Iraqi medic ‘sick’ after finding bodies

AN IRAQI army medic told a US military hearing yesterday he was sick for weeks after finding the naked and burned body of a 14-year-old girl allegedly raped and murdered by American soldiers south of Baghdad.

The medic gave his testimony on the opening day of a hearing to determine whether five US soldiers must stand trial in the March 12 rape and killing of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the killing of her parents and sister.

It is among the worst in a series of cases of alleged abuse of Iraqis by American soldiers.

The medic, whose name was withheld for security reasons, told the hearing that he was the first responder to enter the house and found the girl sprawled naked in the house, her torso and head burned by flames. She had a single bullet wound under her left eye, he said.

“I was feeling very bad.

“I was sick for almost two weeks,” he said.

He testified that he found Abeer’s five-year-old sister, Hadeel, in an adjacent room. She was shot in the head and the bullet had blown the back of her head out, he said. The children’s parents — father Qassim and mother Fikhriya — had suffered similar deaths: the mother’s abdomen and chest were riddled with bullets, he said.

“The brain was on the floor and parts of the head were all over the place,” he said, referring to the man’s body.

He also told the hearing that because there was not enough space in the Mahmoudiya hospital to store the bodies, they were kept in an air-conditioned ambulance overnight, and buried the following day.

Four soldiers — Sergeant Paul Cortez, Specialist. James Barker, Private Jesse Spielman and Private Bryan Howard — have been accused of raping and murdering the girl and could face the death penalty.

A fifth, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is accused of failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.

A former private, Steven Green, was arrested in North Carolina in June on rape and murder charges. Green, who was discharged from the Army for a “personality disorder” after the incident, has pleaded not guilty in federal court and is being held without bail.

The defence lawyers yesterday questioned whether the victims were shot to death, suggesting they were already dead when the bullets were pumped into their bodies.

The Iraqi medic acknowledged under cross-examination that he could only assume the family was shot to death.

Yesterday’s proceeding is referred to as an Article 32 hearing, and is the military equivalent of a grand jury session which decides on whether to send a case to trial. The hearing is expected to last several days, and parts will be held in secret.