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July 5, 2006
WB: Hit Parade
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It was not a “women” that was raped twice, but a child.
Green covered his face with a brown T-shirt, grabbed an AK-47 rifle from the house and herded an adult couple and a young girl — who authorities estimated was 5 years old — into a bedroom. Green then shot them, according to authorities.
…
Military officials estimated her age at 20, although neighbors and hospital officials in Iraq said she was 15. She apparently was set on fire in an attempt to hide the crime.
Ex-Soldier Charged in Killing of Iraqi Family
Now the Army “discharged” the guy to get rid of the problem. They don´t want to prosecute him. A civil redneck jury, witnesses talking in Arabic through a translator if at all, disputed ages etc – will give his defense quite some material to get him free.
This is my third attempt to find words to even respond to this. At least when they were excusing the savages in uniforms before they would use mildly pejorative language like “bad apples”. And now…
Mosher said Belile still has plans to eventually record the song. “We’re wanting to record and produce it,” Mosher said. “I think it tells a great story.”
A great story to whom, precisely? A great story to fuel the fantasies of underprivileged gang bangers who have already internalised GI “values” such as objectification of the “other” and the trivialisation and expendibility of life? Precisely the sort, in other words, that a recruiter would prey on (let’s just get out in the open that the monied, the educated and the privileged do NOT send their offspring into these situations).
And we’re back to flypaper strategy. Except we’re not only interested in attracting foreign extremists to the far away battlefield… we have plenty of riff raff of our own we could stand to thin out. Charge them up with a patriotic fervor, put stars in their eyes about how they are serving a noble cause (they’ll fall for it; they’ve never had any sense of personal value before), dangle a paycheque and heretofore unheard of minimal health insurance and college money in front of them, wind ’em up, and let the savagery begin. Problem with this flypaper strategy is one of the same problems one finds with the US prison system. Many will come back… and be more efficient about their savagery for the experience.
There are enough deprived (and depraved) people to fill out those uniforms without us actively creating and fostering monstrosities. But if we gave people a respect for life, health care and levelled the social playing field we could no longer boast about having an “all volunteer military”.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 5 2006 3:57 utc | 4
To make jokes and songs about premeditated murder and rape of civilians, and to commit the same atrocities is novel.
The punishment should be unique.
I’m thinking a trial by military court, and rendition to clerical authorities, for execution of sentence.
Think sharia law has it about right.
Heads and tongues off fits.
This is really twisted sick.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 5 2006 4:02 utc | 5
this is probably OT.
i wonder how many women got brutally raped and murdered in vietnam? much different situation but still. rape and pillage. rape and pillage.
i just hope they didn’t set her on fire before they murdered her. sorry. morbid.
can’t help it. total mindfuck.
Posted by: annie | Jul 5 2006 4:07 utc | 6
What have we become?
Where are our religious leaders?
Amazing how silent.
Bush has dragged us to the depths of hell.
@annie – State Rape: Representations of Rape in Viet Nam
In Vietnam, according to Jacqueline E. Lawson, “[r]aping a Vietnamese woman became a hallmark of the guerrilla phase of the war.” In her article entitled, “‘She’s a pretty woman… for a gook’: The Misogyny of the Vietnam War,” Lawson explains that for “young American males intent on asserting their superiority, their potency, their manhood, (and by extension their country’s)… raping a woman in a combat zone is something a man ‘has’ to do, ‘needs’ to do, has the ‘right’ to do.”8
But all is good, they had 75% off all items at Home depot today for the forth of July! Plus another 10% if you were military! Yay! go America! RA! RA! RA! Goooooo team!
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 5:18 utc | 9
Hey Uncle- don’t be so cynical, we have a plan to stop the war:
Fast to End War Begins in Front of White House
Is this dumb or am I crazy? (Choices mutually exclusive)
“We have to put our own lives on the line, and I’m willing to do that,” said activist Diane Wilson, who pledged to fast until the United States withdraws from Iraq.
Any bets here?
@Rick Happ
That’s exactly the sort of activism of which I have been very, very critical. It makes the folk who are against atrocities look like idiots and pushes those on the fence towards the warmongers’ side since they look, by comparison, more “reasonable”. I understand the motivation, but as I have said here before, this kind of activism works against one’s cause and is actually counterproductive. That, and I am sick of sociopaths ending arguments by calling thier critics “Jane Fondas”.
It’s hard for me to believe that after New Orleans, Ms Wilson still seems convinced that sweeping a few American corpses off the steps of the White House would cost the PTB even a moment of troubled sleep. When are the activists finally get it through their skulls that pols DO NOT CARE about lives lost and the rest of the fickle herd just as easily change their channels?!
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 5 2006 6:01 utc | 12
Monolycos,
Yeah, it calls attention to themselves and not the cause.
And you are so true, about pushing those on the fence to move away from the idiots.
Killings of two soldiers perhaps retaliation for slain Iraqi family
ya think?
Posted by: annie | Jul 5 2006 6:31 utc | 14
@B:
Well, there’s a difference between rape and murder.
And I am sure rape occurred.
But I didn’t see any statistical evidence of either,in your cite, just citations of movies mostly.
And I have a great love of movies.
They’re all about reality.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 5 2006 6:45 utc | 15
I guess this Billmon post was so depressing that humor is all we can do to keep our sanity.
Here is some more irony:
Iraq considers arming insurgents
Ironic Rick,
but if done right might work.
If the Sunni turn on the foreign jihaddi’
the FJ are toast.
And all this is a 50-50 shot at best.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 5 2006 7:06 utc | 18
Quote:
To make jokes and songs about premeditated murder and rape of civilians, and to commit the same atrocities is novel.
—
This is telling you about state of USA nation and where you are heading…
Even if everything is stopped now and everything possible is done to reverse or stray from this path, it’s too late…It’s like cancer, it’s growing and is hardly stoppable…this deterioration of ethic of one nation…You are doomed…
Posted by: vbo | Jul 5 2006 8:34 utc | 19
annie, ya think —
The post Zarqawi hype surrounding the capture of those soldiers, pales when compaired to the odds that the rapist soldier not only was in the same platoon, but actually knew the soldiers that were captured — and reportedly went to one of latters funeral here in the states.
Debs, in that really great post I linked to above — points out that the victims of this crime all came from the Janabi clan, which is a large and prominant clan in Iraq, that in all probability, has members within both the establishment and the insurgency. Which, givin the gravity of the crime (more serious than we may think), was in a position to find out, via the clan grapevine, probably to the man, exactly who, perpetrated the act itself. And seeing that capture and summsry execution, is not usually on the insurgent agenda, this begins to look a lot more like clan reprisal than some symbolic gesture by Zarqawis replacement, as the U.S. media would have us believe. And as far as events go, I would’nt be suprised if this event does’nt pan out in the end — to far overshadow any reprisals from the death of Zarqawi.
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 5 2006 8:44 utc | 20
really, this is so damning if it is all true, i am so effected by this event
horrid
In a dispatch posted at 11:55pm Makkah time Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam submitted its correspondents’ in-depth report on the rape and murder case in March that the American military have now been compelled to investigate.
….
“At 2pm a force of Americans raided the home of the martyr Qasim, God rest his soul. They surrounded him and I heard the sound of gunfire. Then the gunfire fell silent. An hour later I saw clouds of smoke rising from the room and then the occupation troops came quickly out of the house. They surrounded the area together with Shi‘i ‘Iraqi National Guard’ forces, and they told us that terrorists from al-Qa‘idah had entered the house and killed them all. They wouldn’t let any of us into the house. But I told one of the ‘National Guard’ soldiers that I was their neighbor and that I wanted to see them so that I could tell al-Hajj Abu al-Qasim the news about his son and his son’s family, so one of the soldiers agreed to let me enter.
“So I went into the house and found in the first room the late Qasim and his wife and Hadil. Their bodies were swimming in blood. Their blood had spewed out of their bodies with such force that it had flowed out from under the door of the room. I turned them over but there was no response; their lives were already gone.”
