Winning hearts and minds: Film shows US soldiers burning Taliban corpses

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

The US and Afghan governments are investigating claims that American soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the corpses of two Taliban militants, then taunted other Islamic fighters about the burning, a desecration of Muslim custom.

The alleged incident was apparently filmed by a freelance photojournalist embedded with a US Army unit in the hills near the southern city of Kandahar this month. Its authenticity does not appear to be in serious question.

US military commanders in Afghanistan called the episode "repugnant". They said the Army's criminal investigation division was considering charges that included "burning of dead enemy combatant bodies under inappropriate circumstances". In Kabul, the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai insisted that those responsible must be punished. "We strongly condemn any disrespect to human bodies, regardless of whether they are those of enemies or friends," a spokesman said.

The footage, aired by the Australian SBS network, was taken by Stephen Dupont, an Australian journalist with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. It shows a group of soldiers watching as two corpses a few yards away are consumed in flames. Two soldiers with American accents then reportedly sent taunting messages apparently directed at a nearby village the soldiers seemed to believe had been sheltering the insurgents.

"You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt," one message allegedly ran. "You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies." The broadcast, organised by the Army's psychological operations unit, refers to the Taliban as "cowardly dogs".

Mr Dupont said the messages were broadcast in the local language, and translated into English for him by psy-ops troops. The video showed military vehicles fitted with speakers and playing loud music. The circumstances are a direct violation of Islamic tradition in Afghanistan, where the dead are buried with their heads pointing north, their feet south, and only their faces turned to Mecca in the west. Nor is cremation a Muslim custom; bodies are normally washed, wrapped in white cloth and buried within 24 hours of death.

More: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article321133.ece

Not only another violation of the Geneva Convention, it has to be one of the most disgusting American atrocity ever to be filmed...

America? We're toast if someone doesn't hang for this.

[madrchsod]

1. here is the video of the interview

http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=archive®ion=7#
index.php
some very interesting insights into the war , his personal view on what happened, and why.

[Disturbed]

2. Those who committed this stupid act ...

will get a reprimand. Obviously they didn't think they were doing anything wrong because they allowed this to be filmed. Do we need to wonder why most of the world hates Bushco's Amerika?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. Thanks for the link... I just saw a redacted video on KO...

What in the fuck were these people thinking???

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. It starts at the top, and rolls downhill

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. Let's hope justice follows the same pattern.

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. I saw the video on CNN this morning. Absolutely HORRIBLE.

Carol Costello showed NO OUTRAGE and her report was just mouthing the bullshit from the WH. It was like she sees soldiers every day burning HUMANS. :grr: Complete indifference. "This will be investigated and if The Geneva Conventions were violated, people will be punished." Riiiight. :eyes: Probably like the Abu Ghraib rape/torture architects.:eyes:

[Neil Lisst]

7. their cover story - it was sanitary to burn the bodies

They burned the bodies in the open, facing west, while yelling taunts at any listening Taliban.

It was calculated to insult on Muslim traditions.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. ***OLBERMANN/MSNBC VIDEO - DEVASTATING!!!***

WINDOWS MEDIA: http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/desecrationinvestigationoct2005.wmv

Olbermann lays it all out. This was a deliberate desecration, designed to incite more violence. From how high up the military food chain do these orders come? Count on it: only the soldiers directly involved will be punished for this horrible act.

[pointblank]

9. OK..I have mixed feelings on this one

On one hand, it seems harsh and twisted which it is no doubt, but..

They are DEAD bodies. Not live people being tortured, but corpses. Our soldiers over there are enduring many challenges and hardships...and if this tactic helped them survive and win a battle over some Islamic extremists that were trying to kill them, then I for one have no real problem with it. As far as Islamic traditon is concerned...I feel the same way I do about a lot of Chrisitan traditions: Its a bunch of nonsense.

The real problem is that is was caught on film. My friend is just back from his second tour in Iraq and from what he says there is a lot more repugnant shit going on than some burning of dead bodies. This kind of stuff goes on all of the time off camera.


Someone should HANG for this?? Please...I see a lot of talk about the repukes being armchair Generals, which they are, but this is taking it a little too far. Should they be reprimanded? Absolutely, but nithing more. If you have been over there dealing with people who want to kill you and still are outraged by this then I'll give you a pass, but you really can't understand until you have been there I don't think.

Lets try not to be so quick to want to hang our own guys OK. The Iraq war may be illegal and we can hate our leadership in washington for it, but lets be a bit more open minded and reasonable about certain things, OK? :)

[dutchdemocrat]

10. Law

Under the Geneva Convention, the disposal of war dead

"should be honorable, and, if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which the deceased belonged."

That was clearly violated.

You either adhere to international law or you don't. Period.

No excuse. They deserve to be punished accordingly - and should be under international law. But they won't.

[H2O Man]

11. It just leaves you

wondering how out of control this conflict will get. I am not attempting to remove responsibility from the individuals who did this, because we all are responsible for the things we do. But in the larger sense, this is often a part of war. And it never lessens the conflict. It always increases the enemies' resolve to commit an equally horrible act.

I do not pretend that I know all the answers. But I am convinced that as individuals, we are responsible for trying to remove the people who encourage conflict and violence from power. And I think that this goes beyond just George Bush.