Steven Dale Green is being charged as a civilian for crimes he allegedly committed while serving in the United States Army in Iraq. Green is facing 17 charges after being accused of raping a 14 year old Iraqi girl and then burning her body. A law was passed in 2000 called the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act that allows an ex military man (or woman) like Green to be charged on U.S. soil for crimes committed while serving in another country. There are arguments that possible jurors will not "understand" the situation that Green was in, so therefore will not be able to make an informed decision...What do you need to understand that raping someone is wrong? That raping a child is wrong? Burning their body and killing their family is okay if you're in a battlefield in Iraq? Just because those jurors are civilians, and not military does not mean they do not know right from wrong, even in the most difficult circumstances. Nothing justifies those actions.
Former soldier faces civilian trial in Iraq rape
The first former Army soldier to be charged as a civilian under a 2000 law that allows him to be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed overseas faces a trial of his peers - in a federal courtroom in Kentucky.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30072858/from/ET/
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