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by Glenda
"Five US soldiers have been charged in a rape and multiple murder case that has outraged Iraqis, as proof emerged the rape victim was a child of 14, and not over 20 as US officials insist. The 14 year-old teenager lived in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the human rights minister said on Monday.
Although U.S. military has claimed the girl allegedly gang-raped by five U.S. soldiers was an adult over the age of 20, documents show the girl was just 14.
Reuters news agency authenticated the rape/murder victim's age on Sunday by examining her birth certificate and identity card.
By Friday though the military backed away from those claims as Reuters and others began probing the matter. On Friday Army spokesman Paul Boyce said the U.S. military now believes the alleged victim was between the ages of 14 and 20.
In addition to raping and murdering her, the soldiers allegedly killed both her parents and 6 year-old sister, and burned the house to cover their crimes.
However a Multinational Corps Iraq news release, which announced the preferring of charges against five more U.S. soldiers in relation to the matter, and was issued as late as Sunday, described the rape victim as, "a young Iraqi woman."
What is the advantage of the US pre-emptively naming the victim as an adult? It makes it easier to blame the victim. We’ve all heard it before in every rape trial in America. You know she wanted it, what was she wearing, she was leading them on, she said no but meant yes. It’s harder to accuse a child of provocative behavior. When a child is raped and murdered, setting up a defense for the soldiers becomes tougher.
Under the equivalent laws in the US, no American girl of 14 would be named as an adult or "a young American woman." Let's call this victim what she was, a child. Her dead sister, aged 6 was also a child. American soldiers entered her home and killed two adults and two children. This is a fine way to bring democracy to Iraq, raping and killing children."
