Jurisdiction



From a Reuters story:

Discharged soldier Steven Green, 21, appeared in court in Charlotte, North Carolina, on a charge from a federal prosecutor in Kentucky that he went with three others to a house near Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad, to rape a woman there.

Green, who faces the death penalty, shot dead a man, woman and girl then raped another woman and killed her, the U.S. attorney said in a statement. Court documents said he had since been discharged from the army due to a "personality disorder."

Question 1: This guy is discharged from the Army and sent stateside even before the news of investigation into the charges gets out. Then, charges are brought by civilian authorities in the States. Why this course, instead of the military justice system?

Question 2: Can contractors in Iraq be charged in the U.S. with crimes for actions committed in Iraq?

Posted: Mon - July 3, 2006 at 04:15 PM        

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