By
Daily Mail
An
Iraq War veteran serving five life terms for raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her parents and sister says he didn't think
of Iraqi civilians as humans after being exposed to extreme warzone violence.
Steven
Green, a former 101st Airborne soldier, in his first interview since the 2006
killings, claimed that his crimes were fuelled in part by experiences in Iraq's
violent 'Triangle of Death' where two of his sergeants were gunned down.
He
also cited a lack of leadership and help from the Army.
'I
was crazy,' Green said in the exclusive telephone interview from federal prison
in Tucson, Arizona. 'I was just all the way out there. I didn't think I was
going to live.'
Green
talked about what led up to the March 12, 2006, attack on a family near
Mahmoudiya, Iraq, that left him serving five consecutive life sentences.
The
former soldier, who apologised at sentencing for his crimes, said he wasn't
seeking sympathy nor trying to justify his actions - killings prosecutors
described at trial in 2009 as one of the worst crimes of the Iraq war.
But
Green said people should know his actions were a consequence of his
circumstances in a war zone.
'If
I hadn't ever been in Iraq, I wouldn't be in the kind of trouble I'm in now,'
Green said. 'I'm not happy about that.'
Green
was discharged with a 'personality disorder' before federal charges were
brought against him.
Prosecutors sought a death sentence, but a federal jury in Paducah, Kentucky, opted for five life sentences on charges including the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her mother, father and younger sister.
Prosecutors sought a death sentence, but a federal jury in Paducah, Kentucky, opted for five life sentences on charges including the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her mother, father and younger sister.
Four
other soldiers were convicted in military court for various roles in the
attack. Three remain in military prison.
Green
is challenging the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows the
federal government to charge an American in civilian court for alleged crimes
committed overseas. He was the first former soldier convicted under the
statute. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments for
January 21.
Green
is challenging the constitutionality of that law, saying it gives the executive
branch too much leeway over whom to prosecute. Prosecutors say the law should
be upheld.
'I've
got some hope, but I'm not delusional about it,' said Green, now 25. 'I hope it
works. But, whenever they give you multiple life sentences, they're not
planning on letting you out.'
Green
didn't testify at trial. During sentencing, he apologized and said he expects
to face 'God's justice' when he dies.
Abeer Qassim al-Janabi,
Green's 14-year-old victim, whose parents and sister were also murdered
in the
attack. Green said deaths of two of his colleagues had 'messed him up real bad'
|
A 19-year-old high school dropout
from Midland, Texas, Green joined the Army after obtaining his high school
equivalency diploma from a correspondence school.
He said signing up was easy, born of a sense of duty to defend his country and the opportunities that offered.
He said signing up was easy, born of a sense of duty to defend his country and the opportunities that offered.
'I thought I'd be neglecting my
duty if I didn't,' Green said. 'You've got a career, you've got a job. It gives
you opportunities to do things with your life.'
The military placed Green with the
Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne. Upon arriving in Iraq, Green said, his
training to kill, the rampant violence and derogatory comments by other
soldiers against Iraqis served to dehumanise that country's civilian
population.
A turning point came on December
10, 2005, Green said, when a previously friendly Iraqi approached a traffic
checkpoint and opened fire.
The shots killed Staff Sgt. Travis
L. Nelson, 41, instantly. Sgt. Kenith Casica, 32, was hit in the throat. Casica
died as soldiers raced him aboard a Humvee to a field hospital. Green said
those deaths 'messed me up real bad.'
The deaths intensified Green's feelings toward all Iraqis, whom soldiers often called by a derogatory term. 'There's not a word that would describe how much I hated these people,' Green said. 'I wasn't thinking these people were humans.'
The deaths intensified Green's feelings toward all Iraqis, whom soldiers often called by a derogatory term. 'There's not a word that would describe how much I hated these people,' Green said. 'I wasn't thinking these people were humans.'
Neighbour Hussein Mohammed
points to the charred and blood-splattered
crime scene where the killings took
place in Mahmoudiya, Iraq
|
Over the next four months, Green
sought help from a military stress counsellor, obtaining small doses of a
mood-regulating drug - and a directive to get some sleep before returning to
his checkpoint south of Baghdad.
In the interview, Green described
alcohol and drugs being prevalent at the checkpoint. Green said soldiers there
frequently felt abandoned by the Army and were given little support after the
deaths of Casica and Nelson.
Spc. James P. Barker of Fresno,
California, testified that he pitched the idea of going to the al-Janabi
family's home to Sgt. Paul E. Cortez of Barstow, California, who was in charge
of the traffic checkpoint.
Scene of the attack in Al Mahmoudiya on the outsikirts of
Baghdad
|
Green, who talked frequently of
wanting to kill Iraqis, was brought along.
Cortez testified that Barker and
Green had the idea of having sex with the girl and that he didn't know the
family would be killed.
Green, then a private,saidhe had
'an altered state of mind' at the time. 'I wasn't thinking about more than 10
minutes into the future at any given time,' Green said. 'I didn't care.'
At the Iraqi home, Barker and
Cortez pulled Abeer into one room, while Green held the mother, father and youngest
daughter in another.
Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, stood guard in the hall. As Barker and Cortez raped the teen, Green shot the three family members, killing them.
He then went into the next room and raped Abeer, before shooting her in the head. The soldiers lit her remains on fire before leaving. Another soldier stood watch a few miles away at the checkpoint.
Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, stood guard in the hall. As Barker and Cortez raped the teen, Green shot the three family members, killing them.
He then went into the next room and raped Abeer, before shooting her in the head. The soldiers lit her remains on fire before leaving. Another soldier stood watch a few miles away at the checkpoint.
Since his sentencing on September
4, 2009, Green has been attacked at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana,
and was then transferred to Arizona.
In prison, Green converted to Catholicism and has corresponded with a nun in Louisville about his faith.
In prison, Green converted to Catholicism and has corresponded with a nun in Louisville about his faith.
Green described prison life as a
'lonely existence' and said other inmates consider those convicted of sex
offenses among the lowest, making life 'hazardous' among the general prison
population.
For Green, each day is just a matter
of getting through 24 hours so he can do it all again the next day. Meanwhile,
he lives with memories of the attack that took away the Iraqi family.
'If I thought that was an OK thing
now, I wouldn't be much of a human being,' Green said.