Charlotte, N.C. – A former soldier discharged from the Army because of a “personality disorder” was accused in federal court Monday of executing an Iraqi family so he and other troops could rape and murder a young woman they had been eyeing at a traffic checkpoint.
Steven Green, a 21-year-old former private, was led into court wearing baggy shorts, flip-flops and a Johnny Cash T-shirt. A federal magistrate ordered him held without bond on murder and rape charges that carry a possible death penalty.
Green became the first person identified in the latest case of alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops, horrific deaths discovered in a burning house near Mahmudiyah in March that military officials initially blamed on insurgents.
According to a 10-page federal affidavit, Green and three other soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division had talked about raping the young woman, whom they first saw while working at the checkpoint. On the day of the attack, Green and other soldiers drank alcohol and changed out of their uniforms to avoid detection before going to the woman’s house, the affidavit said.
Once there, the affidavit said, Green took three family members – a man, a woman and a girl estimated at 5 years old – into a bedroom and shot them.
The affidavit is based on interviews conducted by the FBI and military investigators with three unidentified soldiers assigned to Green’s platoon. One of the soldiers said he witnessed another soldier and Green rape the woman. Green then shot her in the head, the affidavit said.
