Ex-US soldier guilty of Iraq deaths

Steven Dale Green raped 14-year-old girl before killing her and her family.

Steven Green Iraq killing
Steven Green, pictured above on duty, was discharged from the army before the trial began [AFP]

His defence team had asked the jury to consider the “context” of war, saying soldiers lacked leadership and received little help from the military to deal with the loss of friends in combat.

Premeditated attack

Marisa Ford, a prosecution lawyer, said the losses suffered by Green’s unit did not excuse the rape of Abeer al-Janabi and the murders of her and her family in their home south of Baghdad on March 12, 2006.

“The evidence in this case suggests the defendant was acting purposefully and intentionally with full knowledge of what he was doing,” Ford said.

James Barker and Paul Cortez, two other soldiers who are serving 100 and 90 years for their role in the brutal attack, testified against Green during the trial.

Green and other soldiers changed their clothes and disguised their appearance to throw suspicion on Iraqi fighters, Ford said.

They then burned Abeer’s body to hide evidence and burned their own clothes to destroy anything that might link them to the crime, she said.

“This was a planned, premeditated crime which was carried out in cold blood,” Ford said.

Source: News Agencies