Ex-GI Accused in Iraq Rape Had Rocky Past

In this photo provided by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office, Steven D. Green is shown in A booking mug shot at the Mecklenburg County jail in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, July 3, 2006. Green, a 21-year-old former Army private first class who was recently discharged because of a "personality disorder," appeared in a federal magistrate's courtroom in Charlotte Monday. The murder and rape charges against him grew out of a military investigation involving up to five soldiers in the March rape and killing of the woman in Mahmoudiya and three of her relatives, one of them a young girl believed to be about 5 years old. (AP Photo/Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office) (AP)

According to a federal affidavit, Green and other soldiers targeted the young woman after spotting her at a traffic checkpoint near Mahmoudiya. On the day of the March attack, the document said, Green took three members of the family _ an adult male and female, and a girl estimated to be 5 years old _ into a bedroom, after which shots were heard from inside. The young woman's body was found burned; the other bodies were found in a house that had been burned, the document said.

Under Army regulations, a soldier can be discharged only if a personality disorder "is so severe that the soldier's ability to function effectively in the military environment is significantly impaired." The diagnosis must be made by a psychiatrist or doctoral-level clinical psychologist who is authorized to conduct mental health evaluations for the military.

Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Washington-based Lexington Institute, said it is standard practice to discharge soldiers whose profiles suggest they are incapable of maintaining military discipline.

"Despite all the stories about the military having trouble recruiting, it is considered anathema to retain somebody like that," said Thompson. "It isn't Army policy to retain somebody who isn't dependable. I'm certain this person slipped through the cracks. ... The whole point of boot camp is to find people who can't hold up under stress and get them out before they get in the field."

Scott L. Silliman, a military law expert at Duke University and retired Air Force colonel, said Green's diagnosis does not make it easier for his attorneys to plead insanity.

"That may be something that a federal court, in punishing upon conviction, might consider extenuating," Silliman said. "But is it in any way a legal excuse for what he's been charged with? No."

Green had a tired expression this week as he was led into a court wearing his baggy shorts, flip-flops and T-shirt.

Greg Simolke, Green's uncle, told The Washington Post that his nephew had visited relatives in North Carolina last week on his way from a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for a member of his platoon who was killed in Iraq. He said Green seemed to have found "direction in his life." Green was charged Monday.

"He thought it was a good thing to be serving his country," Simolke said. "When he was here for this visit, he seemed like the same old Steve. I don't understand what happens in a war, so I don't know how these things happen."

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Associated Press Writers Ryan Lenz in Iraq, Estes Thompson in Raleigh, N.C., Lita Baldor in Washington, D.C., Steve Quinn in Dallas and Elizabeth Dunbar in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.