Marine Corps probe video showing troops "urinating on dead Taliban"

[jollyjacktar]

Shared with the usual caveats.  Full story and photos at link below.  It never ceases to amaze me at the stupidity of taking video like this and not expecting it to come to light some day.  :not-again:


The anonymous person who put it online wrote, 'Scout sniper team 4 with 3rd battalion 2nd marines out of camp lejeune peeing on dead talibans' 
By Daniel Bates
Last updated at 9:15 PM on 11th January 2012

The U.S. Marine Corps today launched an official investigation after footage emerged which showed American soldiers urinating on dead bodies.  The 40-second clip shows four men in combat gear standing over the three corpses with their genitals exposed as they relieve themselves.  At one point one of the men can be heard saying: 'Have a great day, buddy' to laughter from his colleagues. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085378/Video-Marine-Corps-urinating-dead-bodies-prompts-investigating.html#ixzz1jC1JkrOB

 

[opp550]

Reading the thread title, I thought this was about some Marines relieving themselves on an alive member of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

 

[Robert0288]

Reading the thread title, I thought this was about some Marines relieving themselves on an alive member of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

As did I

 

[jollyjacktar]

My bad, fixed now.  :-[  Although the former would have been "interesting". 

 

[Haggis]

This is not going to go well for the Marines....

 

[OldSolduer]

This is not going to go well for the Marines....

I heard that Hamid Karzai was upset with this and "completely inhumane". No kidding.

Too bad he can't or won't show the same outrage when the Taliban or AQ blow up ISAF troops.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Further proof it only takes the misjudgement of a very few to overshadow the hard work of the many.

I heard that Hamid Karzai was upset with this and "completely inhumane". No kidding.

Too bad he can't or won't show the same outrage when the Taliban or AQ blow up ISAF troops.

Ah, but he's not playing to (at least part of) his base if he accuses the Taliban of doing bad things....

Here's ISAF's statement:

A video recently posted on a public website appears to show U.S. military personnel committing an inappropriate act with enemy corpses. This disrespectful act is inexplicable and not in keeping with the high moral standards we expect of coalition forces.

ISAF strongly condemns the actions depicted in the video, which appear to have been conducted by a small group of U.S. individuals, who apparently are no longer serving in Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, this behavior dishonors the sacrifices and core values of every service member representing the fifty nations of the coalition.

Therefore, a United States Criminal Investigatory agency has launched an investigation. It will be thorough and any individuals with confirmed involvement will be held fully accountable.

Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesperson is quoted saying, "meh..."

A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said on Thursday that a video showing what appear to be U.S. forces in Afghanistan urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters will not affect efforts to broker peace talks.

"This is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

 

[Jed]

Nobody appreciates acts such as this in the video. It is disrepectful to all. A few things that really irritate me though as I watch the news passed on about this event:

A. The 'smirking with glee' demeanor of the reporter giving the news;

B. The media calling Taliban 'fighters' instead of terrorists or insurgents;

C. The fool or traitor that actually took the video.


I would never condone such a disrespectful and tastless act but I can certainly understand how it happens. I wish the press would show as much compassion for a nation's troops as it does for the nations enemies and terrorists.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Meanwhile a Scots solider is tortured and executed by the Taliban. Maybe we should bury their corpses with pig entrails until they care for prisoners as per the conventions?

 

[dapaterson]

Meanwhile a Scots solider is tortured and executed by the Taliban. Maybe we should bury their corpses with pig entrails until they care for prisoners as per the conventions?

Or maybe we can show that we are better than them?

 

[Jarnhamar]

Or maybe we can show that we are better than them?

I myself would settle for showing them we are meaner tougher scarrier and willing to go farther than them.

Pissing on someone is gross and I couldn't- shy bladder...can't pee near other people  :facepalm:
Stupid behavior by them.

"completely inhumane" not hardly.

 

[Pieman]

C. The fool or traitor that actually took the video.


I would never condone such a disrespectful and tasteless act but I can certainly understand how it happens.

Just curious. How can you never condone such an act, but also be condemn the person who took and released the video as a traitor? If he did not take the video and release it in one manner or another, we would not know of the behavior of these people. Sweeping peoples actions in an organization under the rug (no matter how few of them are) does not make it go away. It will fester and get worse.

The only bad thing done here IMHO was having the video put on Youtube, and not passed up the chain of command. However, I suspect this individual did not have that option without getting in shit himself. He was there filming it, and did not stop it so is also liable.

 

[Jed]

Pieman, Maybe I am a little harsh with the word 'traitor'. Fool is on the money though. Taking pictures of doing something that you don't want to have any evidence of is very fool hardy. Putting it on UTube is just an extension of the stupidity. You have to ask yourself, who is going to be hurt or helped by this action (taking a video) ? Common sense tells you that photographing and consequently displaying such an act will bring only bring discredit to the nation's uniformed personnel.

 

[Teeps74]

Afghanistan is an insurgency... Whether we want to term it as such or not is irrelevant. These Marines, should as remedial training, study Clausewitz and Killcullen (to name a couple) and gain an understanding of the necessity to win the psychological fight and win over the civilians in an Insurgency.

 

[Pieman]

Taking pictures of doing something that you don't want to have any evidence of is very fool hardy. Putting it on UTube is just an extension of the stupidity.

I suspect that the person filming decided that they did not agree with the actions seen in the video. Which is why it got put up on Youtube. I don't believe someone would not think it would have consequences and they knew perfectly well how it would make troops look bad. I think this is someone with a guilty conscience acting out. Or perhaps the opposite, someone with an axe to grind against one of the people in the video. However, this is my personal speculation. Not a worthy science.

Common sense tells you that photographing and consequently displaying such an act will bring only bring discredit to the nation's uniformed personnel.

Agreed. Which is why it should have stayed within the confines of the military itself. If passed up the CoC, there would have been hell to pay I'm sure. More importantly, actions to prevent that kind of behavior. I don't agree that the person should not have filmed though. If not, no one would know the actions of these people and there would be no measure of troop behavior.

 

[Jed]

Pieman, I was in the process of adding to my post and the computer glitched.

I would like to add that I probably speculated that the video was taken more than likely by someone with an axe to grind as opposed to someone being bullied into it. I agree this event should have not been swept under the rug. You do not need to, unnecessarily, air one's dirty laundry to correct bad behavior.

Maybe this is why the phrase' Never pass a fault' never struck a chord with me. 

 

[Pieman]

Jed, yes. Sounds like we are on the same page.

 

[Journeyman]

I don't believe someone would not think it would have consequences and they knew perfectly well how it would make troops look bad.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you've never worked with young Marines -- some of them are not actually rocket scientists.

....as remedial training, study Clausewitz...

Wow; talk about cruel and unusual punishment. 

 

[OldSolduer]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you've never worked with young Marines -- some of them are not actually rocket scientists. 

As some of our own troops as well! We've been lucky.

 

[Journeyman]

As some of our own troops as well! We've been lucky.

Oh absolutely. I vaguely recall certain photos starting the ball rolling towards a Regiment being disbanded.

Within specific parameters, Marine infantry are excellent at what they do. But the Marines I worked with, particularly the infantry, had a tendency to be drawn in large measure (again, not all) from the lower social strata, where education/intellect wasn't always cherished. Added to this, their training did not cultivate a "cuddle thine enemy" mindset.

I'm certainly not condoning or excusing their actions in this video -- I just don't see any evidence that the cameraman had a Mother Theresa moment.