Paul E. Cortez: The Mahmudiyah Crime, Court Martial, and Sentence

Paul E. Cortez is a former U.S. Army sergeant who pleaded guilty in 2007 to the premeditated rape of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the felony murder of her and her family near Mahmudiyah, Iraq. The Paul E. Cortez Mahmudiyah case ended in a 100-year military prison sentence, with parole eligibility after 10 years, in exchange for his testimony against the other soldiers involved and the government’s agreement not to pursue the death penalty.¹

What Happened on March 12, 2006

Cortez was a member of 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On March 12, 2006, he and four other soldiers — Steven D. Green, James P. Barker, Jesse V. Spielman, and Bryan L. Howard — left a traffic checkpoint and walked to the al-Janabi family home nearby. They knew the household contained one adult male and three females and considered it “an easy target.”²

Inside the house, the soldiers separated the family into two rooms. Green shot and killed the father, Qassim Hamza Rasheed; the mother, Fakhriya Taha Muhsen; and the couple’s six-year-old daughter, Hadeel.³ Cortez, Barker, and Green then gang-raped Abeer. Green afterward raped her again, shot her in the head, and set her body on fire.⁴ At his plea hearing, Cortez described the assault in his own words: “She screamed and cried and tried to keep her legs together.”²

The soldiers burned Abeer’s body and their clothing, dumped a weapon in a canal, and told investigators the killings had been the work of Sunni insurgents.⁵³

The Al-Janabi Family

Abeer was 14. Her family’s home sat about 200 meters from the checkpoint the soldiers manned, and she had told her mother that soldiers there had been making advances toward her.³⁶ Her parents and her six-year-old sister Hadeel were killed in the attack. Two younger brothers, Mohammed (11) and Ahmed (9), were away from the house and survived; they were left orphaned.

How the Crime Was Uncovered

The killings went unreported for months. Green had confessed to his team leader, Sergeant Anthony (Tony) Yribe, saying, “That was me. I did it. I killed that family.” Yribe pressured others to keep quiet.⁷

What broke the silence was a separate attack. On June 16, 2006, insurgents ambushed a patrol from the same unit, killing one soldier and capturing Privates First Class Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker; their bodies were later recovered showing signs of torture and rigged with explosives.⁸ The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an al-Qaeda–linked group, claimed the killings as “revenge for our sister who was dishonoured by a soldier of the same brigade.”⁹

In the aftermath, Yribe told Private Justin Watt what Green had said. Watt spoke with Bryan Howard and others at the checkpoint, confirmed that several soldiers had taken part, and reported the crime outside his chain of command despite pressure and threats of perjury charges.⁷¹⁰p>

Cortez’s Plea, Sentence, and Testimony

Cortez, then 24 and from Barstow, California, was court-martialed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.⁵ He pleaded guilty to premeditated rape and felony murder. In return, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty, and Cortez agreed to testify against his co-defendants.¹ He contested the separate charge of premeditated murder, but the military judge ruled against him on that count.²

His civilian attorney, William Cassara, described Cortez during sentencing as “a good kid who was in a horrific situation” and offered testimony about war-related stress as a mitigating factor.² The sentence was 100 years, with parole eligibility after 10 years under military law.¹

Cortez later testified at Jesse Spielman’s court-martial, saying Spielman stood guard during the rape without objecting.¹¹ Federal prosecutors also moved to compel his testimony at Steven Green’s 2009 civilian trial, expecting he might invoke his right against self-incrimination.¹²

What Happened to the Other Soldiers

The five soldiers received very different outcomes depending on their role and forum.

Steven D. Green, the ringleader, had already been discharged from the Army in May 2006 for a personality disorder before the crime came to light, so he was tried in federal civilian court under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. It was the first prosecution of a former soldier under that statute. A jury convicted him in May 2009 but did not unanimously agree on the death penalty, and he received five consecutive life sentences. Green was found dead in his federal prison cell in Arizona on February 18, 2014, in an apparent suicide at age 28.¹³¹⁴
James P. Barker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 years, with parole eligibility after 20 years, and agreed to cooperate.¹⁵
Jesse V. Spielman was convicted by a military jury and sentenced to 110 years.⁴
Bryan L. Howard, who acted as a lookout, pleaded guilty to being an accessory and to obstructing justice, and was sentenced to 27 months.¹⁶
Anthony Yribe, the team leader who learned of the crime and did not report it, was not court-martialed but admitted making false statements to investigators.¹²

The Unit Behind the Crime

The crime did not happen in isolation. Jim Frederick’s 2010 book Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent Into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of Death documented how 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry arrived in one of Iraq’s most dangerous sectors in the fall of 2005 underequipped and undermanned, and how the platoon was assigned to remote, poorly fortified traffic checkpoints on 21-day rotations, two weeks longer than standard.¹⁷ Eleven of the 33 members of 1st Platoon were ultimately killed or imprisoned for murder during the deployment.¹⁸

Frederick reported a leadership vacuum, alcohol abuse, sleep deprivation, and the dehumanization of Iraqi civilians. Yribe summarized the mindset: “You can’t think of these people as people.”¹⁷ Green himself had listed his interest as “killing Iraqis” on a mental health screening yet was assessed as “normal” by Army mental health personnel; his discharge for a personality disorder came only after the killings had already taken place.¹⁸ None of that was accepted as a defense at trial. Cortez remains in military custody serving the 100-year sentence.

1
RFE/RL. Cortez Sentencing Report
2
Women’s Media Center. Notes From the Court Martial of Sgt. Paul Cortez
3
Geneva International Centre for Justice. Abeer Qassim al-Janabi
4
International Crimes Database. Green
5
CBS News. US Soldier Gets 100 Years for Rape, Slay
6
Democracy Now!. Iraqi Journalist Details Family Accounts of Mahmudiyah Killings
7
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. Military Review – Mahmudiyah Case Study
8
NPR. Soldiers’ Bodies Were Tortured, Boobytrapped
9
CBC News. U.S. Soldiers Killed in Revenge for Rape-Murder, Militant Group
10
The Guardian. Whistleblower Soldier Iraq – Justin Watt
11
The Oklahoman. Soldiers Testify in Rape-Slaying Trial
12
Sierra Vista Herald. Feds Seek to Force Testimony in Ex-Soldier’s Case
13
BBC News. US Iraq Soldier Steven Green Found Dead
14
U.S. Department of Justice. Former Ft. Campbell Soldier Sentenced to Life in Prison
15
NBC News. Soldier Pleads Guilty in Iraq Rape-Murder Case
16
Al Jazeera. US Soldier Jailed for Iraq Killings
17
Time. Book Excerpt – Crimes in Iraq’s Triangle of Death
18
The Guardian. Black Hearts by Jim Frederick – Review