The rape of 15 year old Abeer Qasem Hamzeh

I have a lot of thoughts about the rape and murder of the 15 year Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasem Hamzah in Mamoudiyah. First of all let me say that I do not think that this is the first or the only rape of an Iraqi girl or woman by American troops. Women are often raped in times of war, just as they are raped in times of peace. Women and girls are prey, men are predators. During war, men are hyped up with adrenaline and have guns and power over other people, who they know are trying to kill them. This can and does lead to abuses of that power. Men in America are being exposed to porn with younger and younger girls and are eroticising them to an unhealthy degree. I, as well as millions of other people are getting spam e-mail with offers of videos of young teens, brutally raped and sodomised. Incestuous relations and bestiality abound in this new world of porn, regular sex begins to seem dull. Many men have been desensitized to this kind of porn, to a dangerous degree. Reality begins to blur and men think that the acts depicted in porn are what most women and young girls want. Men of Steven Green's age, 21, have grown up on brutal pornography involving very young girls. This porn is not your father's Playboy, it's bound to have a negative effect on some men. Of course I realize that many men have looked at this stuff and not gone out and raped young girls, but like with alcohol, some men are more prone to being affected than others.

I must say though, that the rape, heinous though it is, does not disturb me nearly as much as the murder of young Abeer and her entire family and the subsequent cover up by the individuals involved. Ex PFV Steven Green, and the other members of his platoon who participated in the horrendous actions, where aware of how serious the charges against them would be and made a concerted effort to hide the crime of rape by murdering the witnesses. In a way I am encouraged by the fact that they knew how bad the military would look uopn their behavior. These soldiers did not just murder an entire innocent familty, they called into question the US role in Iraq and they endangered their fellow soldiers. The 2 soldiers, ambushed and killed by Iraqis from Mahmoudiyah, Kristan Menchaca and Thomas Tucker, were most likely murdered in revenge, which is part of Arabic culture. The soldiers involved must be aware of the cultural practices of Iraqis at this point in the war. How tragic this all must be for Kristan Menchaca's father. I saw Mr Menchaca Sr. on the national news asking for revenge for his son's killing, It must be hard for him to know that his son was mudered in revenge for the rape and murder of an Iraq family, by his son's fellow soldiers. This has to change his view of his son's death, which was already tragic enough.. I am only sorry that the insurgents did not get the actual perpetrators of the crimes. I say let Kristan Menchaca's father execute Steven Green and do us all a service.