This crime we cannot let pass into oblivion. She was 14 years old and her name was Abeer. It means “fragrance of flowers.
Beginning in 2006, the Women’s Media Center launched an investigative report series into the rape of 14-yr-old young Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the murders of Abeer and her family in Yusufiyah, an Iraq village, by American soldiers. The WMC was one of the only media outlets to cover Abeer's case and the subsequent trials.
Excerpt from Robin Morgan’s “Manhood and Moral Waivers,” detailing the brutal crime, from a sworn statement by one of the soldiers:
The soldiers noticed her at a checkpoint. They stalked her after one or more of them expressed his intention to rape her. On March 12, after playing cards while slugging whisky mixed with a high-energy drink and practicing their golf swings, they changed into black civvies and burst into Abeer's home in Yusufiyah, a village 20 miles southwest of Baghdad. They killed her mother Fikhriya, father Qassim, and five-year-old sister Hadeel with bullets to the forehead, and “took turns” raping Abeer. Finally, they murdered her, drenched the bodies with kerosene, and lit them on fire to destroy the evidence. Then the GIs grilled chicken wings.
Charged with the crimes against Abeer and her family:
Spc. James P. Barker: Received 90 years, eligible for parole in 10 years.
Spc. Promotable Paul Cortez: Received 100 years in prison, eligible for parole in 10 years.
Pfc. Jesse Spielman: Received
110 years, eligible for parole in 10 years.
Pfc. Bryan Howard: Received 27 months and has been paroled.
Sgt. Anthony Yribe - Charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the attack but not with having participated. However, in exchange for his testimony against the other defendants, the charges were dismissed and he was given an "other than honorable" discharge from the Army.
Former Pfc. Steven Green: To be sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole
Trial and sentencing verdict ended May 21, 2009, for Former Pfc. Steven Green:
Honorably discharged for a “personality disorder,” Steven Green is being tried in U.S. District Court for alleged crimes committed while on active duty in Iraq. Green’s case is being tried in Paducah, KY—not in North Carolina where he was arrested nor in Texas, his former primary residence—presumably because of the city’s proximity to Ft. Campbell, the base to which he was assigned while serving with the 101st Airborne Division. Steven Green was 19, with with three convictions: fighting, and alcohol and drug possession. Once, the Army would have rejected him....
But he enlisted when, desperate for fresh recruits, the Army started increasing, by nearly half, the rate at which it grants what it terms “moral waivers” to potential recruits. According to the Pentagon, waivers in 2001 totaled 7,640, increasing to 11,018 in 2005. “Moral waivers” permit recruits with criminal records, emotional problems, and weak educational backgrounds to be taught how to use submachine guns and rocket launchers. Afterward, if they survive, they’ll be called heroes—and released back into society. (One ex-soldier praising the military for having “properly trained and hardened me” was Timothy McVeigh).
Justice for Abeer