The neighbor continued his account: “Then I went into ‘Abir’s room. Fire was coming out of her. Her head and her chest were on fire. She had been put in a pitiful position; they had lifted her white gown to her neck and torn her bra. Blood was flowing from between her legs even though she had died a quarter of an hour earlier, and in spite of the intensity of the fire in the room. She had died, may God rest her soul. I knew her from the first instant. I knew she had been raped since she had been turned on her face and the lower part of her body was raised while her hands and feet had been tied. By God, I couldn’t control myself and broke into tears over her, but I quickly extinguished the fire burning from her head and chest. The fire had burned up her breasts, the hair on her head, and the flesh on her face. I covered her privates with a piece of cloth, God rest her soul. And at that moment, I thought to myself that if I go out talking and threatening, that they would arrest me, so I took control of myself and resolved to leave the house calmly so that I could be a witness to tell the story of this tragedy.
“After three hours the [American] occupation troops surrounded the house and told the people of the area that the family had been killed by terrorists because they were Shi‘ah. Nobody in town believed that story because Abu ‘Abir was known as one of the best people of the city, one of the noblest, and no Shi‘i, but a Sunni monotheist. Everyone doubted their story and so after the sunset prayers the occupation troops took the four bodies away to the American base. Then the next day they handed them over to the al-Mahmudiyah government hospital and told the hospital administration that terrorists had killed the family. That morning I went with relatives of the deceased to the hospital. We received the bodies and buried them, may God have mercy on them.”
there’s more
Posted by: annie | Jul 5 2006 10:05 utc | 21
The grunts on the ground need to be punished, but it would become a Lt. Calley-style kangaroo court if we didn’t also week justice for those in authority who put these young men in a position where they are cannot help but to flip out and turn into murderers/rapists.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Jul 5 2006 10:14 utc | 22
this begins to look a lot more like clan reprisal than some symbolic gesture by Zarqawis replacement
anna missed, if the events in the iraqi report are true, the miliyary knew about this when it happened. with the increase in attacks and the anticipation of more to come, perhaps after shipping green back to the states they also planned to take out Z for the purpose of having an explanation to the escalation in attacks and deaths. once the kidnapping occurred the story could no longer be contained.
wild speculation i realize, but somebody high up the ladder discharged green.
what did they know and when did they know it. same w/haditha, ishaqui
Posted by: annie | Jul 5 2006 11:14 utc | 23
I’ve been trying to post something for a few hours but every time I finish and come in to drop the bundle someone else’s post either covers it or raises a new issue. It’s got too late to fix anymore so sorry bout any typos.
Annie makes an important point right above that this whole event is so murky that amerikans need to demand the truth from all the sticky fingered gutless assholes.
A link from an earlier post of Annie’s said this in part:
“Investigators are now looking into whether the Iraqis abducted Menchaca and Tucker in retaliation for the killing of the Iraqis, civilian and military officials said.
“That possibility leaps to one’s mind. At this point, do we have any evidence of that? No,” said Marisa Ford, the chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorneys office in Louisville, Ky., which is conducting the investigation in the United States. “It is still very early in this investigation.”
Cut through the 48hr memory that Rick Happ mentioned and consider when those two unfortunates were kidnapped there was something a little bit different in the way that it was ‘media handled’ right from the start. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time but items that are normally soft-pedaled weren’t while bits of the story usually blown out of proportion to run the old “we’re dealing with a bunch of crazy animals meme” weren’t either.
At the time it seemed this was BushCo feeling that all publicity is bad publicity since the illegal invasion had been taking such a hammering.
When the two bodies were found it was really concerning that the mutilation may get a big play to help with the rape of Ramadi which seemed the next move in the destruction of Iraq.
Nothing. The media weren’t allowed anywhere near the site the bodies were found and they may have been because there was evidence that even the suck holes that are allowed out with the thugs couldn’t ignore. Who knows what it may have been from graffiti to body parts organised a certain way.
Apparently the bodies were ‘booby-trapped’. Yeah maybe.
That is as likely to be the whole truth as:
“The investigation leading to Green’s arrest began last month after the bodies of Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Oregon were recovered and soldiers in their platoon spoke at a “combat stress debriefing” about the alleged rape-slaying of a young woman and the deaths of her family.”
