US general to rule on Iraq rape case in September

BAGHDAD, Aug 17 (Reuters) A US general will decide next month whether to court-martial four US soldiers for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in March, a US military spokeswoman has said.

A US military court in Baghdad that heard the rape case this month is reviewing the court documents and will submit its recommendations to Major General Thomas Turner, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, the spokeswoman said yesterday.

''The investigative officers are reviewing the case and have 30 days to put forward their recommendations,'' said Major Josslyn Aberle. ''Major General Thomas Turner is the courts martial convening authority,'' she said.

The Article 32 hearing -- the military's equivalent of a US grand jury -- finished on Aug. 10.

The rape case, the fifth involving serious crimes being investigated by the U.S. military in Iraq, has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

If court-martialled and found guilty Private First Class Jesse Spielman, Specialist James Barker, Sergeant Paul Cortez and Private First Class Bryan Howard could face the death penalty.

Former private Steven Green, 21, faces the same charges in a US federal court in Kentucky. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for ''personality disorder''.

A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement.

In a separate case, Turner will also decide whether to court-martial four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering three detainees on May 9 during a raid on a suspected insurgent camp near Thar Thar Lake, southwest of Tikrit.

The defendants have been charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, communicating a threat and obstructing justice -- the latter two charges for threatening to kill another soldier if he informed on them.

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