Iraq Incident Was Fueled by Whiskey, G.I. Says

By KIRK SEMPLE and JOHN O’NEIL

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Monday, Aug. 7 — One of the soldiers accused in the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of the girl and her family said the incident took place after a morning of cards and whisky, when a member of his unit began pestering the group to kill some Iraqis, according to testimony today from an army investigator.

The investigator, Special Agent Benjamin Bierce, testified in an American military hearing today about statements made by one of the accused, Specialist James P. Barker, that gave a graphic and chilling account of the deaths.

Specialist Barker described a former soldier, Steven D. Green, a private who was discharged in May after a psychiatric evaluation, as having taken the lead both in planning the incident and in firing the first shot.

Mr. Bierce testified that Specialist Barker said that while he and another soldier took turns holding down the girl and sexually assaulting her, they heard gunshots from the bedroom, where Private Green had taken three of her relatives.

Private Green then came into the living room looking agitated and said something to the effect of “They’re all dead — I just killed them,’’ Mr. Bierce testified.

(Originally published in the New York Times, Aug. 7, 2006. Click on blog title for the rest of the story. Photo from www.brandonblog.com)

BRING those kids home, George Bush! Too many of your young soldiers are already suffering from "combat stress." Are all these violent incidents worth it?

UPDATE: 60 percent of Americans oppose Iraq war–poll. Click here for the whole story.