use of rape as a method of oppressing and controlling the female population. The chapter on rape in war includes the incident that the movie was based on.

[peacetalksforall]

8. Would this same group rape in the US if they happened to meet each

other and encountered the same opportunity?

When will the investigation include questioning of honest military psychologists who know the orders given to the soldiers?

Which do you believe -

...these soldiers were ordered to respect the culture and integrity of these people, but ignored it?

or

...these soldiers sensed contempt for Iraqi's as passed down from the top brass or their direct leaders?

or

...these soldiers were under the influence of drugs

or

...four human beings came together who did not respect women and did not value human life?

or?

[Double T]

9. Winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people?????......

This Iraq war is a total failure as is EVERYTHING the bush administration has ever attempted. When we speak of atrocities against the Iraqi people, it is difficult to differentiate between saddam and bushco.

[ComerPerro]

10. Had to be a group thing. I mean, shes a 14 year old girl

and they are just men with guns and military training.

What chance would they have alone?

:sarcasm:

[tocqueville]

11. After the murders, they "grilled chicken wings"

"After the murders, the troops returned to their checkpoint 200 metres away and "grilled chicken wings", the statement said."

more at :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060807/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusmilitaryrape_060807124335;_ylt=AgDE4k9qRG59mQrjdKvkFuGaOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[Mabus]

16. What a busy day they had

drinking whiskey/energy drinks while playing cards, then off to hit a few golf balls, then a field trip for a gang rape and then grill themselves some chicken wings.

It just makes me sick. I've got five stepdaughters and three teenage neices and if anyone raped one of them I would hunt the fucker(s) myself. They are just kids.

The whole thing leaves me almost speechless and angry.

[WinkyDink]

39. Not just rape. Don't forget the murders and burnings.

[Mabus]

42. I stand corrected

Yes, they were busier than I gave them credit for being. :sarcasm:

sons of bitches, if there is a hell I hope they burn in it.

[lala_rawraw]

19. I need to vomit....

The Bush War Crime party, 2006, running on a platform of rape, pedophilia, murder, torture, racism, and hate. Vote for them and win your free KKK pin.

Argh!!!

Watch Rummy and others spin this, blame the media for "putting our soldiers into danger." These guys are not my soldiers, they are not even of the human race.

[Mabus]

43. Yep

The spin, according to Rummy's usual meme: "the liberal media doesn't report the good news that is coming out of Iraq. They concentrate too much on the bad news. Besides, we don't talk about on-going investigations. We have to let the judicial process work. Until then we can't comment on it. If the press wants to report bad news, why aren't they reporting about cats getting bird flu in Iraq. Now, that's something we need to be looking at...."

[Hubert Flottz]

63. A typical tailgate party.

Those are some sick puppies!

[lebkuchen]

69. Was that what got PVT Green labeled with a "personality disorder?"

Why was Green drummed out of the military when they needed him most?

[silverojo]

12. Not sure if he had done so?

That's the lamest excuse ever, period. Beyond anything any three-year-old has ever devised.

What'll he say next, that he's not sure he even has a penis?

[RebelOne]

15. I think he meant that he was not sure that Barker had done so.

[WinkyDink]

41. No, I think he meant in all the frenzy and mayhem he didn't know if he'd

achieved penetration.

Or, actually---he's trying to weasel out of his guilt.

[itzamirakul]

44. OK, but what kind of dead penis does one have to have in order

not to be able to feel vaginal penetration? This soldier's must be the size of cigarette...

I think it's the weasel out defense he is reaching for.


All of these soldiers will be exonerated based on the stress of battle.

[readmoreoften]

46. Or what kind of bloody mess does the victim have to be

for her body to be so wrecked that you can't tell vaginal/anal penetration from body folds.

[itzamirakul]

47. Oh, God, rmo, I hadn't even thought of what you just described...

and the pitiful thing is that you never see "fat" young people in the ME, so I guess you are right in how they must have totally destroyed that child.

And I am sure that there are Americans who can forgive them for this inhumane cruelty because after all, "she and her family are considered the enemy."

I saw on some thread that evidently a poster had called Bush, Rice, et al, baby killers and the post was removed. But if a person has the power to call for a cease-fire and they do not use that power and then deaths occur because of the war they started or the fact that the fighting conitnued, why wouldn't they be baby killers?

