US troops rape and murder Iraqis - claim

[iBrian]

Some very ugly news this week - as if it wasn't bad enough that US marines and contractors are already alleged to be involved in both the random and organised murder of civilians, we now have the US military investigating claims by US army personel that other US marines raped an Iraqi mother before murdering her and her family, including yet another child:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5134106.stm

The criminal investigation was ordered a day after two soldiers said they had heard about the incident in the area of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, on 12 March, the statement said.

Unnamed officials said that at least two soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment were being investigated to find out if they had been involved in allegedly raping an Iraqi woman, killing her and three other family members - including a small child, and burning her body.

This is the fifth investigation in recent months into allegations of killings of civilians by American forces in Iraq, but the first to allege rape.

Last Thursday, seven marines and a sailor were charged with murder over the death of a disabled Iraqi man in Hamdaniya in April.

Earlier in the week murder charges were filed against four soldiers over the shooting of three male Iraqi prisoners near Tikrit in northern Iraq on 9 May.

Another Pentagon inquiry is looking into an alleged massacre at Haditha last November, in which 24 civilians are thought to have been killed.

Although the recent cases have become high profile, I've also read various reports on the internet, and not particularly covered by normal media, about US soldiers being accused of commiting random killings of civilians at checkpoints, either from sheer inexperience and nervousness, or otherwise.

Question is, is this all nothing but unsubstantiated allegations and heresy, or has the US really lost control of it's military in Iraq?

 

[flowperson]

Every time I read or hear about such horrors, I mentally travel back to its beginnings.

There were warnings published in great newspapers signed by dozens of Nobel Prize winners warning the US not to start this thing. There were warnings from numerous governments of allies that the US should not pursue this. Religious leaders from all over the world made their beliefs and disapproval of this war known to the world in public forums.

But most of all I remember what one of my personal heros, the late pope John Paul II said. Each day, with each horrible report of the bloodshed, destruction, and governmental and corporate malfesance that we are told about, what he said repeats and repeats itself inside my head.

"It will be a holocaust."

flow....

 

[Amica]

Hi.

What is making me more sad in addition to the horrible news is the fact that some try to justify the crimes by saying that because of the war situation the soldiers 'cracked' etc. This is not fair. If they became mentally ill all of a sudden, then what do Palestinians have to say--their children who did not know anything else but violence all their lives? Americans came to Iraq supposedly to do a good thing, yet out of the hatred for anything Muslim they start murdering and raping, and then blame it on mental illness?
As a professional in the mental health field I find this detestable that people commit crimes and they try to escape justice by saying they are mentally ill.
In the case of the poor victim of rape and murder, her rapist-killer-occupator supposedly has a 'personality disorder.' sad.

 

[wil]

...If they became mentally ill all of a sudden, then what do Palestinians have to say--their children who did not know anything else but violence all their lives? ...

powerful thought

 

[lunamoth]

Has the US lost control of their troops? You've got to be kidding Brian. If you've got that many young, testosterone filled men even in a cross section of 'average' people it's bound that there are a number who are some combination of mentally instable and agressive, prone to comit crime/rape/murder regardless of the situation. Add on top of that being in a foreign country where a war is in progress, where an one might feel like their crimes are less likely to be found out, and it's amazing we have not had more of this type of situation. I'd say the US military has quite good 'control' over it's soldiers. Take a look at what's going on in Africa when the so-called military fights the so-called insurgents. They're raping women and children with knives there and it hardly makes headlines.

When it comes to the brutal crimes associated with war I put those transgressors at the very bottom of the pile of humanity. If Dante's hell really were to exist I'd be quite tempted to put rapists and murders in the most exquisite torture (yes, in spite of my normally benign approach to life). Fortuanately I live in a civilized society that makes it easier for me to turn the the justice system and put thoughts of revenge a little further from my mind. These criminals, they are not soldiers, should be dealt with to the full extent of the law.