Ex-soldier charged in rape, killings

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A former soldier discharged because of a ``personality disorder" was accused in federal court yesterday of executing an Iraqi family so he and other troops could rape and murder a young woman they eyed at a traffic checkpoint. All the bodies were found burned, in an apparent cover up. Steven D. Green, a skinny, 21-year-old former private who was led into court wearing baggy shorts, flip-flops, and a Johnny Cash T-shirt, became the first person identified in this latest case of alleged abuses of Iraqi civilians by US troops. He spoke only to confirm his identity, and stared wide-eyed as a federal magistrate ordered him held without bond on murder and rape charges stemming from March slayings near the Iraqi village of Mahmoudiya. Each of the four separate murder charges carries a possible death penalty.

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