Mahmudiyah rape and killings
The Mahmudiyah rape and killings were a series of war crimes committed by five U.S. Army soldiers during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, involving the gang-rape and murder of 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the murder of her family on March 12, 2006. It occurred in the family's house to the southwest of Yusufiyah, a village to the west of the city of Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. Other members of al-Janabi's family murdered by American soldiers include her 34-year-old mother Fakhriyah Taha Muhasen, 45-year-old father Qassim Hamza Raheem, and six-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. The two remaining survivors of the family, al-Janabi's 9-year-old brother Ahmed and 11-year-old brother Mohammed, were at school during the massacre and orphaned by the event.
Five U.S. Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment were charged with rape and murder: Specialist Paul E. Cortez, Specialist James P. Barker, Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman, Private First Class Bryan L. Howard, and Private First Class Steven Dale Green. Green was discharged from the U.S. Army for mental instability before the crimes were known by his command, whereas Cortez, Barker, and Spielman were tried by a military court martial, convicted, and sentenced to decades in prison. Green was tried and convicted in a United States civilian court and sentenced to life in prison. He died in 2014 from suicide. Howard was sentenced to 27 months in prison, demoted, and dishonorably discharged.
Background
Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi lived with her mother and father and her three siblings: 6-year-old sister Hadeel, 9-year-old brother Ahmed, and 11-year-old brother Mohammed. Of modest means, Abeer's family lived in a rental one-bedroom house in the village of Yusufiyah, which lies west of the larger township of Al-Mahmudiyah, Iraq.Reportedly, before the incident Abeer had endured repeated sexual harassment from some U.S. soldiers. Abeer's home was situated approximately 200 meters from a six-man U.S. traffic checkpoint, southwest of the village. Soldiers were said to often watch Abeer doing her chores and tending the garden, as her home was visible from the checkpoint. A neighbor had warned Abeer's father about this behavior beforehand, but he replied that it was not a problem as she was just a young girl. Abeer's brother Mohammed recalls that the soldiers often searched the house. On one such occasion, Private First Class Steven D. Green ran his index finger down Abeer's cheek, which had terrified her. Abeer's mother told her relatives before the murders that, whenever she caught the soldiers staring at Abeer, they would give her the thumbs-up sign, point to her daughter and say, "Very good, very good." Evidently this had concerned her and she made plans for Abeer to spend nights sleeping at her uncle's house.
In an interview conducted in February 2006, a month before the murders, Green told The Washington Post:
Rape and murders
On March 12, 2006, soldiers at the checkpoint —consisting of Green, Specialist Paul E. Cortez, Specialist James P. Barker, Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman, and Private First Class Bryan L. Howard—had been playing cards, illegally drinking caffeinated alcoholic drinks, hitting golf balls, and discussing plans to rape Abeer and "kill some Iraqis." Green was very persistent about "killing some Iraqis" and kept bringing up the idea. At some point, the group decided to go to Abeer's home, after they had seen her passing their checkpoint earlier. The four soldiers of the six-man unit responsible for the checkpoint—Barker, Cortez, Green, and Spielman—then left their posts for Abeer's home. Two men, Howard and Sergeant Anthony W. Yribe, remained at the post. Howard had not been involved in discussions to rape and murder the family, but reportedly overheard the four men talking about it and saw them leave. Yribe had no involvement but was also accused of failing to report the attack.On the day of the massacre, Abeer's father Qassim was enjoying time with his family, while his sons were at school. In broad daylight, the four U.S. soldiers walked to the house, not wearing their uniforms, but wearing army-issue long underwear—reportedly to look like "ninjas"—and separated 14-year-old Abeer and her family into two different rooms. Spielman was responsible for grabbing Abeer's 6-year-old sister, who was outside the house with her father, and bringing her inside the house. Green then broke Abeer's mother's arms and murdered her parents and younger sister, while two other soldiers, Cortez and Barker, raped Abeer. Barker wrote that Cortez pushed Abeer to the floor, lifted her dress, and tore off her underwear while she struggled. According to Cortez, Abeer "kept squirming and trying to keep her legs closed and saying stuff in Arabic", as he and Barker took turns holding her down and raping her.
Cortez testified that Abeer heard the gunshots in the room in which her parents and little sister were being held, causing her to scream and cry even more. Green then emerged from the room saying, "I just killed them, all are dead." Green, who later said the crime was "awesome", then raped Abeer, afterwards shooting her in the head multiple times. After the massacre, Barker poured petrol on Abeer and the soldiers set fire to the lower part of the girl's body. Barker testified that the soldiers gave Spielman their bloodied clothes to burn and that he threw the AK-47 used to murder the family into a canal. They left to "celebrate" their crimes with a meal of chicken wings.
Meanwhile, the fire from Abeer's body eventually spread to the rest of the room. The smoke alerted neighbors, who were among the first to arrive on the scene. One recalled, "The poor girl, she was so beautiful. She lay there, one leg was stretched and the other bent and her dress was lifted up to her neck." They ran to tell Abu Firas Janabi, Abeer's uncle, that the farmhouse was on fire and that dead bodies could be seen inside the burning building. Janabi and his wife rushed to the farmhouse and doused some of the flames to get inside. Upon witnessing the scene inside, Janabi went to a checkpoint guarded by Iraqi Army soldiers to report the crime. Abeer's 9- and 11-year-old younger brothers, Ahmed and Mohammed, returned from school later that afternoon, first going to their uncle's home, and then to their still-burning home.
