Cover Up
Green and the other soldiers who participated in the incident told the Iraqi Army soldiers who arrived on scene immediately after the incident that it had been perpetrated by Sunni insurgents. These Iraqi soldiers conveyed this information to Abeer's uncle, who viewed the bodies. This lie having been told, it prevented the event from being recognized as a crime or widely reported amidst the widespread violence occurring in Iraq at that time.
On 16 June, a checkpoint manned by soldiers in the perpetrator's unit was attacked and overrun. Specialist David Babineau was killed and Pfcs Thomas Lowell Tucker and Kristian Menchaca were captured, tortured, and killed. When Yribe heard this, he told Pfc Justin Watt that Green was a murderer. On June 22, 2006, the rape and the murders came to light when Watt revealed them during a psychological health counseling session. Watt stated that he asked to speak with a mental health counselor because he wanted to bypass what he thought would be a skeptical command structure and get an audience with Army investigators.
Green had been honorably discharged from the Army on May 16, 2006, before the crime was recognized, with "antisocial personality disorder". The FBI assumed jurisdiction for the crime committed by Green under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and charged him with the killings.
Read more about this topic: Mahmudiyah Killings
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