凍結 天然氣 火車

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Video appears to show Marines urinating on Taliban corpses

by James K. Sanborn - Jan. 11, 2012 06:20 PM

Marine Corps Times

WASHINGTON -- The Marine Corps is promising to investigate a disturbing video that appears to show Marines in Afghanistan urinating on the bloody corpses of alleged Taliban fighters, officials at the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The 40-second clip, titled "Marines peeing on taliban," has spread to numerous websites, attracting thousands of views and hundreds of comments -- some of them criticizing the men in the video and condemning the Marine Corps at large. A caption beneath the video identifies the men as members of a scout sniper team assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. The individual who posted it also remarked "I thought Marines were suppose (sic) to do the right thing when no one is watching."

Marine officials are working to confirm the men's unit and their identities, said Capt. Kendra Hardesty, a Marine spokeswoman at the Pentagon. Once that information is verified, their unit will assign an officer to conduct the investigation, she said.

In the video, four men wearing what appear to be Marine combat uniforms are seen standing around three dead bodies, quietly talking and joking as the camera rolls. They are equipped with chest rigs, grenades, body armor and some specialized gear. One is holding a precision rifle.

Toward the end of the video, one of the men looks down at a corpse and says "Have a good day, buddy." Another zips his trousers and remarks "Golden like a shower."

It is unknown who filmed the video, but it appears it was first uploaded to the video-sharing website YouTube by a user identified as "semperfiLoneVoice." That account was created Tuesday and includes only this video.

Semper Fi is the Marine Corps' motto. A contraction of the Latin phrase "semper fidelis," it translates in English to "always faithful." Marine Corps Times emailed semperfiLoneVoice seeking comment but did not receive a response.

In a statement, Marine officials at the Pentagon said the service is working to verify the video's origin and authenticity.

"The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps," the statement reads. "This matter will be fully investigated."

On Marine Corps Times' Facebook page, the story immediately received dozens of responses from readers. Many expressed support for the men appearing in the video. One reader posted a comment reading: "Taliban corpse? And you people are upset over it? I'd do the same and all my grunt brothers would too."

The 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines returned to Camp Lejenue in October from a standard seven-month deployment to Afghanistan's Helmand province. Its Marines saw intense action in and around Musa Qala, a violent district located in northern Helmand.

Reached Tuesday evening, a spokesman for the battalion's parent command, II Marine Expeditionary Force, declined to discuss the matter, saying that despite widespread media reports linking the individuals in the video to the battalion, there has been no verification yet these men were assigned to any unit within II MEF.

"That's still unconfirmed," said Capt. Scott Sasser. "That was just on some report that came up online. That's all we have right now."

Marine officials at the Pentagon learned of the video Wednesday after receiving a media query from The Sun, a British tabloid, Hardesty said.

A spokesman for the Defense Department, Navy Capt. John Kirby, called the video "egregious, disgusting behavior," telling CNN "it turned my stomach."

U.S. deplores video of Marines urinating on dead

The problem here is not a few Marine's who are peeing on people they murdered, but the American government that ordered the Marines to Afghanistan and is responsible for this genocide.

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U.S. deplores video of Marines urinating on dead

Jan. 12, 2012 12:10 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has promised Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai a full investigation of an Internet video that purports to depict four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters -- a video both men condemned Thursday as deplorable.

At least two of the four men have been identified as Marines based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said a Marine official, speaking on condition of anonymity because there is an active criminal investigation of the incident.

In a public statement, Panetta said such behavior is "entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military" and that those responsible will be held accountable.

The video, posted on the Internet, shows men in Marine combat gear standing in a semi-circle over three bodies. It's not clear whether the dead were Taliban or civilians or someone else. The title on the posting called them Taliban insurgents and said the men were from Camp Lejeune.

Officials did not officially verify the video's origin or authenticity but had no evidence to doubt what it was.

"It clearly appears to be to us what it appears to be to you -- troops urinating on corpses," Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

The two men who have been identified were members of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, the main Marine base on the East Coast., said the official speaking anonymously. Some of the four are no longer in that battalion, which returned from Afghanistan last fall, said the official, who gave no other information about them.

The video was roundly denounced in the U.S. and Afghanistan alike.

Karzai called it "completely inhumane." The Afghan Defense Ministry called it "shocking." And the Taliban issued a statement accusing U.S. forces of committing numerous "indignities" against the Afghan people.

"First they killed the Afghans with mortars, and they then urinated on their bodies," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said of what is shown in the video. "We strongly condemn this inhumane action by the wild American soldiers."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed "total dismay" at the video and said it was "absolutely inconsistent with the standards of behavior that the vast majority of Marines hold themselves to."

Panetta, who phoned Karzai to discuss the incident, said the actions in the video, if confirmed, were inexcusable.

"I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Panetta's statement said. "Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent."

