Casualties of War

by Earl Morningstarr

The shocking case of 24 year old Steven Dale Green is sadly all too similar to the plot of the 1989 Brian De Palma movie Casualties of War.

The sick case has startling similarities to the movie, which starred Michael J Fox and was based on an article written for the New Yorker by Daniel Lang.

Steven Dale Green and three other soldiers serving in Iraq in March 2006 gang raped a 14 year old Iraqi girl named Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, Green personally murdered her entire family including her five year old sister before finally shooting Abeer herself in the head and then attempting to burn down their family home.

One other member of Green’s patrol group was convicted of witnessing the attack and not reporting it. The sixth member of the group was freed from court in exchange for his testimony, he was then dishonourably discharged from the US army.

The three members of the group who actively took part in the gang rape and the cover up were given sentences of 90, 100 and 110 years in jail. Green is still awaiting his sentencing, he was the ring leader and carried out the murders personally. Iraqi officials and civilians are calling for the former soldier to be executed, they are furious that Green and his comrades were tried in the US and not an Iraqi court.

Sheik Qais Aboud al-Janabi, who is the leader of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi’s tribe told The New York Times that the death sentence was crucial to restore faith in the Iraqi/American relationship.

“A death sentence would give Iraqi people full trust in the American judicial system” he said.

“Otherwise there will be no room for trust between us and the American forces.”

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Casualties of War

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