On March 12, 2006 a 14-year-old Iraqi girl named Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi was brutally gang raped and murdered in the village of Mahmoudiya. Members of her family, including her 5-year-old sister were also murdered. Five American soldiers stand accused of these heinous crimes. The preliminary hearing for four of the accused soldiers is currently taking place in Iraq.
CNN reported on the graphic testimony earlier today in an article on its website. However, something was curiously absent from the coverage. Below is a screen shot from CNN’s report:
Notice the caption under the picture: "Steven Green is alleged to have shot and killed the woman’s relatives, raped the victim, then fatally shot her." Since when have you heard of a 14-year-old being referred to as a "woman"? In fact, this article never once refers to Abeer as a "girl", instead referring to her as "an Iraqi" or a "woman". Only toward the end of the article do we learn that:
Identity cards and death certificates obtained by Reuters news agency suggest the rape-murder victim was 14 years old.
And further down still:
The identity cards and death certificates of the victims, obtained by Reuters, show that the alleged rape victim was Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, with the birthdate August 19, 1991. The mayor of Mahmoudiya confirmed her identity and birthdate to CNN.
The U.S. military had previously referred to the alleged rape victim as a "young Iraqi woman." A Justice Department affidavit in the case against Green says investigators estimated her age at about 25, while the U.S. military said she was 20.
Thank you CNN for some excellent reporting!
CNN also filed a second story on the hearing this evening. This time someone at CNN figured out that a 14-year-old is not a woman. Here’s a screen shot from the second article from CNN:
This time Abeer is referred to as a "girl" all throughout the article. In fact the contrast between the first and the second articles could not be greater. (Someone still forgot to update the caption under the photo).
It appears that by the second story editors at CNN may have decided to give up trying to spin this story. This crime is so heinous that no amount of lipstick will pretty up the facts.
Try as it might, CNN failed to capture the ambience at the hearing. Reuters reports on the seriousness of the proceedings:
Defense Attorney Captain Jimmie Culp was blowing chewing gum bubbles while Yribe, sitting to his left, began sucking on a red lollipop during the testimony.
Apparently testimony about the brutal rape and murder of a child is best enjoyed with bubble gum and lollipops.
Hearts and minds. No doubt CNN was thinking about hearts and minds when it massaged the facts just a bit in the first story of the day. Considering the levity at the hearing and the willingness of the media to shape the story, I wonder if the Iraqis think that they will ever get any justice from the Americans.
Mash, If memory serves me correctly, Green is from Texas and there was an article in the Chronicle (again, if memory serves me correctly) that he should not have been allowed to join the army because of his violent history. Apparently, the idea was that, since they need soldiers in Iraq, the standard has gotten so much lower, in order to facilitate more ‘abled bodied men’ to go and fight in Iraq, well, to keep the peace, to defend themselves whatever you want to call it these days. Can any Texans remember that article??
Ingrid
He could’a at least had the decency ta use one of the rape rooms…that jez shows how poorly he wuz trained I reckon 😮
Ingrid, let’s hope that this trial is transparent and justice is served.
Jeremiah, these guys apparently fried some chicken wings after their rampage. I’m not sure what that says about their training – but I think it speaks volumes about their frame of mind.
Or perhaps it says something about fried chicken wings…:-?
A few quick points, not to belabor or rehash what everyone else has said….
For Green’s bio, check Wikipedia. Also, (for international readers) understand that in America, poor, white, gentile males, like Green, (and Bullfrog) are relegated by society to the bottom of the heap. That’s a major reason why many of them end up enlisted in the US military in the first place.
This particular incident almost perfectly embodies the utter disaster that has resulted from the combination of neoconservative fantasy and a stooge president who, more often than not, seems to think he’s Ehud Olmert.
A Marine Corps friend of mine who was in Anbar province last year puts it this way: “There is no winning in Iraq, there are only various degrees of losing.” How true and how utterly unnecessary.
Finally, it almost sounds like Green was acting out a scene from the Oliver Stone movie “Platoon”.
Timothy, one point of clarification about Jeremiah. He is better understood by reading his blog 🙂
An interesting case that seems to be out of the spotlight lately:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003044627_nogo7m.html
So what’s happening with Lt. Watada now? Is he in prison? Or is he not facing anything? It sounds like an interesting case to me.
Ironically, Green is from Midland, Texas; home of the Bush clan.
Perhaps a punishment option to consider in this case would be to send him back to Iraq as part of an IED disposal team. The brig, with its daily hot showers and three square meals is much too nice.