I simply do not believe that Green’s discharge was the result of anything other than his sadistic behaviour toward the Hamza family of the Janabi tribe.
These 101st assholes were living eating, shitting and sleeping together, and more relevantly getting drunk together. If only four of them knew about the rape plan before it was undertaken, I have no doubt that 25 hours after the murders the rest of the platoon would be laughing about it and the company a day after that.
“Soldiers told investigators that Green and others returned to the Army checkpoint with blood on their clothes, which they later burned. Green told one of the soldiers to throw the AK-47 into a canal.”
Secrets like this just don’t stay secret. By assuming these psychopaths would keep this horror quiet there is an assumption that they felt they had done something ‘wrong’ something to be ashamed of. The way these guys behaved from go to whoa carries with it an air of entitlement.
For such scum as this, the whole ‘combat mission’ would have been something to boast about, not something to be ashamed of.
The reaction of the officers resonates a sort of “Private Green went a bit too far but he is a good soldier so we gave him an honorable discharge, just in case some scroat faced sand nigger took this whole thing too seriously. As for the other guys they were just doing their job but obviously if Green is going to be wanting to ‘dip his wick’ on the job it’s probably time for him to go home”.
More from the WaPo article of today which said:
“Federal prosecutors are pursuing four charges of murder and one charge of rape against Green, said Marisa Ford, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney’s office in the Western District of Kentucky. In a rare move, the Justice Department is pursuing the charges because Green is no longer in military service. . . . ”
. . . . “Kunk also told the mayor that U.S. officials would ask relatives of the victims where the bodies were buried so they could be exhumed for a forensic analysis. Saif said he advised Kunk to respect the family’s wishes and those of local religious authorities about whether digging up the bodies was appropriate. . . “
Green will be out of the orange suit soon! I won’t bore with the details but four policemen in NZ are going to walk away from at least 5 rapes of young women in the 1980’s precisely because the cases are all being tried separately with full name and evidence suppression in each case which prevents any juror being able to piece the thing together beyond a reasonable doubt.
Annie’s link above also tells us:
“Green and another soldier now detained in Iraq raped the young woman, the witnesses told the authorities. Then, the witnesses said, Green shot the woman in the head, killing her.”
And as for his four able assistants who apparently were powerless to prevent this obscenity:
“No other soldier has been charged in the case, Maj. Joseph Breasseale, a military spokesman in Baghdad, told the Associated Press. Military officials have said they have disarmed four soldiers and ordered them confined to their base near Mahmudiyah.”
It’s likely that any further payback will be held off until amerikan justice has a chance to do the right thing.
But as discussed earlier USuk don’t have a clue what the right thing is in Iraq. For example I doubt that this is a problem that can be fixed the usual way ‘when the boys shoot the wrong Arab’.
It would be easy to put some truism in here about the importance of nuance in cross cultural communication or how often people make the mistake of imagining that a practise in one culture similar to a practise in another has the same significance in both. Western culture can frequently misinterpret customs where items of some value are involved, especially if they imagine that the value functions in direct proportion to the importance or effectiveness of what is being achieved.
Some pittance of blood money has been agreed upon between Sunni and the USuk forces, last time I heard it was about $2500 us.
The USuk forces undoubtedly imagine that this amount is the agreed figure of what a life is ‘worth’ in Iraq.
It may mean no such thing, in that payment of money is a ritual between men of honour to reflect that both parties agree a great wrong has been committed and this payment acknowledges that.
Now obviously too small an amount would make this ‘token’ insulting, therefore the amount must be enough to show this is a serious matter, yet men of honour would never insult one another by haggling over such a thing, because it is not possible to attach a true monetary figure to a brother or sister’s worth. It would be even more insulting to insinuate a man would even accept a real price, of any amount, for his brother or sister’s life.
Lastly offering money to acknowledge the wrong of some crimes, particularly those concerning the virtue of a woman of the clan, may in fact be seen as a further stain on the clan.
As hypothetical as that may be it does fit what we know so far. Therefore what may seem to USuk to be the most pragmatic way forward could be putting out the fire with gasoline.
Hushing the whole thing up for domestic US political reasons and then trying and ‘square it’ in Iraq with a big wad of cash could really arc up Iraqis to the point where Negroponte’s death squads and their dirty deeds can’t divide any longer.
