Al-Maliki demands immunity policy review

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s prime minister Wednesday demanded an independent inquiry of the rape-slaying of a girl and the killing of her family, saying the immunity from Iraqi prosecution enjoyed by U.S. forces “encouraged them to commit such crimes.”

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose brief tenure has been marked by several high-profile allegations of abuse by U.S. forces, called for an Iraqi investigation – or at least a joint inquiry – into the March 12 rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza, and the killing of her mother, father and sister at their home in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

He also said the agreements under which U.S.-led coalition troops enjoy immunity from prosecution by Iraqi courts should be reviewed.

“We believe that the immunity given to members of coalition forces encouraged them to commit such crimes in cold blood (and) that makes it necessary to review it,” al-Maliki told reporters in Kuwait.

Al-Maliki spoke two days after former Army Pfc. Steve D. Green was charged in federal court in Charlotte, N.C., with rape and four counts of murder. Green was held without bond. At least four other U.S. soldiers still in Iraq are under investigation in the attack, which occurred near the town of Mahmoudiya.

In Baghdad, an American military spokesman stressed that the U.S. command was taking the allegations seriously and would discuss al-Maliki’s demands when he returns from a tour of Persian Gulf countries.

“We are here as guests of the Iraqi government. They are a sovereign nation,” Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. “When the prime minister gets back, the coalition will engage with him and discuss what he wants to discuss.”

Green and the four others were members of the same unit as two soldiers whose mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents in Youssifiyah. A third soldier was killed before the others were abducted.

But Caldwell said investigators had found nothing to indicate the June killings were retaliation for the rape-slaying. “It appears they’re very separate and distinct events that occurred, from what we’ve been able to find thus far,” he said.