WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush approved the death sentence for an Army private on Monday, becoming the first U.S. president to grant a military execution in more than five decades.

    Bush accepted the Army's recommendation that Ronald Gray be put to death. "...the president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

    Gray was convicted of four murders and eight rapes during the eight months of his service in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was sentenced to death in April 1988 by a military court and put in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since then.

    Under U.S. law, execution of servicemen must be approved by the president. In 1951, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the modern legal system of the military, was enacted into law. Since then, 10 military members have been executed with the president's approval. President Eisenhower was the last president to approve a military execution in 1957.