100 Years For US Soldier In Rape And Murder Of Iraqi Girl

Taken from The Daily Mail, UK, 23 Feb 2007

An American soldier who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her family has been sentenced to 100 years in a military prison.

Sgt Paul Cortez, 24, was also given a dishonourable discharge after reaching a deal with prosecutors to escape the death penalty.

Military judge Colonel Stephen R Henley found Cortez guilty of conspiracy to commit rape, four counts of felony, murder, rape, housebreaking and violating a general order.

Cortez said he had conspired with three other soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to rape the teenager, who was then killed with her parents and a younger sister.

Tears rolled down Cortez's face as he apologised for the rape and murders. He said he could not explain why he had taken part.

"I still don't have an answer," he told the judge. "I don't know why. I wish I hadn't. The lives of four innocent people were taken.

"I want to apologise for all of the pain and suffering I have caused."

Under his plea agreement, Cortez agreed to testify against the three others still facing prosecution in the case.

Cortez told how he and his companions drank whisky, played cards and plotted to attack the family at Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March last year.

They poured kerosene on the girl's body and set her on fire in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Cortez testified that James Barker, who also pleaded guilty, and Steven Green chose the family to attack because there was only one man in the house and it was an "easy target".

Once at the house, Green, the suspected ringleader, took the girl's mother, father and little sister into a bedroom, Cortez said, while he and Barker took the teenager, Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, to the living room, where they took turns raping her.

He said Green, who has been charged as a civilian and awaits trial in a Kentucky jail, shot the girl's family in another room and then raped the teenager.

Barker pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to 90 years in a military prison. Green was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder".