This soldier Paul Cortez, who raped and killed an Iraqi girl, and her family is sentenced to a much harsher prison term than he would have gotten if he raped and killed someone in this country. It seems someone really has it in for our soldiers. It is terrible if someone committed a crime like this, but think of the constant stress the soldiers are under. Anyone can snap under certain circumstances. I'm sure that even the Iraqis know how ridiculous we are, bending over backwards to be politically correct.
2007-02-22 15:21:10 · 21 answers · asked by godiva 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
Why do people who rape and merder girls in The US or any country get any less then 100 years. The atrocity here isn't the sentance that man recieved but that anybody doing it on their home soil would recieve any less.
2007-02-22 15:25:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 9⤊ 0⤋
There are two reasons for the sentence. The first is because we are trying to befriend the Iraqi people. If we did not give him a harsh sentence, it would be a major blow to developing a good relation with the Iraqis. The second is because he was active military. The Uniform Code Of Military Justice is a lot harsher than laws most U.S. citizens are living under. I would hazard a guess and say that he was made an example of to keep other military personel from committing the same crimes.
Even in the U.S.A. killing an entire family would call for severe punishment and certainly a life sentence, if not a death sentence. Add in the rape and you are looking at an even longer stretch. If he was cracking up from the stress, he should have gotten help. Granted the help is not always there in time, but his commanders and fellow soldiers should have been paying attention.
2007-02-22 23:40:17 · answer #2 · answered by Kevin k 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Military soldiers are trained, IE it is drilled into their skulls they are supposed to uphold a certain level of respect and protocol. Yes maybe in the US he would have only got so many years, but he is in a war zone and he falls under the Geneva Conventions which is stricter then many states. There are laws on how to engage in war, and he broke them. He was supposed to show his country pride, and defend her and he went and did something that was awful. He would have been killed in iraq for that so at least he is alive... It is all about when they put on that uniform and take that oath they are held to a higher standard. I know THOUSANDS of soldiers who are in the same situation and they don't "snap" if he was feeling psychologically sick he should have went to the doctors, not taken it out on defenseless people. He still knew what was right from wrong and it was only him, not anyone else that did that, he is solely to blame, not the government that put him there.
2007-02-22 23:28:09 · answer #3 · answered by Hawaiisweetie 3 · 7⤊ 0⤋
What would he have received if he raped and killed a 14 year old white girl in the US...Pretty much the same or worse. We do have the death penalty or life imprisonment here for murder. The guy is a murderer and a child molester!
There are 154,000 soldiers in Iraq -- how many of them are doing what this guy did?
They are under the same "stress".
2007-02-22 23:29:47 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
He got an appropriate sentence as he should and may he rot for what he has done...my outrage is that the liberals are not calling for justice for the soldiers that were kidnapped in retaliation and beheaded....If we are going to punish our side for crimes they commit....which we should vigorously......we MUST demand the same from the other side.....but that would be fair....which libs are defiantly.....NOT
PS...he can not get out in 10 years...he must under the code serve 2/3 before being elligable...so in 66 and 2/3 years he comes up for parole...he will be I believe 89....hmmm sounds pretty much like life to me....
2007-02-22 23:38:37 · answer #5 · answered by Real Estate Para Legal 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
For the same reason a soldier is doing 20 years in Leavenworth for trying to sell an ounce of weed to another soldier on a military base in the U.S. The uniform code of military justice isn't the same as civilian law. Soldiers are held to a higher standard that any civilian can know. You give up most of your civilian rights when you take the oath of service in the military. It's one of the reasons why the phrase "our best and brightest" isn't an exaggeration.
2007-02-22 23:30:40 · answer #6 · answered by blogbaba 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Dear God.
The man in question, along with some other soldiers. broke into a house, killed a father, mother and toddler, then gang-raped a 14-year old girl, and when they were done with her killed her and burned her body.
Life or the death penalty would have been the sentence if the crimes had been committed in the US (or most anywhere else on earth).
What would you have preferred, community service?
Btw, the mass murderer/rapist can get out in as little as 10 years.
2007-02-22 23:29:18 · answer #7 · answered by AlphaMale 2 · 10⤊ 0⤋
I would still consider him very lucky for getting the sentence that he just did. Imagine if he was tried by the Iraqi courts, where the punishment for rape is death by beheading.
Yes, the criminal punishment in Iraq and most Middle-East countries haven't changed at all for thousands of years. Beheading for murder and rape, stoning to death for adultery and prostitution, chopping of the hand or the fingers for theft, etc.. They are still the same criminal punishments that are mentioned in the Holy Bible.
2007-02-23 06:50:00 · answer #8 · answered by roadwarrior 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
not all of them raped the 14 year old to start with. The one is from my area and it was already proven he never had anything to do with the rape. but that not good enough for them. but any who, now to answer your question well i think when you kill someone you should be given a term like that. or death sentence. you took a life or lives serves you right. that's like driving under the influence you can kill somebody or bodies that way and get a short sentence then walking up to somebody and killing them with out under the influence and you think you would get a longer sentence being under but you don't it's the other way around.
2007-02-23 01:14:34 · answer #9 · answered by wishstar28 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
rape and murder is rape and murder...you can't rape an innocent girl and get away with it... That makes the American Military look sooooooo bad to world, and Americans... so I think we should have tried him here and put him in prison forever to show that we are not gonna take that!!! Someone snaps and might start yelling maybe shooting, maybe rocking in the corner... but raping a little girl and killing her does not merit an insanity plea!
2007-02-22 23:33:33 · answer #10 · answered by ms.jackson... 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
He should have been ordered to be shot by firing squad. He disgraced the army and America when he committed those heinous crimes. I know plenty of soldiers who have served in Iraq, and while they are under stress and have seen things no one should, they haven't killed anyone.
2007-02-23 00:26:10 · answer #11 · answered by kc 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