WASHINGTON, July 9: Three US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fourth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape and murder of a teenage Iraqi girl and murder of her family in Mahmoudiya, the military said on Sunday.
An investigation into the rape and murder of the Iraqi teenager and the slaying of her three relatives had unearthed evidence that led investigators to the four soldiers. All four are from the 101st Airborne Division that was deployed near the teenager’s home south of Baghdad when the incident took place.
The US military said the four soldiers still on active duty would face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether there is enough evidence to place them on trial.
Steven D. Green, a 21-year-old former private first class, was arrested last week in North Carolina and has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four counts of murder.
The woman’s body was found in the house with three other bodies, including one of a child. Documents unsealed last week gave the first official account of the incident.
According to the documents, military counsellors learned about the incident from other soldiers during a combat stress debriefing. The soldiers told officials that Green killed the woman’s family, then raped and killed her.
According to the documents, the four soldiers saw the girl during a traffic patrol. They told another soldier to monitor the radio and went to her home.
While there, Green went into a bedroom with the girl’s three family members and closed the door. When he came out, he said: “I just killed them, all are dead,” according to the documents.
Then he and another soldier raped the woman. Afterwards, Green shot her in the head two or three times, soldiers told the investigators.
The woman’s body was found burned, the documents said.
When the four returned from the home, they had blood on their clothes, which they burned.
