U.S. Soldier Found Guilty, Given Life For Rape and Murder of 14-Year-Old Iraqi Girl And Her Family

From CNN, but I can't help believe that George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld were as culpable as this soldier, forcing young men and women into an unjust war, demanding the soldiers win at any and all costs, and underwriting an occupation forged on torture, the wholesale execution of untold numbers of civilians, and perpetuating a climate where incidents like this will happen:

A soldier was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with the possibility of parole for conspiring to rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and kill her and her family.

Spc. James P. Barker, 23, one of four Fort Campbell soldiers accused in the March 12 rape and killings, pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against the others to avoid the death penalty.

Under terms of the plea agreement, Barker will not serve more than 90 years in prison and has the possibility of parole, said Lt. Col. Richard Anderson, the military judge presiding over the court-martial. (Watch Barker's lawyer discuss soldier's feelings about case -- 2:04)

"This court sentences you to be confined for the length of your natural life, with the eligibility of parole," Anderson said.

Meanwhile, back in Bush's America, there is documented evidence of recruiting officers actively lying and coercing young men and women to enlist to go to Iraq and fight "the war on Terror", going so far as to tell these youths that the Iraq war is all over, so they don't need to worry about going into that hell hole.