5 more USA soldiers charged in Iraqi murder-rape case

[Jonathan David]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/09/iraq-rape-case.html

I wonder if anyone is keeping count of the crimes of the "liberators"... incidents such as this simply provide legitimate reasons for joining the resistance.

 

[MORE85]

those 5 troops should be sent to the world court in the hague and tried,and the iraqi government should have control over them...........they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when they raped that woman and killed her family,if one of the soldiers were my brother,i would say the samething...................send them to the world court,now we see why bush didnt sign the document allowing us troops accused of war crimes to stand trial b4 the world court.

 

[ACougar]

Look, the crime those soldiers are accused of is reprehensable. If found guilty they will be subject to some of the harshest penalties than can be administered in this country. There is no reason for them to stand trial at the Hague since the UCMJ is being applied.

People also need to get a grip, keep 130K troops in an extremely stressful situation for years and your bound to have some major breakdowns in the chain of command. If just 1% of 130K trops were to commit war crimes you would have 1,300 war criminals every year since most are on an annual rotation. There are no where near 1,300 war criminals, there are perhaps a few hundred though and it's my opinion that they are ussually caught and brought to justice.

The vast majority, well over 99% serve thier country honorably and deserve nothing but praise for thier sacrifice and selfless service.

those 5 troops should be sent to the world court in the hague and tried,and the iraqi government should have control over them...........they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when they raped that woman and killed her family,if one of the soldiers were my brother,i would say the samething...................send them to the world court,now we see why bush didnt sign the document allowing us troops accused of war crimes to stand trial b4 the world court.

 

[bammertheblue]

Look, the crime those soldiers are accused of is reprehensable. If found guilty they will be subject to some of the harshest penalties than can be administered in this country. There is no reason for them to stand trial at the Hague since the UCMJ is being applied.

People also need to get a grip, keep 130K troops in an extremely stressful situation for years and your bound to have some major breakdowns in the chain of command. If just 1% of 130K trops were to commit war crimes you would have 1,300 war criminals every year since most are on an annual rotation. There are no where near 1,300 war criminals, there are perhaps a few hundred though and it's my opinion that they are ussually caught and brought to justice.

The vast majority, well over 99% serve thier country honorably and deserve nothing but praise for thier sacrifice and selfless service.[/quote]

Certainly can't argue with that....
To me at least, what's so completely disgusting about this act (aside from the act itself) is the allegedly pre-meditated nature of it. This wasn't a few eighteen year old kids under extreme stress in a no-win situation accidentally shooting an innocent person (which is still awful and unacceptable, but hopefully slightly understandable). From what I've read, this was planned out beforehand.
I know you know a lot more about the chain of command than I do, so maybe you will have to explain to me how this could be a breakdown in the chain of command. That's the only thing I am confused about.


(Needless to say I hope that if they are innocent they are not punished!)

Okay, I really can't think about this too much more or I'm going to cry

 

[ACougar]

This wasn't a few eighteen year old kids under extreme stress in a no-win situation accidentally shooting an innocent person (which is still awful and unacceptable, but hopefully slightly understandable). From what I've read, this was planned out beforehand.
I know you know a lot more about the chain of command than I do, so maybe you will have to explain to me how this could be a breakdown in the chain of command. That's the only thing I am confused about.

1. You don't do something like that if you see the people there as human beings, the same as your sister, mother and father back home. It's just an educated guess, however I'd bet money that there were indicaters that these individuals had stoped seeing the average Iraqi as a human being.

2. No reasonable soldier should have ever expected that they could actually get away with such an act. The fact that they thought they could, and almost did means a fairly large handful of people were not doing thier job.

3. The Army has core values, values that should be instilled in ever soldier. These are the values a soldier holds:
http://www.army.mil/soldiers/jan1999/values.html
http://www.goarmy.com/life/living_the_army_values.jsp

 

[Foolish_Fool]

2. No reasonable soldier should have ever expected that they could actually get away with such an act. The fact that they thought they could, and almost did means a fairly large handful of people were not doing thier job.

The fact that they almost did is what's scarey. If it had not been for one man talking about what he had heard with a counselor this would have simply been swept under the rug and blamed on sectarian violence. One can't help but to wonder just how widespread these incidents really are.

 

[bammertheblue]

1. You don't do something like that if you see the people there as human beings, the same as your sister, mother and father back home. It's just an educated guess, however I'd bet money that there were indicaters that these individuals had stoped seeing the average Iraqi as a human being.

2. No reasonable soldier should have ever expected that they could actually get away with such an act. The fact that they thought they could, and almost did means a fairly large handful of people were not doing thier job.

3. The Army has core values, values that should be instilled in ever soldier. These are the values a soldier holds:
http://www.army.mil/soldiers/jan1999/values.html
http://www.goarmy.com/life/living_the_army_values.jsp

Thanks for that, especially the last two links. I understand about the chain of command comment now. In a case like this is there anything that can be done about the rest of the people who were not doing their jobs? I suppose it would be really hard to prove.

 

[hiplove79]

What's sad about this whole deal, besides the rape and death of this young woman and her family, is how the US will be viewed.
We are already hated as is, but you take 5 soldiers out of thousands who mess it up for the rest. I don't like this war, and I felt that we should have never invaded Iraq. But we're there now and there's nothing we can do about it.

I have friends over there. Those men are the bravest, most honorable, and respectful men you'll ever meet. It's a shame what has happened. But in every war, your going have few bad apples. And that gives the world the ammo they need to say, "See I told you the US is evil."

 

[Jonathan David]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/07/11/video-iraq.html

The deaths of two American soldiers are now being tied to the rape of this 14 year old girl.