U.S. Soldier Gets 5 Life Sentences For Rape, Murder Of Iraqi Girl

[Liberty Star]

If he was found guilty beyond doubt and he was involved in gang rape and murder of an American girl, would the punishment had been same or they would have given him electric chair?



Quote:

Former U.S. Soldier Gets Life Sentence For Rape, Murder Of Iraqi Girl

9/4/2009 4:18 PM ET

(RTTNews) - A former U.S. soldier was awarded five consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole for his role in the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family at their home near Baghdad in 2006.

http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Node=B1&Id=1058770

[Pod]

What about the people who made him into the monster he become by sending him to a strange land where he would be hated by its people but given power over them and given instructions to kill them for talking on a cell phone, carrying a shovel or being out after the curfew? What about the people ultimately responsible for fucking with his mind to the extent that he did not see Iraqis as people anymore?

The whole invasion is a crime. Whoever ordered it should be with him in his cell.

[Liberty Star]

Bush/Cheney and Neocons/Fox/MSNBC/CNN cheerleaders and drum beaters all need to be in prison with him?

[Pod]

If Norwegians invade Texas and in the process kill a uniformed Texan US Army soldier who was shooting at them had they not commited a crime? After all the Texan soldier was only defending his country, he was doing nothing wrong. They are the agressors, the murderers.

What today is called a "war crime" is only the tip of the iceberg. In reality all acts of war commited by the agressor side, even against armed defenders, are criminal.

[FSP-Rebel]

Apparently, the death penalty would've been overkill here, huh?

[Liberty Star]

Probably not if jury was of Iraqi civilians instead of Kentucky liberals.

[Pod]

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5481

The battalion JAG officer wrapped up by sort of going, "Okay, Marines, you see an individual with a weapon, what do you do?"

We mutter in silence for a minute, waiting for somebody else to answer, and one guy said, "Shoot him?"

"No. Shooting at a target, putting rounds down range and suppressing a target, is one thing. Sighting and killing a target is another. So again, you see an individual with a weapon, what do you do?"

"Kill him."

"You see an individual with a pair of binoculars, what do you do?"

"Kill him."

"You see an individual with a cell phone out, what do you do?"

"Kill him."

"You see an individual, who although may not be actually carrying anything or displaying any specific hostile action or intent running from, say, one building to another, running across the street or even running away from you, assume that he is maneuvering against you and kill him. You see an individual with a white flag and he does anything but approach you slowly and obey commands, assume it's a trick and kill him."

After receiving and carrying out orders like this just how shocking it is to go a little further and to commit a rape here and there?

We can complain about this perpetrator receiving life instead death penalty for rape and murder of an Iraqi girl, but what about justice for countless people murdered for carrying a bag? They aren`t even in the equation. That was supposedly all kosher. Nothing to see. Move along. It is only a few bad apples...

[Objectivist]

Good, I'm glad he's being punished properly.
He could have jerked off and gotten a similar result.... oh I forget rape isn't about getting off, it's about control and power.

I'd throw him on the streets of Kandahar or Bagdad with a sign around neck, make sure he was naked at the time. OH and a dump truck delivery of baseball sized rocks.

[amonasro]

What about the people who made him into the monster he become by sending him to a strange land where he would be hated by its people but given power over them and given instructions to kill them for talking on a cell phone, carrying a shovel or being out after the curfew? What about the people ultimately responsible for fucking with his mind to the extent that he did not see Iraqis as people anymore?

The whole invasion is a crime. Whoever ordered it should be with him in his cell.

I see your point, but it still doesn't justify rape and murder.

[Sandman33]

5 life sentences? Cant they just kill him four times then make him serve the last one?

[BlackTerrel]

What about the people who made him into the monster he become by sending him to a strange land where he would be hated by its people but given power over them and given instructions to kill them for talking on a cell phone, carrying a shovel or being out after the curfew? What about the people ultimately responsible for fucking with his mind to the extent that he did not see Iraqis as people anymore?

I know a lot of people who served in Iraq. They didn't rape anyone. Don't shift the blame to others.

Whether or not the war was legitimate is another matter entirely.

[james1906]

Just because some kid grew up in the ghetto doesn't give that kid a license to be a criminal, same applies here.

[speciallyblend]

Good, I'm glad he's being punished properly.
He could have jerked off and gotten a similar result.... oh I forget rape isn't about getting off, it's about control and power.

I'd throw him on the streets of Kandahar or Bagdad with a sign around neck, make sure he was naked at the time. OH and a dump truck delivery of baseball sized rocks.

sounds like justice to me;)

[kahless]

Good, justice served. But I am scratching head trying to determine OP's relevance to anything in this forum or what he is trying to say about it. I think the results in the US would have been the same or the electric chair depending on the state.

