Soldier Reared JW Is One of Five Accused In Iraqi Rape Scandal

West70

...

Another soldier charged in the case, Spc. James Paul Barker, was raised a Jehovah's Witness and always respected women, said Marisol Sanchez, 40, of Fresno, who identified herself as Barker's aunt.

"He has very good morality," Sanchez said. "I know he's not the kind of person who's going to do something like this, especially to disrespect a woman. I don't think so. I don't see him that way."

Barker was born and raised in Fresno and was on his second tour of duty in Iraq, Sanchez said. He has a newborn and a girlfriend at home and two young children with a wife he is divorcing.

Reached by phone in Fresno, a woman who identified herself as James Barker's mother said she had not been contacted by the military.

"I really don't have any comment," she said. "I really don't know if it's him or not."

...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_rape_case_suspects_1

Stealth453

Another jahogahoggie wt success story.

Honesty

See what happens when a person leaves Jerhover!!!

karen96

He's in the army doing a second tour, is divorcing his wife and and has a newborn with a girlfriend....

I don't think HE considers himself a JW!?!

Karen

purplesofa

was raised a Jehovah's Witness and always respected women

He has a newborn and a girlfriend at home and two young children with a wife he is divorcing.

"He has very good morality," Sanchez said.

is it just me

does it sound like he really respects women? and has very good morality?

purps

Stealth453

He is a soldier, trained to kill people. This stuff is grade school.

Make a great elder though...

West70

The following news article from Barker's hometown newspaper seems to indicate that this is the too-often-repeated tale of the WATCHTOWER SYSTEM OF SALVATION which met the spiritual need of the impoverished inner-city single Mother, but left her male child(ren) "high and dry".

One of five U.S. soldiers charged in girl's rape, murders appears to be from the Valley.

By Diana Marcum / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Tuesday, July 11, 2006, 4:24 AM)

A Fresno soldier apparently is one of five men who have been charged with raping an Iraqi teenager and murdering her, her parents and her 6-year-old sister.

Army Spc. James P. Barker, 23, is charged with premeditated murder, rape, obstruction of justice, consuming alcohol in violation of U.S. military orders in Iraq, housebreaking and arson in the March 12 attack in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Officials on Monday released the names of Barker and four other soldiers suspected in the case. A sixth suspect was named earlier.

The U.S. military did not confirm Barker's hometown, but his name, age and station before deployment in Iraq match those of a soldier who grew up in Fresno.

A Fresno woman who identified herself to The Associated Press as James Barker's mother said she had not been contacted by the military, however.

"I really don't have any comment," she said. "I really don't know if it's him or not."

Marisol Sanchez, 40, of Fresno, who identified herself as Barker's aunt, told The AP: "He has very good morality." Sanchez said he was raised a Jehovah's Witness.

"I know he's not the kind of person who's going to do something like this, especially to disrespect a woman,'' she said. ''I don't think so. I don't see him that way."

The allegations in the case are among the most heinous involving U.S. troops in the past three years of war in Iraq.

According to a federal affidavit, several soldiers went to the rape victim's home, where one soldier herded her parents and sister into a room and killed them with shots from an AK-47 rifle. At least two soldiers raped the 14-year-old girl, then shot her several times in the head, the indictment charges.

They set her body afire in an effort to conceal the crime and blamed it on insurgents, according to the charges.

Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard also were charged with premeditated murder, rape and obstruction of justice. Cortez and Spielman also were charged with consuming alcohol in violation of U.S. military orders in Iraq, housebreaking and arson.

Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe of Hailey, Idaho, was charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement for his failure to report the rape and killings, but he is not alleged to have been a direct participant, the U.S. military said in a statement from Baghdad.

The military announced Sunday it had charged the five men, but officials did not release their identities until Monday.
William Willhoite, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said it was not known when further details would be provided. All the soldiers are from the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky.

A former member of the unit, Steven D. Green, 21, of Denver City, Texas, pleaded not guilty in the case last week in federal court in Louisville, Ky. He is charged with four counts of murder and one count of rape.

