Steven Green, a former soldier who has been discharged from the military for a “personality disorder,” faces the same charges in a U.S. federal court for the same attack on the young girl’s family.

According to military prosecutors, Green killed Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi’s father, mother, and six-year-old sister in Mahmudiya, near Baghdad. He then raped and killed the girl, and tried to burn the bodies and house to cover up the crime. It is the fifth case currently being investigated in which U.S. troops have been charged with serious crimes. Green and three codefendants could also face the death penalty, Reuters said.

Eight Marines from Kilo Company’s Second Platoon have been charged with the death of an Iraqi, Hashim Ibrahim Awad. Six Marines from the same platoon have been charged with assault in a separate incident.

Awad was dragged from his home and shot without provocation during a raid on another house in search of an alleged insurgent. After finding the house empty the soldiers went next door and dragged out Awad, court documents said.

After shooting Awad the soldiers placed an AK-47 and a shovel near the body to make it look as though he was planting a roadside bomb.

Private First Class (Pfc) Corey Clagett, Specialist William Hunsaker, Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard, and Specialist Juston Graber of the 101 Airborne Division have been charged with murdering prisoners captured during a May 9 raid on a suspected “insurgent” camp near Tikrit, in northern Iraq. The soldiers have said they were given orders to kill every military-age male in the camp.

All but Graber are also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly threatening to kill another soldier if he said anything about the killings. Pfc. Bradley Mason testified at a military hearing in Tikrit that Girouard made the threat the day after the killings.

Mason also testified that on the day of the raid Girouard told his squad that Clagett and Hunsaker were going to kill three detainees who had been handcuffed with plastic ties. Mason said shortly afterward he heard gunfire and the three detainees were dead. Clagett told him that two of the men had broken out of their cuffs.

Evidence gathered after 24 Iraqis were killed in Haditha last November contradict the initial story released by the Marines that the deaths were the result of a bomb, reported USA Today.

The day after the killings the Marines released a statement that said 15 Iraqis were killed from the blast of a roadside bomb. It claimed that immediately afterwards their convoy came under attack and that eight insurgents were killed in response.

But death certificates showed that all 24 Iraqis had been killed by gunshot, contradicting the Marines’ claims.

David Passaro, a former CIA contractor, was convicted of assault August 18 for beating Abdul Wali during questioning about a rocket attack on a base in Afghanistan, reported AP. Wali later died, but Passaro is not charged with his death.

During the interrogations, Passaro is said to have beaten Wali and kicked him twice in the groin. In defending Passaro during the trial, Dr. Donald Jason said the bruises on Wali’s back were probably caused by blood settling there after his death. The two kicks to Wali’s groin could have caused his death, another medical expert said. Despite this Jason claimed, “From what I see, I don’t see anything that would have involved extreme physical pain.” Passaro could be sentenced up to 11 years.
 
 
Related article:
Turkish government bombs Kurdish bases in northern Iraq  
 
 
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