Testimony Tells of Rape, Killings in Iraq

An American soldier charged with the rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family told investigators that he and his comrades devised the attack while playing cards and drinking whiskey at a checkpoint, and that afterward he grilled chicken wings, a military investigator testified Monday.

The GI’s admission was revealed on the second day of testimony in a military hearing to determine whether the soldiers would face a court-martial. Reports of the March 12 killings in the southern Baghdad suburb of Mahmoudiya have enraged Iraqis and shamed the U.S. military.

Spc. James P. Barker, 23, told investigators in sworn statements that he and Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 23, took turns sexually assaulting the 14-year-old, and that former Pfc. Steven D. Green, 21, also raped the girl after killing her mother, father and 5-year-old sister, military investigator Benjamin Bierce testified.

A fourth soldier, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 21, was inside the house during the attack while another soldier, Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 19, kept watch elsewhere, Barker told investigators, Bierce said.

The military tribunal, known as an Article 32 hearing, is similar to a civilian grand jury. After hearing from prosecutors and defense lawyers, an investigating officer will determine whether there is enough evidence for four of the soldiers to face a military trial on charges of rape and murder.

Another soldier from the same Army unit, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is charged with failing to report the attack but is not suspected of taking part.

Green was discharged from the Army in May because of a “personality disorder,” according to court documents. He was arrested in North Carolina in late June and will be tried separately in federal court.

Bierce testified that Barker wrote in his sworn statement that he, Cortez, Spielman and Green had been playing rummy and drinking Iraqi moonshine mixed with an energy drink on the day of the killings.

“While they were playing cards and drinking Iraqi whiskey, the idea came to go to the Iraqi house, rape a woman and murder her family,” said Gary Griesmyer, another military investigator, who had interviewed Cortez.

The house was about 650 feet from the checkpoint, one soldier told investigators. The soldiers had seen the girl before during a visit to her house.

Cortez said in a sworn statement that Barker and Green raped the girl, Griesmyer testified. Cortez acknowledged holding the girl down when Barker began to rape her, Griesmyer said. The girl was crying and speaking in Arabic, and Barker told her to “shut up” after raping her, according to Cortez’s statement, Griesmyer said.

Barker said the men had practiced hitting golf balls near the checkpoint after finishing their card game. Green repeatedly said he wanted to kill some Iraqis, and asked Barker if he thought Cortez would go along, according to Bierce’s testimony. Green asked Cortez, who in turn asked Barker what he thought. Barker, in his statement, wrote that his answer was, “It’s up to you,” Bierce testified.

The men changed into black thermal underwear and black ski masks, Bierce testified. Cortez gave a radio to Howard, who was supposed to be on the lookout.

At the house, Cortez pushed the girl to the floor and raped her as she struggled, Bierce testified.

Barker told investigators that Green came into the living room, where the girl was pinned to the floor. Referring to her family, Green told his fellow soldiers: “They’re all dead. I just killed them.”

Green put down an AK-47 assault rifle that he had taken from the house and raped the girl while Cortez held her down, Bierce testified. Afterward, Green shot the girl several times before Barker took a lamp and poured kerosene on her body, the investigator said.

Barker told investigators that Green went into the kitchen and came back saying, “We need to get out of here,” supposedly because Green had opened the propane tank and the house was going to blow up.

Investigators testified that the attack lasted between 20 and 30 minutes, and that the soldiers hid their identities, hoping to pin the slayings on insurgents.

After the men returned to the checkpoint, Barker said, he began to grill chicken wings.

Pfc. Justin Watt, whose allegations prompted the inquiry, testified earlier Monday that he became suspicious of his friends and, through conversations with Yribe and Howard, pieced together what had happened.

Watt testified that Yribe told him that Green had admitted the attack to Yribe. Additionally, Yribe told Watt, a shotgun shell had been found in the house. The soldiers had taken rifles and a shotgun with them for the attack, investigators said.

Although many Iraqis have an AK-47 in their homes, shotguns are relatively rare.

“I wanted to see if I could confirm my suspicions that there were more people involved,” Watt testified. “I believed there were American forces involved.”

Watt testified that he had asked Howard if he knew anything about the rape and killings. He said Howard responded that Barker, Cortez and Green had planned the attack and that he had been the lookout.

Watt also described how fighting in the area south of Baghdad known as the “triangle of death” had taken a toll on the soldiers. He described how one Iraqi man had approached two soldiers with an outstretched hand, as if to shake hands. Instead, the man pulled a gun, killing both soldiers. On Sunday, defense lawyers suggested that the soldiers’ deaths affected the unit’s morale.

In 12 days, four of his fellow soldiers were killed, Watt said.

“I thought I was going to die,” he said, adding that he had written a letter on his laptop with his final wishes. “I was going to get a memorial tattoo of all the guys [who were killed], but there was not enough room on my arm.”

After the abduction, torture and killing of two U.S. soldiers and the slaying of a third in Yousifiya, near Mahmoudiya, in June, Watt decided to come forward. The military is investigating whether the assault on the three U.S. troops was in retaliation for the slayings in Mahmoudiya.

“We’d come through hell with each other, and there were a lot of good men who died, and this happened, for what?” Watt testified. Reporting the killings, he said, “had to be done.”

Watt reported his suspicions to a combat stress team in Mahmoudiya. His superiors “were extremely skeptical” about the allegations, he said.

Watt also testified that before the slayings in Mahmoudiya, he had heard Green say, “I want to kill and hurt a lot of Iraqis.” When questioned by defense lawyers, Watt reiterated, “I believe that he wanted to hurt Iraqis.”

The hearing was scheduled to continue today.