[IronLionZion]

13. K+R I don't know what to say.... nt

[mmonk]

14. I do.

But won't.

[lala_rawraw]

17. This is what happens when a "values voter" get into the

Service... their racist, sexist, blind hatred has no bounds in the Bush military. I am so ashamed!!!

[TahitiNut]

25. The frightening thing is ...

... that we human beings are so susceptible to the kind of indoctrination and authoritarianism that a majority of us could act in such ways. While the uninitiated, sane mind rebels from such a thought, Milgram's Experiment and the Stanford Jail Experiment and an unflinching study of human history must inform us otherwise.

[glitch]

18. Is "group rape" a new term? Whatever happened to "gang rape" ? nt

[lala_rawraw]

20. I guess they fear the use of "gang"

The crusaders gang?

[tocqueville]

22. I'm sorry, I coined the expression - of course it's "gang"

I guess I was influenced by the French "viol en groupe" (gang rape). It's too late to edit. Anyway gang or group, the result is sadly the same....

[glitch]

23. It's not you Tocqueville, we're just so used to the corporate media

playing down the atrocities with kinder gentler terms that everything becomes suspect.

[lala_rawraw]

21. He tried to rape her but was not sure if he did?

What the fuck? What did he think he was doing, dancing?

[RebelOne]

36. The wording is confusing.

"Barker then switched positions with Cortez and attempted to rape the girl but said he was not sure if he had done so, Bierce told the hearing."

I think it means that Bierce said that he wasn't sure if Barker had raped the girl.

[Monk06]

48. Ah the old "I think I raped her but I'm not sure" defence. Bound to work.

[BeHereNow]

24. Kill them, slowly. I don't want them on our streets. Period.

Or any streets, for that matter.

WE all know they had no business on the streets
in Iraq and it could have happened just as easily
anywhere, including our neighborhoods.

This particular combination of individuals was
perfect for a crime of this nature. There is
every indication that they would do it again.
Thus, they need to be eliminated for the safety
of teenaged girls everywhere.

I have always been against the death penalty
but the utter brutality and savagery of this incident
has changed my mind forever.

Kill them.

BHN

[Xenotime]

26. That's what 125 degree heat does to your brain...

[Bretttido]

27. I don't know about you, but during heat waves

I never get urges to gang-rape people.

[uppityperson]

33. If that is an excuse, how come any people still live there?

seems like they would all have been raped and tortured and murdered by now.

[LostinVA]

35. That's what being a sociopath does to people

It ain't the war or the heat. It's them.

[BeHereNow]

38. Exactly- DAMAGED GOODS.

BHN

[Lorien]

37. There is no excuse for child rape and mass murder, period. n/t

[femrap]

50. No excuse for rape. Period. nt

[Lorien]

67. Agreed. n/t

[JI7]

51. it was all planned, not a single incidient involving one person who

snapped at the moment.

[Crankie Avalon]

29. What kind of "military" is this???

"Defense Attorney Captain Jimmie Culp was blowing chewing gum bubbles while Yribe, sitting to his left, began sucking on a red lollipop during the testimony."

That's an officer and military attorney cracking gum and blowing bubbles while listening to horrific testimony. Incredible.

[Iniquitous Bunny]

30. I am ashamed.

I am ashamed that people around the world view me, as an American, under a cloud of suspicion because of the evil acts perpetuated by a few psychotic fucks in our military. Justice needs to be not only swift here, but severe. These are war crimes and war criminals are scum. Civilized societies cannot tolerate this. Ever.

[uppityperson]

31. another bit from another story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060807/ts_afp/iraqusmilitaryrape_060807144548;_ylt=AvqQq5Y9L40aFXjWCMECBmYUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--

Another witness, Private Justin Watt, described how he had pieced together what had happened from conversations with the accused in his unit, the 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

"I feared for my safety at the TCP (traffic control point)," Watt told the hearing, describing his fear of retribution within his unit.

"It's like this, I find out that guys in my squad, guys I trusted with my life, are allegedly responsible for one of the most brutal rapes slash murders I've ever seen. And everyone has a weapon and grenades," he said.

more @ link.

Try them, if found guilty sentence them, put them in an Iraqi prison.

