July 03, 2006

Random Acts?

On March 12, five soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Division allegedly raped a 15-year-old Iraqi girl killed her and her family, and then burned her body in an apparent attempt to hide the evidence of their crime.

Roughly three months later, on June 23, one of those soldiers confessed after soldiers from the same platoon were ambushed, and two GIs captured in the ambush were horrifically tortured and killed. Was there a cause-and-effect, tit-for-tat exchange of atrocities south of Baghdad? At least one key player seems to think so:


The official in Iraq whom the wire service quoted said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one of them to reveal the rape and slaying on June 22.

Would "feelings of guilt" mean that this soldier felt the torture and murder of men from his platoon was in retaliation for his own acts? Absent any other explanation, it seems a plausible assumption.


patrolled

It is, of course, quite possible and even probable that the ambush and capture of Menchaca and Tucker at their Yusifiyah checkpoint was an act completely unassociated with the rape and murders down the road at Mahmudiyah. It seems that most of the neighbors were willing to believe this was a sectarian killing performed by Shiite militiamen.

But there was at least one notable exception.

Omar Janabi, a neighbor of the slain family, seems to be the star witness of this case, not only having conversations with the mother about here fears of a potential assault before the incident, but was also among the first to see the bodies.:


Janabi was one of the first people to arrive at the house after the attack, he said Saturday, speaking to a Washington Post special correspondent at the home of local tribal leaders. He said he found Abeer sprawled dead in a corner, her hair and a pillow next to her consumed by fire, and her dress pushed up to her neck.
"I was sure from the first glance that she had been raped," he said.
Despite the reassurances he had given the girl's mother earlier, Janabi said, "I wasn't surprised what had happened, when I found that the suspicion of the mother was correct."

And yet, three months passed without any indication that Janabi went to the Iraqi military or police to report his suspicions. Perhaps it was a cultural difference; perhaps it was fear of possible retribution, but in any event he believed U.S. soldiers from this unit was responsible for the capital crimes against his neighbors.

A Sunni in the heart of the Sunni insurgency, Janabi most likely "knew somebody who knew somebody" who would be capable of a retaliatory strike—perhaps a strike that took three months to reconnoiter, plan, and execute—that might send a message to the soldiers who committed these rapes.

Perhaps the tortuous deaths of men from Company B, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment weren't quite a random act of barbarity after all.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:57 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Exactly what is a "Washington Post special Correspondent? An unvetted stringer? An Islamist? A Baathist? An objective Journalist like Bill Keller? Just asking.

Posted by: RiverRat at July 03, 2006 01:01 AM (oNFas)

2 It's simple. If they are guilty, I see good candidates for the death penalty (minimum of life in jail). That crime dosen't excuse capture and torture at all. Two seperate crimes. Fry the torturers as well.

Posted by: Retired Navy at July 03, 2006 05:51 AM (y67bA)

3 Don't jump to conclusions about what are now allegations. To me, without knowing more, the story sounds fishy because it does not sound like the conduct of American soldiers. But we do know more: the place of the alleged incident is insurgent-riddled, the source of the story is a Muslim Sunni group with strong links to al-Zarquawi's group (sometimes referred to as al Qaeda's presence in Iraq), and one of the ploys of the terrorists is to concoct false stories of American atrocities, hoping to hit the My Lai button.

Posted by: Phil Byler at July 03, 2006 08:39 AM (/kIDl)

4 Hey tools Raping and killing innocent women and children is now the American way, is it? A 14 year old girl gang raped while her family is murdered in front of her.... These are the ideals American was founded for? This is the liberation you promised Iraqis? And you wonder why the WHOLE WORLD (not just the Middle East), hates America? Go anywhere on this planet, even Canada, and tell them you are American and you will get nothing but hatred due to agression and militarism like this. I can almost cry when I think of the horror and terror this little girl must have felt as she died. What a terrible world we live in....

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