US court-martial ordered in Iraq rape/murder case

Four U.S. soldiers will be court-martialed, with two facing the possibility of death if found guilty of the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in their home in Mahmudiya, a defense lawyer said on Wednesday.

According to the attorney, the commander acting as “convening authority” for the court-martial referred two soldiers to trial with a possible punishment of death. Two others will also face court-martial but not the death penalty if found guilty.

Residents read a banner posted on a wall by the al-Qaeda-linked group Mujahideen Shura Council in Ramadi, about 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, October 18, 2006. Dozens of al Qaeda-linked gunmen took to the streets of Ramadi on Wednesday in a show of force to announce the city was joining an Islamic state comprising Iraq’s mostly Sunni Arab provinces, Islamists and witnesses said. The banner reads, “It’s our pleasure to announce good news of the Iraqi Islamic State”.

Reuters