Green was sent home from Iraq about a month after the rape and killings and was discharged in May from the Army, which cited a "personality disorder." He has been charged as a civilian because the military no longer has jurisdiction over him, according to military officials.

News of the attack has been met with international shock and revulsion. But on Monday in the southeast Fresno neighborhood where Barker grew up, neighbors were further staggered by the idea that one of the soldiers charged with killing a girl and her family may have been one of their friends.

"You think the same way that you did before, that it's disgusting. But then when it's someone you know, it's right through the heart. It's all wrong. It's hard to believe. He grew up with us," said 21-year-old Jesus Caranza.

"We never thought of him doing something like that. He was a pretty swell guy. Not to take it to the extreme, he had his problems. But that's too far out of range."

Caranza said Barker, whom friends call "Bunky," is the son of a hardworking woman who sells sweet breads from a car and has a black belt in karate. His mother, Roselia Barker, did not return phone calls from The Bee.

Neighbors said Barker attended several area high schools, eventually earning a G.E.D.

"When he left for the Army, he didn't really want to go, but he went out of obligation because he had nothing else going for him. No job," Caranza said.

Before he went to Iraq, Barker encouraged Caranza to join the Army.

Last winter Caranza can't recall the exact month Barker called from Iraq.

"I asked him if it was rough. He said, 'You don't even know half the things that come out of here.' He said, 'My good friend, a buddy of mine, got shot right in the face in front of me.'"

The rape and killings did not take place in the heat of the battle but were believed to have been planned out as long as a week beforehand, after soldiers spotted the girl while out on patrol.

Caranza's sister Linda Agueros, who is the same age as the victim, has followed the story. "I thought, 'What if it was me?' But for it to happen and for someone I know to be involved, it's a shock."

Sanchez, the Fresno woman who identified herself as Barker's aunt, told The AP he has two children with a woman he is divorcing and a newborn with a girlfriend.

Christy Alcala, 22, said the Barker she knows is far from a violent man.

"He was really such a dork. We seen and heard a lot of bad things in our neighborhood, but he stayed away from all that and hung out with us girls," she said. "We knew people who did bad things, but Bunky I would trust with my life."

When she met him four years ago, he was a go-cart attendant at Boomers in north Fresno. He was part of a group of friends who often had barbecues. She said he was outgoing and fun.

But when he came back for a visit last year, he was different.

"He seemed changed in away. He was really quiet and absorbed in his own head. He didn't want to do much," Alcala said.

"He said it was because he'd seen a lot of things he never would have thought and that they told him before he came back never to talk about them."

In a May message posted to all the friends reminding him of the good times they'd shared, Barker wrote on his MySpace.com account: "I miss you so much, all the fun times, I wish it could still be that easy, but hey, now I get to shoot at people all day."

Bee staff writer Marc Benjamin, McClatchy Newspapers and the Associated Press contributed to this report. The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6375.

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http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12435881p-13157859c.html

Stealth453

I do believe that I read this very same senario in one of the jahogahogie elder letters.

West70

This news story is getting wide distribution across the country, thus might trigger interest in the Jesus Manuel Cano story, which got no coverage outside NY and Chicago markets. Those who contact the media might want to try piggy-backing the two stories, and possibly even the recent David Penman articles.

There were 2 small followups on Cano today, and neither mentioned his JW affiliation. In fact, the local newspaper Orange County, NY went out of its way to mislead readers into thinking Cano lived in an "apartment" in "Wallkill".

I wonder how many ex-Bethelites work in that newspaper's printing facility?

AK - Jeff

While there is a JW background for this man - I see no scandal that can or should be directed toward the organization here.

He has clearly left the cult and it's thinking far behind, though it could perhaps be argued that it's influence played a part. Former witnesses would not seem to be more likely than ex-Catholics or ex-Baptists to be involved in these sorts of matters.

I don't get the connections. What religions were the other participants in this crime from? Seems impertinet to me. Just my opinion.

Jeff

Soldier Reared JW Is One of Five Accused In Iraqi Rape Scandal

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