As Iraq rape trial begins, attorneys attack law

[MetaTrope]

This should have been on LBN a week ago, but apparently wasn't...I'm not surprised, as media and politicians both seem dead set on thrusting it down the memory hole...

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/07/ap6262361.html

Former soldier Steven Dale Green is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl and killing her and her family while serving in Iraq, but he won't face an Iraqi or military jury.

Instead, under a 2000 law that allows U.S. authorities to prosecute former military members for crimes overseas, he'll be tried by a jury of his peers in Paducah, more than 6,700 miles away.

Green, a former member of the 101st Airborne Division, is the first ex-Army soldier to be charged as a civilian under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.

..."There's so much more that goes into understanding the situation," Wolff said. "How can they accurately get the impression of a battlefield in Paducah?"

So...raping and murdering a 14-year-old child and her family is a "battlefield decision"?

[liberalmuse]

1. I have nothing for these fuckers.

They murdered an entire family, including children so they could gang rape a child. For people like this, there should be a hell.

[Bucky]

2. I'm gonna guess that raping children doesn't go down so easy in Paducah

War or no war, this trial will be just a few round trip plane tickets away from doing the right thing.

[xchrom]

3. i know it's a 'time honored tradition' --

but soldiers aren't supposed to rape.

and what's a battlefield have to do with a rape?

we train and make it as plain as day -- raping is not what the soldiers are there for.

so yes -- paducah -- or anywhere else would be fine for a trial about rape.