But the real issue is when does this reach a point where amerikans get so arced up they aren’t going to be divided any longer?
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 5 2006 11:30 utc | 24
Please let this be it. Let this be the end. I came very close to burning my flag yesterday to “celibrate” the day. Just a private ceremony. I left it in the closet but I doubt I’ll ever be proud of it.
Posted by: beq | Jul 5 2006 14:03 utc | 25
From Peace Women, Nadia’s story (originally posted to Islam-on-line.)
There are many stories like this for those who care to look. Many. It is very difficult to ascertain veracity.
This one struck me because of the mention of the so many frat-boy US-culture Iraq-scene Abu G. type details:
being rounded up by mistake – being imprisoned – drugs – laughter, ugly, cynical jokes – men and women soldiers collaborating in abuse – heavy rock music – photographs, recording of the event – ritual fondling etc. before rape – cleanliness, washing – death treats (these don’t always accompany rape, even in times of war) – forcing victim to re-experience humiliation, here through pictures – “you were born to give us pleasure” – untermenschen as flesh – etc.
PeaceWomen
Rape is a constant of war.
I guess that is enough for today. Nadia lived and had the courage to speak.
Posted by: Noisette | Jul 5 2006 15:58 utc | 27
Mono, good thought there.
But haven’t empires always recruited the young and stupid? Perhaps not so efficiently … but think about the French Foreign Legion, reportedly where the choice was often jail or enlistment.
I remember the beginning of the Star Wars movie, when young Luke Skywalker is recruited from a lane in front of his mother’s farm, and of course the satirical prelude in some earlier Sci-Fi novel, the stainless steel rat saves the world or somesuch, where exactly the same thing happens but this peasant ends up king of the galaxy.
I’d say these recruits might face an equal or better opportunity for capitalism, theft, corruption and a really good time than back in the states. They also face the same chance to grow and excel.
The story as reported, getting out of control with weapons and superior force, is on another level entirely. Unspeakably bad news all around, especially for the child, her family and everyone else in what used to be their country.
Posted by: jonku | Jul 5 2006 15:59 utc | 28
Sexual predation is non-discriminatory: What the unwritten rules in different situations can bear…
Military Hides Cause of Women Soldiers’ Deaths
By Marjorie Cohn, truthout.
The details of this article can be considered “factual”, as they are part of the official record (digging is needed.)
Dying of dehydration in such circumstances seems incredibly strange – unbelievable.
Truthout
Filling bottles with water and peeing in a pot doesn’t seem out of reach conceptually, which is why the story was ridiculed by the wing nuts – also these girls have Kevlar vests! See e.g.:
Mudville Gazette
And yet…have you seen pictures of girls barracks in Iraq? The teddy bears lined up on the beds? The dollies? The grinning fun pic with Ahmed, the fixer, tenderly enlacing his favorite female GI? The canteen, decked out for a birthday with candles and cute signs? The girls grinning in pyjamas? Clumsily holding guns, posturing for the cameras, playing teenage-tubby tough? Gazing at a bunker in the desert – the camel is sadly missing ? The pictures I am thinking of (lost and dead links) date from 2003, made for and sent to, family. Too tired to look.
*couldn’t check links hope they are OK*
Posted by: Noirette | Jul 5 2006 18:26 utc | 29
@Noirette:
Nice handle, by the way.
I’ll hang with the lawyer, Karpinski, and Hack any day.
Good find.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 6 2006 0:06 utc | 30
Thanks pembeci. Nice piece. I wrote about Kurtlar Valdisi a while ago.
this is the second day in a row that amy goodman has referred to abeer qasim hamza as a “woman.” “The woman, Abeer Qasim Hamza, is believed to have been as young as fifteen years old.” every dictionary definition i see states something to effect of A woman is an adult female human being, as contrasted to a man, an adult male, and a girl, a female child. generally, one is not considered an adult until their late teens – reaching 18 or 19 years of age – no matter how mature they may be. to continually refer to a 15 year old girl as a woman is deceptive journalism.