[Pod]

I know a lot of people who served in Iraq. They didn't rape anyone. Don't shift the blame to others.

Whether or not the war was legitimate is another matter entirely.

The point is that occupational troops are commiting enormously more crimes than a rape here and there without there being any repreccussions for anyone. Instead of acting all sanctimonious about this one incidence the outrage should be directed at the whole culture of senseles killing of Iraqi civilians. Without which stuff like this would almost never happened.

This here is like the people riling up against the AIG bonuses. The issue wasn`t the 200 million bonuses, but the 800 billion bailouts. Same here. The real problem isn`t one rape. The problem is the complete and utter dehumanisation of Iraqis for which the command is to blame. The command tells the troops to blow up Iraqis for the crime of carrying a bag but then feints shock and horror when a rape occurs (that is if they can`t manage to sweep it under the rugg) as if the two weren`t linked directly. What hypocricy. Exactly like Barrack bailing out the banksters and then feinting outrage over AIG bonuses. How about not causing the problem in the first place?!

Wether you know a lot of people who commited no crime while in Iraq isn`t really relevant. Mayority of people serving in Iraq hardly leave base. Find a person who actually spent his time in Iraq playing the IED lottery and ask him about the rules of engagement. Ask him what would he think of such rules if the mission was to occuppy Kansas instead of Iraq.

And no. Not everyone who blew up an Iraqi for carrying a bag is going to go on to rape someone, but it does make it many times more likely.

[Nate SY]

Personally, I feel this was a far more fitting punishment than death. Purely because I feel it will be worse for him.

I'm under the assumption that his time will be in a military prison, as the article didn't clarify. Those prisons aren't a walk in the park, you work 8 hours a day, six days a week, hard labor. They're fed what's required to keep them healthy, and that's it. Also, everything in the prisoners life is regulated, to the point that when in a cell, your not allowed to sit on the bed (unless sleeping) and are restricted to standing or sitting on a small metal stool.

I know that the military prison closest to where I live just has them fill sandbags everyday. Hard, shitty work.

I see it as a much more unpleasant punishment, and expect the man to kill himself eventually, although I expect that to be difficult for him.

Of course, all of this could be irrelevant if it's a non-military prison.

[Pod]

And no. Not everyone who blew up an Iraqi for carrying a bag is going to go on to rape someone, but it does make it many times more likely.

And in support of this consider the case of 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team (http://www.gazette.com/articles/iframe-59065-eastridge-audio.html) who had killed 10 people. And that is just the folks they killed off in America. Imagine then how many lives they have on their conscience in Iraq.

One incident is a bad apple, but what about the other 9? Criminality at 20 times the national average for their age group is a definite pattern. If they are 20x more fucked up than average Americans while in America then just how fucked up they were while in Iraq? 40, 60, 80, 200 times the average?

You may blame it all on single cases of bad apples, but when you have so many of them (20 times the national average) it is obvious mayority of them (19/20ths) were not born bad, but were turned bad. So who is responsible for turning theese people into monsters? (And by extension shares the responsibility for the monstrosities they later go on to commit on their own.) I want to know.

[WarDog]

This is why we must get these people informed you would think they would know more about what we know by now.




When no man is safe when freedom fails the best men rout in filthy jails why those who cry appease appease are hung by those they tried to please

[BlackTerrel]

Wether you know a lot of people who commited no crime while in Iraq isn`t really relevant. Mayority of people serving in Iraq hardly leave base. Find a person who actually spent his time in Iraq playing the IED lottery and ask him about the rules of engagement. Ask him what would he think of such rules if the mission was to occuppy Kansas instead of Iraq.

And no. Not everyone who blew up an Iraqi for carrying a bag is going to go on to rape someone, but it does make it many times more likely.

I've heard the opposite. That we go so far to preserve the lives of Iraqi civilians that we put our own people at risk. Our people are basically policemen which is not what they are trained to do.

My opinion is either you go to war to win or you do nothing. What we're doing is the middle ground which is the stupidest fucking thing possible.

That said I've been against the war from the beginning. But if you are going to war then treat it like a war.

[Akus]

What about the people who made him into the monster he become by sending him to a strange land where he would be hated by its people but given power over them and given instructions to kill them for talking on a cell phone, carrying a shovel or being out after the curfew? What about the people ultimately responsible for fucking with his mind to the extent that he did not see Iraqis as people anymore?

The whole invasion is a crime. Whoever ordered it should be with him in his cell.

If he was given orders to rape and murder underage girls, your argument would be valid. He wasn't, thus, it isn't.

[qh4dotcom]

Wish events like this would get blown out of proportion so that support for these wars would go down.