[uppityperson]

32. Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya and Qassim

That are their names, "girl", little sister, mother, father

[BeHereNow]

34. Thank you for continuing to keep their names in our minds.

It is important to drill their humanity into
our minds.
If only the criminal media would do the same,
maybe, just maybe the American public would
be able to relate to them as a family, not unlike their
own and DEMAND the death penalty.

BHN

[me b zola]

45. Thank you. n/t

[zbdent]

40. So, this guy swears in the court of law to tell the truth, then backs ...

up what Murtha said ...

Would the guy suing Murtha swear before God to do the same? Or would he hope that he could skip the country with the pieces of silver that the Repukes gave him ?

[cassiepriam]

49. I am not a man, so I don't know. Can a man have intercourse

with someone and not know it?
Can a man rape someone and not know it?

Just wondering.

[Solon]

54. Only if passed out or drugged...

And those wouldn't be rape anyways, a man that is passed out doesn't move, however, they CAN penetrate a woman, but only if she were raping him. If drugged/drunk he could forget a rape entirely, but that doesn't negate responsibility unless he was passed out. The only other exception I can think of are men, and women with severe sleepwalking disorders can do many complex actions while sleeping, including driving cars, having sex, etc. In that case, whether they are responsible for any actions while asleep is more a medical question than one of legality.

[cassiepriam]

77. I think you have answered my question! Thank you.

In other words this would be a very weak defense.

[texanwitch]

52. Every time I read this story all I can think of is the pain, terror, and

fear that this little girl died with.

[Judi Lynn]

53. Has anyone imagined how that child must have seen the world

in her last minutes alive, being crushed and battered by a bunch of reeking, hate-filled monsters who just blew her father's head apart, slaughtered her mother, and shot her little (even younger than she) sister in the head?

So Barker couldn't really be sure if he really, really raped her or not. Barker, it just doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts.

If only some people knew how they seem to others it would drive them mad. I hope these men will be able to retain the imprint of what they have done until after their very last breaths.

[Chulanowa]

55. The article is worded stupidly

It's saying that the witness testifying wasn't sure whether Barker had acheived penetration.

Not that it should matter one way or the other, if you ask me.

[evox]

56. I could actually see

Hollywood making millions off a movie based on a story like that. Except ofcourse they'll twist the story up a bit and make the bad guys appear from one of the countries they're having a war with. Hey it's all been done before.

[stop the bleeding]

72. Thank you Judi Lynn

Thank you

you hit it right on top of the nail's head.

[lebkuchen]

57. What will General it's "fun to shoot some people" Mattis decide?

Should these men be court martialed and shot, or sent back to their unit with a new knife, a box of condoms and a pat on the back, General?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14150687

[NVMojo]

58. hate cannot even begin to describe how I feel about these monsters

[Broken_Hero]

60. gasp...

I'm at a loss of words....:cry:

[qanda]

62. Monsters!!!!!!!!!!

[lectrobyte]

68. The really sad thing is, that for every one of these cases that see

the light of day, I suspect there are hundreds more that don't.

[MsMagnificent]

71. Can you imagine the outcry if

this happened in America, to an American (Especially white!) family?

Can you just see the hateful, rabid posts then, calling for the slow agonizing deaths (I'm having a difficult time disagreeing with this, sadly) of the offenders?

What a nation of hypocrites.
I'm trying to stir up some pity for these now-non-commenters when they stand before their Christ & are judged.

The pain, fear, and horror Abeer and her entire family had to face is unimaginable.
Truly heartbreaking.

[BeHereNow]

74. "White" is the fucking operative here...

Your scenario is correct.
Americans would go ballistic if some
brown Iraqi soldiers did this to a WHITE family
living in say, Midland, Texas, where one of the US soldiers
who savagely raped and murdered this child and
her family, is from.
Not even a murmer from the American public
about the brown family though.
It's hideous if you think about that fact.

BHN

[The Stranger]

75. They then burned her body to try to cover it up.

Does anyone see the "support the troops" bumper stickers any more?

[BeHereNow]

76. Yes, I see them on monster gas guzzling trucks-

But you see, what the those drivers mean by "Support the Troops"
is,
"As an American I will tolerate anything done in my name
as long as I can keep this truck gassed up so that I can
go to the mall and shop for shit I don't need."

BHN