Posted by: b real | Jul 6 2006 16:11 utc | 33
I came into the room in the middle of this story (audio) about anti-social personality disorder stemming from conduct disorder on ATC/NPR yesterday not realizing who it was about till the end. I thought, “manipulative, willing to exploit, no sense of guilt”? Who else does this describe? And we thought he was just a dry drunk.
Posted by: beq | Jul 7 2006 12:49 utc | 34
Pat Lang has a very good Op-Ed in The Christian Science Monitor today:
LINK
This is very reality based, but can be confusing if you don’t pay close attention.
Enjoy!
Posted by: TGO | Jul 7 2006 22:15 utc | 35
Authorities ask to exhume remains of alleged Iraqi rape victim
Posted by: beq | Jul 8 2006 22:22 utc | 36
interestingly, the ishaqi massacre took place march 15 within 3 days of this atrocity. 60 north of bagdad. 90 miles in the other direction.
Posted by: annie | Jul 8 2006 23:46 utc | 37
The tip of the iceberg, annie. One or two soldiers found their conscience because their buddies were kidnapped and brutalized. And their “superiors” tried to sweep it under the rug! Abir. What she suffered can’t be for nothing.
Posted by: beq | Jul 9 2006 3:24 utc | 38
Here is our Merican hero’ aka Bush otherwise know as Tray Dashing of the royal throne aka house of White.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 9 2006 3:33 utc | 39
addendum: (to my #39…It’s really something isn’t it? The GWOT doesn’t appear to be anything more than a thin excuse to live out bad pr0n fantasies.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 9 2006 4:01 utc | 41
oh uncle where do you find these things!
beq, i don’t know about those one or two buddies. i think they may have ‘created ‘ that story as a way of putting some redeaming quality in the disclosure they knew something. possible as debs, or was it anna missed, or someone said for the reason that if there was no acknowledgement some ‘duty’ had been accomplished, some payback, there would not be a movement towards resolution. also, they needed information because they were looking for their fellows, they needed information to find them and they knew damn well the two incidents were related.
we will never know. just like tillman, the truth was not part of the story. ishaqi tho, i am surprised no one has connected the two in the press.
Posted by: annie | Jul 9 2006 4:04 utc | 42
Baghdad Erupts in Mob Violence
A mob of gunmen went on a brazen daytime rampage through a predominantly Sunni Arab district of western Baghdad on Sunday, pulling people from their cars and homes and killing them in what officials and residents called a spasm of revenge by Shiite militias for the bombing of a Shiite mosque on Saturday. Hours later, two car bombs exploded beside a Shiite mosque in another Baghdad neighborhood in a deadly act of what appeared to be retaliation.
While Baghdad has been ravaged by Sunni-Shiite bloodletting in recent months, even by recent standards the violence here on Sunday was frightening, delivered with impunity by gun-wielding vigilantes on the street. In the culture of revenge that has seized Iraq, residents all over the city braced for an escalation in the cycle of retributive mayhem between the Shiites and Sunnis that has threatened to expand into civil war.
The violence coincided with an announcement by American military officials that they had formally accused four more American soldiers of rape and murder, and a fifth soldier of “dereliction of duty” for failing to report the crimes, in connection with the deaths of a teenage Iraqi girl and three members of her family.
In the rape-murder case, the American military did not identify the five newly accused soldiers, who remain on active duty in Iraq. The first to be implicated was Steven D. Green, a recently discharged private first class arrested June 30 in North Carolina on suspicion of participating in the crimes on March 12.
The military’s announcement about the soldiers brought to six the number implicated in the rape-murder, one more than previously disclosed. The case has enraged Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and led to apologies by the highest American military and civilian officials in Iraq. A photograph of the girl’s passport distributed by news agencies on Sunday showed that she was 14.
Only seven weeks old, Mr. Maliki’s government is facing increasingly difficult obstacles. Worsening violence has undermined his intention to disarm the country’s sectarian militias. At the same time, the growing furor over criminal accusations against American troops has tested Mr. Maliki’s divided loyalties to his American allies and to an Iraqi public that has grown weary of the American presence.
Posted by: annie | Jul 10 2006 8:11 utc | 43