I suspect everyone has a specific event from the Iraq war that stands out in their minds. For some, perhaps it’s Haditha; for others, maybe it’s Abu Ghraib. There were plenty to choose from, but time and further information have placed many of those incidents into context. As terrible as those stories were (and are), they have always been a part of war, and they serve as the ultimate reminder of why it should always be the last option.
But there was one crime that seared my soul so deeply, I was never able to contextualize it, or even write about it coherently, though I did try: Mahmoudiya.
“You probably think I’m a monster.”
That’s what FBI agents said former U.S. soldier Steven Green told them nearly three years ago about accusations that he had raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family.
Green was found guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Paducah of the crimes and could face the death penalty.
Yes. I think he’s a monster. Even if Mahmoudiya was a small town in the United States, I’d still think so.
But it’s not.
Instead, it’s a town in Iraq… and it was in Mahmoudiya that ex-PFC Green, who was there on behalf of our country, committed an atrocity that cannot, and must not, be excused.
For me, there are crimes for which the death penalty is the correct outcome. This is one of them.
I’ve written more, here.