US soldier sentenced to 110 years for Iraq murders

Chicago, Aug 5: A US soldier convicted by a military court in the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family was sentenced to 110 years in prison, the Army said.

Pvt. Jesse Spielman, 22, received a dishonorable discharge after being found guilty of four counts of murder, rape, conspiracy to commit rape and housebreaking with the intent to commit rape by a military court at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.

Spielman was one of five soldiers charged in the March 2006 attack on the family in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad. Three soldiers previously pleaded guilty in the case and were given sentences ranging from five to 100 years.

Spielman, the court found, participated in the planning of the attack as the soldiers drank whiskey and played cards, and acted as a lookout.

At the start of the weeklong hearing, Spielman pleaded guilty to wrongful touching of a corpse, arson, obstructing justice and violating rules against drinking alcohol in a war zone.

Sgt. Paul Cortez and Spc. James Barker were sentenced to 90 years and 100 years in prison, respectively.

The accused ringleader, former Pvt. Steven Green, was discharged from the Army for a ''personality disorder'' and awaits trial in a civilian court. He has pleaded not guilty and faces a possible death sentence.

Cortez and Barker, who both testified at Spielman's court-martial, admitted raping the girl, Abeer Qassim al-Janabiat, and said Green shot her parents and younger sister. Green then raped the girl and killed her, and they poured kerosene over her body and set it on fire in an attempt to hide evidence of the crime, they testified.

Another soldier, Pvt. Bryan Howard, admitted to monitoring radio traffic and was given a five-year sentence.

The killings outraged Iraqis and ratcheted up tension in the war zone.

Reuters>