I hope this crime further exposes the truth about this horrible war to all Americans. Too many people still think this war is worth fighting, and that we should "stay the course." Instead, our government is raping a sovereign nation, just as this soldier (who happens to hail from Midland, TX, Bush's hometown) brutalized this 15-year-old girl and her family.

The blind "support our troops" rhetoric needs to be pushed aside in order to examine how our military is trained and commanded, how soldiers are recruited and cleared for battle, and how officers who murderer and rape are punished.

I can only see this crime as a natural result of the PsychOps training that teaches soldiers to ignore the sounds of a female being raped, and the statistics about rape and sexual harassment coming out of our military institutions. Add that to the Bush-sanctioned use of torture, and what do you get? A bunch of poorly-trained mercenaries preying on the people they're supposed to be "liberating."

You state in your piece "...in addition to the fact that no one has been officially charged..." Sounds good, but isn't true. The following is a quote, at length, from the Washington Post article "Ex-Soldier Pleads Not Guilty to Raping Woman and Killing Family in Iraq", by Josh White, which appeared in print in this morning's issue:

"A former Army private who allegedly raped an Iraqi woman and killed her and three members of her family entered pleas of not guilty to the charges yesterday in a federal courtroom in Kentucky.

"U.S. marshals transferred Steven D. Green, 21, of Texas, from Charlotte to a courthouse in Louisville, where he made an initial appearance on one charge of rape and four charges of murder, federal prosecutors said. Patrick Bouldin, a federal public defender representing Green, said last night that Green entered not guilty pleas to all charges. Bouldin declined to comment further."

He has been arrested, charged, and arraigned, and entered a plea. He faces capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Let's hear some apologies for the rest of the countless dead innocent Iraqi citizens lost in this illegal war. Oops, the US doesn't keep track of dead citizens.

Let's also hear some apologies to the citizens of the US its own war dead, for lying to us and ruining out international reputation, spending our tax money to Halliburton no-bid contracts, mortgaging our children's future, increasing the cost of oil, ignoring international treaties to torture and hold prisoners of war, etc., etc., etc.

You know what, sorry isn't good enough for me, I'm waiting to hear someone in a position of responsibility resign in shame - Bush and Cheney should be # 1 and # 2.

I always cringe a little when it is implied that rape is somehow worse in cultures where a woman's sexuality is so taboo that even being raped is unmentionable when speaking of a murder victim. Perhaps rape victims in societies that practice the virginity cult have one more awful burden to bear, but it's hardly a non-crime around here either. I concede that Western women are a little luckier when it comes to justice and support for rape victims, but I really don't like the implication that it's a worse crime over there than it is here. We all know what the categorization of rape victims leads to.

If the child was 15, then perhaps the Times should say that.

And to think this administration actually claims that things are better for Iraqi women and girls (and the people in general) now than they were under Hussein's reign. I'm having a hard time understanding how the worry of being gang-raped and murdered by foreign occupiers improves Iraqi women's/girls' situation; it's not as if the Americans have done anything to alleviate any of the female-associated concerns that burdened Iraq before they got there. Iraqi women/girls now basically have to deal with Iraqi male violence made worse by frustration at having the country taken over and the infrastructure destroyed, in addition to the gender-specific brutality (that's to say nothing of the overall slaughter and bloodshed they have to deal with alongside their men) of American soldiers.

At least we can all rest assured that there's some nut out there "supporting the troops" who did this.

The fact that American soldiers are granted that kind of immunity from local prosecution has always outraged me. How could it ever be a useful or helpful to allow such a thing? The end result is 1) soldiers aren't obligated to learn customs (that might put them at risk of breaking laws) and 2)they learn no sense of accountability for their (shitty/rude/insensitive/rapist/violent) actions. How can US soldiers truly defend the people of a country if the soldiers rights are elevated above the rights of those (Iraqi) people.

Is it unusually (or only realistically) cynical of me to think that the anticipation of acts just like this are why the Bush Administration was so opposed to signing on to the International Criminal Court?

Not cynical. There's a pattern of behavior displayed by US troops abroad that prompted the installation of the protections. The gov is incredibly transparent on this.

International courts are for countries that don't have viable judicial systems. The perpetrators will face justice in a fair trial. No American should wish that our judicial system be replaced by some international system, or that a U.S. suspect should be tried in a corrupt, disorganized country.