The Iraqi soldiers immediately went to examine the scene and thereafter went to an American checkpoint to report the incident. This checkpoint was different from the one manned by the perpetrators. After approximately an hour, some soldiers from the checkpoint went to the farmhouse. These soldiers were accompanied by Cortez, who vomited more than once and had to exit the crime scene.
Cover-up
Iraqi soldiers arrived on scene shortly after the incident. Green and his accomplices alleged that the massacre had been perpetrated by Sunni insurgents. These Iraqi soldiers conveyed this information to Abeer's uncle, who viewed the bodies. U.S. investigators concluded that Iraqi insurgents had murdered the al-Janabi family. This incorrect report was reported to military leadership, who chose not to investigate the matter any further. The murders were not widely reported inside Iraq, since Iraq was dealing with widespread violence. Reportedly, several soldiers heard of or were told about the murders, but did not say anything. Anthony W. Yribe was among those who were aware; Green told him of what had happened that day, that he had killed them, and the following day gave Yribe more details. In May 2006, Green was honorably discharged after he was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.Retaliation
On July 4, Jaysh al-Mujahidin claimed responsibility for downing a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache "in retaliation for the child, Abir, whom U.S. soldiers raped in Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad."On July 10, the Mujahideen Shura Council released a graphic video showing the bodies of PFCs Thomas L. Tucker and Kristian Menchaca half-burnt, with one of them having been beheaded. This video was accompanied by a statement saying that the group carried out the killings as "revenge for our sister who was dishonored by a soldier of the same brigade." The Washington Post reported that David Babineau and two others from the same unit were captured and killed by militants a month after the rape.
The video from the Mujahideen Shura Council claimed that upon learning of the massacre, the group "kept their anger to themselves and didn't spread the news, but were determined to avenge their sister's honor". Locals may have been able to deduce the guilt of the U.S. soldiers from the nearby checkpoint, after the Americans and their Iraqi cohort unit provided the explanation, "Sunni extremists did this." A portion of locals served as auxiliary support for both Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the 1920 Revolution Brigades. Auxiliary support supplied material aid and performed a human intelligence support function. Relaying the accusation of the local MNC-I unit to the insurgents was a basic function of that support. The Sunni extremists were able to eliminate themselves as suspects and, having an already low opinion of the U.S. military, may have assumed the guilt of the 101st Airborne soldiers. A statement issued along with the video stated that, "God Almighty enabled them to capture two soldiers of the same brigade as this dirty crusader." Other militant groups also made various claims or statements announcing revenge campaigns after the killings were reported on July 4, when the U.S. investigation into the incident was announced.
On July 12, the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb near the entrance to the Green Zone in Baghdad, in support of the "Abir operations" targeting the "evil den in the Green prison".
Exposure and legal proceedings
Shortly after the June 16 attack in which Tucker, Menchaca, and Babineau were captured, PFC Justin Watt who also served in the unit spoke with fellow soldier Sergeant Anthony Yribe. During their conversation, Yribe told Watt about what he had heard from Green about killing the al-Janabi family. Watt then approached Bryan Howard, who confirmed everything. Neither Yribe nor Howard were planning to talk to military leadership about the crime.Watt felt differently, but initially feared retaliation from his fellow soldiers. After calling his father, Rick Wattan Army veteranWatt decided to come forward. Watt then talked to a non-commissioned officer in his platoon, Sergeant John Diem. Watt trusted Diem; he told him he knew a terrible crime had been committed and asked for his advice, fearing reprisals if he reported the crime. Diem told Watt to be cautious, but said he had a duty as an honorable soldier to report the crime to the proper authorities. The two men did not trust their chain of command to protect them if they reported a war crime. Around June 20, 2006, Watt reported the crime and informed Diem. Four days later, the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Kunk, went to the checkpoints where Cortez, Barker, and Spielman were assigned. Kunk questioned them about the reported incident. All of them denied any knowledge or involvement. Kunk then went to Watt's patrol base. In interviews later on, Watt recalled the incident:
Kunk had confronted Watt while he was on sentry duty, and took him to a small, dark room in a run-down building. Several soldiers, including Yribe, watched as Kunk screamed at Watt that he should charge him with filing a false report, and accused him of trying to get out of the Army. Kunk asked Watt why he would want to ruin his fellow soldiers' careers, and told him he was just repeating false information. Watt explained why he reported the incident. However, Kunk silenced him and told him to return to his post, which Watt did.
Watt then watched Kunk load up his convoy and leave. According to interviews, this was the exact scenario that Watt had feared. He had just been publicly identified as the whistleblower, then abandoned. "I can't explain to you how I felt watching that convoy drive away", Watt recalled. "I thought I was a dead man." However, Diem, who was at another checkpoint down the road, saw the convoy leaving Watt's patrol base. Diem asked Kunk if he had taken Watt with him. Kunk replied that he had not. Diem said, "You have to go back and get him. If you leave him there, they'll kill him."
Green, Barker, Cortez, Spielman, Howard, and Yribe were all arrested within days of this incident. Since Green had already been discharged from the military, the FBI assumed jurisdiction over him under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with the murders. Green was arrested as a civilian and was tried and convicted by the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Paducah, Kentucky.