The video came to light at a delicate time in relations among the United States, Afghanistan's elected government and the Taliban insurgency fighting for both territorial control and cultural and religious preeminence in Afghanistan. The U.S. is trying to foster peace talks between the Karzai government and the Pakistan-based Taliban high command, and has made unprecedented offers to build trust with the insurgents, including the planned opening of a Taliban political office to oversee talks.

One of the largest obstacles to peace discussions has been widespread Afghan contempt for U.S. military tactics. Opposition to the U.S. and NATO military presence in Afghanistan usually centers on civilian casualties from military engagement, although the vast majority of those deaths are caused by the insurgents. The video is likely to resonate with those opposed to the U.S. presence and to peace with the U.S.-backed Karzai government.

U.S. officials seemed to have ordered a variety of investigations:

--Panetta said he had ordered the Marine Corps and Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander of the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, to fully investigate.

--In a written statement, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, said he requested on Wednesday evening that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigate, and that the Marines would, separately, do their own internal investigation.

"The Marine Corps will not rest until the allegations and the events surrounding them have been resolved. We remain fully committed to upholding the Geneva Convention, the Laws of War, and our own core values," Amos said.

The NATO-led security force in Afghanistan released a statement Thursday saying, "This disrespectful act is inexplicable and not in keeping with the high moral standards we expect of coalition forces."

The actions "appear to have been conducted by a small group of U.S. individuals, who apparently are no longer serving in Afghanistan," the International Security Assistance Force said. The statement did not identify the personnel or explain why the ISAF thought they had left the country.

A spokesman at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina would not confirm reports that the Marines were based there. "We have had elements of that unit that have deployed to Afghanistan and have returned. However, we have not yet confirmed if anyone in the video is from that unit, or whether they are attached to a unit from Lejeune," said Capt. Scott Sasser.

Pentagon officials said the criminal investigation would likely look into whether the Marines violated laws of war, which include prohibitions against photographing bodies and detainees and a range of other rules.

Mujahid urged the U.N. and other international groups to end such actions by U.S. troops.

On Wednesday, the Council on Islamic-American Relations, a prominent Muslim civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington, protested the video in a letter to Panetta.

"We condemn this apparent desecration of the dead as a violation of our nation's military regulations and of international laws of war prohibiting such disgusting and immoral actions," the group wrote.

"If verified as authentic, the video shows behavior that is totally unbecoming of American military personnel and that could ultimately endanger other soldiers and civilians," the letter said.

Karzai condemns Marines urinating on bodies

Karzai condemns video showing men in uniform urinating on bodies

January 12, 2012 | 7:26 am

REPORTING FROM ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, AND KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday condemned a video that appeared to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the dead bodies of three Taliban fighters and urged “the most severe punishment for anyone found guilty in this crime.”

A statement issued by Karzai’s office said the president’s administration was “deeply disturbed” by the video. “This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms.”

The video was posted on YouTube and on TMZ, a celebrity gossip site. In it, four men in Marine combat gear unzip their pants and urinate on the bodies. One of the men says, “Have a great day, buddy.”

U.S. officials have launched an investigation into the matter. American-led coalition forces in Afghanistan said in a statement that the soldiers in the video are probably no longer serving in the South Asian nation.

The coalition statement adds that “this behavior dishonors the sacrifices and core values of every service member representing the 50 nations of the coalition. ... Any individuals with confirmed involvement will be held fully accountable.”

Although the Afghan Taliban reacted angrily to news of the video, a Taliban spokesman said it wouldn’t necessarily derail the beginning stages of talks with the U.S. aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the 10-year conflict. “This indicates [America’s] extreme cruelty,” said Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a written statement. “Our message is that this was barbaric action, and we strongly condemn it.”

The Taliban on Thursday said it was ready to begin talks with the U.S., though it stressed it would not stop fighting and would not recognize either Afghanistan’s constitution or Karzai’s administration, which insurgents regard as a puppet regime.

“We have increased our political efforts to come to a mutual understanding with the world in order to solve the current ongoing situation,” the Afghan Taliban said in a prepared statement. “But this understanding does not mean surrender from jihad, and neither is it connected to an acceptance of the constitution of the stooge Kabul administration.”

The video is reminiscent of a controversy involving U.S. soldiers who posed for grisly photos with three Afghan civilians they had killed in 2010 in the southern province of Kandahar. Five members of the platoon linked with the photos either pleaded guilty or were convicted of murdering the Afghan civilians and collecting body parts as war trophies.

Also Thursday, a suicide car bomber killed five people in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, including a provincial district chief. The official, Fazludin Agha, was on his way home in Panjwai district in a government convoy when the car bomber rammed into the convoy and detonated his explosives, said Zalmai Ayubi, spokesman for the Kandahar governor’s office. Agha’s two sons and his two bodyguards were also killed in the blast, Ayubi said.