American forces + beautiful, young Iraqi woman = ?

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I don't usually post aimlessly about the war in Iraq, but this story
has just torn my heart out. I cannot even explain the anger I
feel. 

Associated Press

GIs Eyed in Alleged Rape, Murders in Iraq

By RYAN LENZ

,
                                                06.30.2006, 06:00 PM

A group of American soldiers in an
insurgent-riddled town allegedly noticed a young Iraqi woman when on
patrol and later returned to rape her, according to U.S. officials
Friday. In an apparent cover-up attempt, she and three members of her
family then were killed and her body was set on fire.

Five U.S. troops are being investigated, a
U.S. military official told The Associated Press. It was the sixth
known inquiry into alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops.

The suspects in the killing, which took place
in March, were from the same platoon as two soldiers kidnapped and
killed south of Baghdad this month, said the official, who is close to
the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the case.

One soldier was arrested after admitting his
role in the alleged attack on the family, the U.S. official said. The
official said the rape and killings appear to have been a "crime of
opportunity," noting that the soldiers had not been attacked by
insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.

One of the family members they allegedly
killed was a child, said a senior Army official who also requested
anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Some of the suspects
allegedly burned the woman's body to cover up the attack, the U.S.
official said.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military issued a sparse
statement, saying only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of
the 4th Infantry Division, ordered a criminal investigation into the
alleged slaying of a family of four in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of
Baghdad.

However, the U.S. official said the soldiers
were assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment. The official told the AP
that the suspects were from the same platoon as two slain soldiers
whose mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were
abducted by insurgents near Youssifiyah southwest of Baghdad.

The military has said one and possibly both of
the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded. The official said the
mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at
least one member of the platoon to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.

According to the senior Army official, the
alleged incident was first revealed by a soldier during a routine
counseling-type session. The official said that soldier did not witness
the incident but heard about it.

A second soldier, who also was not involved,
said he overhead soldiers conspiring to commit the crimes and then
later saw bloodstains on their clothes, the official said.

Before the soldier disclosed the alleged
assault, senior officers had been aware of the family's death but
believed it was a result of sectarian violence, the official said.

One of the five suspects has already been
discharged for unspecified charges unrelated to the killings and is
believed to be in the United States, two U.S. officials said on
condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The others
have had their weapons taken away and are confined to a U.S. base near
Mahmoudiya.

The allegations of rape could generate a
particularly strong backlash in Iraq, a conservative, strongly
religious society in which many women will not even shake hands with
men who are not close relatives.

The case is among the most serious against
U.S. soldiers allegedly involved in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. At
least 14 U.S. troops have been convicted.

Last week, seven Marines and one Navy medic
were charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of an Iraqi
man near Fallujah west of Baghdad.

U.S. officials are also investigating
allegations that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians
Nov. 19 in the western town of Haditha in a revenge attack after a
fellow Marine died in a roadside bombing.

Other cases involve the deaths of three male
detainees in Salahuddin province in May, the shooting death of unarmed
Iraqi man near Ramadi in February, and the death of an Iraqi soldier
after an interrogation in 2003 at a detention camp in Qaim.

The allegations have aroused public anger
against the U.S. military presence at a time when the new Iraqi
government and U.S. authorities are trying to reach out to disaffected
Sunni Arabs to quell the insurgency and calm sectarian tensions.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
leaves for a whirlwind trip to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab
Emirates to seek support for his national reconciliation initiative,
which includes an amnesty for the mostly Sunni insurgents.

Al-Maliki is also expected to brief the Sunni
leadership of those three countries on his efforts to deal with the
divisions between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq's neighbors in the Persian
Gulf fear sectarian tensions will spill over into their countries,
which are dominated by Sunnis but have large Shiite minorities.

On Friday, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr rejected al-Maliki's initiative because it does not include a
timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops.

"We demand the occupation forces to leave the
country, or at least a timetable should be set for their withdrawal,"
al-Sadr said during a sermon.

Despite al-Maliki's efforts, there has been no
letup in Iraq's violence. The U.S. military reported four more American
service members have died, including a Marine killed Friday in fighting
west of Baghdad. Three Army soldiers died in combat the day before, the
military said.

AP correspondent Ryan Lenz is embedded with
the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji, Iraq. He was previously embedded
with the 502nd Infantry Regiment in Mahmoudiya. AP correspondent Lolita
C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

Edited by Mila - 02-Jul-2006 at 10:50