Ex-US soldier gets life for Iraqi girl's rape, murder

Source Agence France Presse

A former US soldier will spend his life in prison for the gang rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the slaughter of her family, a judge ruled Friday. Steven Dale Green was convicted in May of the 2006 rape and killing of 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi and the murder of her mother, father and six-year-old sister in their home south of Baghdad. He was considered the ringleader of a group of five soldiers who plotted the crime over whiskey and a game of cards at a traffic check point in Mahmudiyah. Three other soldiers were given life sentences for the attack by military courts but will be eligible for parole in 10 years. A fourth was sentenced to 27 months in jail for acting as a lookout. Green was tried in a civilian court after being discharged from the army due to a "personality disorder" before his role in the crime came to light.