Kind of getting sick of all these insanity pleas in any situation, you could find some 'mental' cause for every ****** or **** committed but people need to man up and start taking responsibility for their actions. These claims will only embarass the US and the army and further pain the victims ******, he should count himself lucky he didn't face Iraqi justice where the crime was committed otherwise he'd be hanging from a noose by know. A fitting punishment for a ***** ****** and multiple killer. How would the people of Texas which is known for its tough stance crime feel about a homegrown ***** ****** and multiple killer escaping the death penalty and then having the nerve to try and squirm out of even doing jail time 
'I didn't think of Iraqis as humans,' says U.S. soldier who ***** 14-year-old girl before ******* her and her ******
Steven Green, pictured in April 2009, is serving five life sentences for **** and ****** in Iraq. He has launched appeal but doesn't have 'much hope' of ever being freed
An Iraq War veteran serving five life terms for ****** and ******* a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and ******* her parents and ****** says he didn't think of Iraqi civilians as humans after being exposed to extreme warzone ********.
Steven Green, a former 101st Airborne soldier, in his first interview since the 2006 killings, claimed that his crimes were fuelled in part by experiences in Iraq's violent 'Triangle of Death' where two of his sergeants were gunned down.
He also cited a lack of leadership and help from the Army.
'I was crazy,' Green said in the exclusive telephone interview from federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. 'I was just all the way out there. I didn't think I was going to live.'
Green talked about what led up to the March 12, 2006, ****** on a ****** near Mahmoudiya, Iraq, that left him serving five consecutive life sentences.
The former soldier, who apologised at sentencing for his crimes, said he wasn't seeking sympathy nor trying to justify his actions - killings prosecutors described at trial in 2009 as one of the worst crimes of the Iraq war.
But Green said people should know his actions were a consequence of his circumstances in a war zone.
'If I hadn't ever been in Iraq, I wouldn't be in the kind of trouble I'm in now,' Green said. 'I'm not happy about that.'
Green was discharged with a 'personality disorder' before federal charges were brought against him.
Prosecutors sought a death sentence, but a federal jury in Paducah, Kentucky, opted for five life sentences on charges including the **** and ****** of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her ******, ****** and younger ******.
Four other soldiers were convicted in military court for various roles in the ******. Three remain in military prison.
Green is challenging the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows the federal government to charge an American in civilian court for alleged crimes committed overseas. He was the first former soldier convicted under the statute. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments for January 21.
Green is challenging the constitutionality of that law, saying it gives the executive branch too much leeway over whom to prosecute. Prosecutors say the law should be upheld.
'I've got some hope, but I'm not delusional about it,' said Green, now 25. 'I hope it works. But, whenever they give you multiple life sentences, they're not planning on letting you out.'
Green didn't testify at trial. During sentencing, he apologized and said he expects to face 'God's justice' when he dies.
Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, Green's 14-year-old victim, whose parents and ****** were also ******** in the ******. Green said deaths of two of his colleagues had 'messed him up real bad'
A 19-year-old high school dropout from Midland, Texas, Green joined the Army after obtaining his high school equivalency diploma from a correspondence school.
He said signing up was easy, born of a sense of duty to defend his country and the opportunities that offered.
'I thought I'd be neglecting my duty if I didn't,' Green said. 'You've got a career, you've got a job. It gives you opportunities to do things with your life.'
The military placed Green with the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne. Upon arriving in Iraq, Green said, his training to ****, the rampant ******** and derogatory comments by other soldiers against Iraqis served to dehumanise that country's civilian population.
A turning point came on December 10, 2005, Green said, when a previously friendly Iraqi approached a traffic checkpoint and opened fire.
The shots ****** Staff Sgt. Travis L. Nelson, 41, instantly. Sgt. Kenith Casica, 32, was hit in the throat. Casica died as soldiers raced him aboard a Humvee to a field hospital.
Green said those deaths 'messed me up real bad.'
The deaths intensified Green's feelings toward all Iraqis, whom soldiers often called by a derogatory term. 'There's not a word that would describe how much I hated these people,' Green said. 'I wasn't thinking these people were humans.'
Neighbour Hussein Mohammed points to the charred and *****-splattered crime scene where the killings took place in Mahmoudiya, Iraq
Over the next four months, Green sought help from a military stress counsellor, obtaining small doses of a mood-regulating **** - and a directive to get some ***** before returning to his checkpoint south of Baghdad.
In the interview, Green described ******* and ***** being prevalent at the checkpoint. Green said soldiers there frequently felt abandoned by the Army and were given little support after the deaths of Casica and Nelson.
Spc. James P. Barker of Fresno, California, testified that he pitched the idea of going to the al-Janabi ******'s home to Sgt. Paul E. Cortez of Barstow, California, who was in charge of the traffic checkpoint.
Green, who talked frequently of wanting to **** Iraqis, was brought along.
Cortez testified that Barker and Green had the idea of having sex with the girl and that he didn't know the ****** would be ******.
Green, then a private,saidhe had 'an altered state of mind' at the time. 'I wasn't thinking about more than 10 minutes into the future at any given time,' Green said. 'I didn't care.'
At the Iraqi home, Barker and Cortez pulled Abeer into one room, while Green held the ******, ****** and youngest ******** in another.
Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, stood guard in the hall. As Barker and Cortez ***** the teen, Green shot the three ****** members, ******* them.
He then went into the next room and ***** Abeer, before shooting her in the head. The soldiers lit her remains on fire before leaving. Another soldier stood watch a few miles away at the checkpoint.
Since his sentencing on September 4, 2009, Green has been attacked at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and was then transferred to Arizona.
In prison, Green converted to Catholicism and has corresponded with a nun in Louisville about his faith.
Green described prison life as a 'lonely existence' and said other inmates consider those convicted of sex offenses among the lowest, making life 'hazardous' among the general prison population.
For Green, each day is just a matter of getting through 24 hours so he can do it all again the next day. Meanwhile, he lives with memories of the ****** that took away the Iraqi ******.
'If I thought that was an OK thing now, I wouldn't be much of a human being,' Green said.
Scene of the ****** in Al Mahmoudiya on the outsikirts of Baghdad
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ld-girl-*******-her-******.html#ixzz18gPECTr9
