I have no doubt that somewhere there are a small group of marines wishing they never signed on.


Marines probe video depicting urination on corpses

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marine Corps said Wednesday it is investigating a video depicting what appears to be four Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters.

In a statement, the Marine Corps said it has not verified the origin or authenticity of the YouTube video. But it also said the actions portrayed are not consistent with Marine values.

If verified the video could create a strong backlash in the Muslim world and beyond for the disrespectful actions it portrays.

The case is being referred to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Navy's worldwide law enforcement organization, said NCIS spokesman Ed Buice.

The Council on Islamic-American Relations, a prominent Muslim civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington, quickly condemned the video.

"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 in a letter faxed to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"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.

Marine Corps headquarters at the Pentagon said, "The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps. This matter will be fully investigated."

A Marine Corps spokesman, Lt. Col. Stewart Upton, added, "Allegations of Marines not doing the right thing in regard to dead Taliban insurgents are very serious and, if proven, represent a failure to adhere to the high standards expected of American military personnel."

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, said the video is deeply troubling.

"Whoever it is, and whatever the circumstances — which we know is under investigation — it is egregious behavior," Kirby said.

It is unclear who shot the video and who posted it online.

 

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A lot of evil, bad and despicable crap happens in a war. When you have a large number of young(ish) males with a permission to kill other humans, you will have some whose moralities fall on the wayside of shooting enemies in the head while crawling between your friends' dismembered corpses. I would hazard a guess that this is on the very minor end on the scale of reprehensible things that the US soldiers have done in Afghanistan and other fronts.

But indeed. Doing something like this on camera? Just how stupid can you get?

It's easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much!

I've got lots of marines friends here. Remember, my generation sent more in to Iraq and Afghanistan than any other generation has sent in to live combat since the 70's...

They really want to justify why they're there just as much as anyone else.

All they really know is what they've been trained to know about the people of the region. They hate them, and they're hated.

If you train a group of young people to do nothing much else than hate another group, that's what they know... If that group that they hate starts killing their friends, they hate them even more, and it works on both sides.

Those people over there don't want our soldiers there. They don't want our help. They just want us gone, and any marine you ask will tell you that. My buddies say that no matter what they did to try and help people there, they were always met with resentment and mistrust.

We shouldn't send them there... If we do, we should expect crap like this.

 

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Talk to a 26 year old marine. They'll be bravado, talk about how their PTSD is "they'll never be that awesome again"... Then get drunk with them. It's a whole different story.

 

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jails are filled with people who almost all feel they have perfectly legitimate excuses for their behavior... but there isn't one.

U.S. military law prohibits corpse desecration and the Geneva Convention requires honorable treatment for combatants and civilians after death.

War is horrible, but when it gets right down to it, our society holds the individual responsible for their actions... and we hold our soldiers to a higher standard than a civilian.

They will be found, and they will be punished, and there won't be a single reason garnered that's going to deliver them from UCMJ. I will bet my bottom dollar on it.

 

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Taliban say Marine abuse tape won't hurt talks

KABUL (Reuters) - A video showing what appear to be American forces urinating on dead Taliban fighters prompted anger in Afghanistan and promises of a U.S. investigation on Thursday, but the insurgent group said it would not harm nascent efforts to broker peace talks.

The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke.

It is likely to stir up already strong anti-U.S. sentiment in Afghanistan after a decade of a war that has seen other cases of abuse, and that could complicate efforts to promote reconciliation as foreign troops gradually withdraw.

"Such action will leave a very, very bad impact on peace efforts," Arsala Rahmani, a senior member of the Afghan government's High Peace Council, told Reuters.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, seeing a glimmer of hope after months of efforts to broker talks, is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy this weekend.

Marc Grossman, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will fly into the region for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top officials in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

His immediate goal is to seal agreement for the Taliban to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Despite concerns when the video first emerged that it would not help his efforts build confidence among the warring parties, a Taliban spokesman said although the images were shocking, the tape would not affect talks or a mooted prisoner release.

"This is not the first time we see such brutality," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

"We know that our country is occupied...This is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage."

The U.S. Marine Corps has said it will investigate. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts depicted in the video as "disrespectful" and "inexplicable."

"This behavior dishonors the sacrifices and core values of every service member representing the 50 nations of the coalition," ISAF said in a statement, adding that a U.S. criminal investigation had been launched.

Karzai's office declined immediate comment.

"ILLEGAL, AGAINST HUMANITY"

News of the footage had yet to spread in Afghanistan -- a country where a minority have access to electricity and the Internet is limited to an tiny urban elite -- but Afghans who were told about what the tape appears to show were horrified.

"The Afghan government has to discuss with the U.S. government how to prosecute these soldiers, so in the future nobody will be able to make a joke of Afghans," said middle-aged merchant Qaisullah, who has a shop near the Kabul's Shah-e-dushamshera mosque.

"It may start with just video footage, but it will end with demonstrations around the country and maybe the world."

Anti-American feeling has boiled over, or been whipped up, into violence several times in Afghanistan in recent years. Protests over reports of the desecration of the Muslim holy book have twice sparked deadly riots.

"They've committed a crime. We don't want them in our country," said Feda Mohammad, a middle-aged man in jeans, a jacket and a woolen hat, when told about the tape. "We don't like foreigners in our country and they have to leave."

DEEPLY TROUBLED

In the United States, two military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the video appeared to be authentic, but Reuters could not verify it or its source independently.

The U.S. military has been prosecuting soldiers from the Army's 5th Stryker Brigade on charges of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians while deployed in Kandahar province in 2010.

At the Pentagon, Captain John Kirby said the defense department was "deeply troubled" by the video, which was released at a critical time for what U.S. officials hope might become authentic talks on Afghanistan's political future.

In Kabul, Grossman will seek approval from Karzai -- whose support for a U.S. effort he fears will sideline his government has wavered -- to move ahead with a series of good-faith measures seen as an essential precursor to negotiations that could give the Taliban a shared role in governing Afghanistan.

The diplomatic initiative includes a possible transfer of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison.

A breakthrough would mark a milestone for the Obama administration, struggling to secure a modicum of stability in Afghanistan as it presses ahead with its gradual withdrawal from a long and costly war. The United States and its allies aim to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2014.


I wonder who they want back so bad...

 

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This should be a DAoC emote.

 

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Seems 2 have been ID'd...

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/12/us/video-marines-urinating/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

 

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They should be awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

 

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Napalm a wedding party, roast 18 kids to death along with 40 adults and it's "ooops, it was just a mistake".

Piss on a corpse and everyone hates you.

You send young men and women into a country (many of them multiple times), they are away from home and those they love, put into situations where their lives and those of their friends are in constant danger and tell them to kill people.....but you get mad when they piss on them after they kill them?

I would cry for my country but I don't give a damn about it anymore.