Leon Panetta, U.S. Defense Chief, Condemns Afghanistan Marines Video

WASHINGTON Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday condemned a video that apparently shows U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Afghan men, footage that the Pentagon acknowledged did not appear to be fake.

"I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable," Panetta said in a statement, adding that he had ordered the Marine Corps and the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan to investigate the incident.

"Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent," he said.

The video that surfaced a day earlier appeared to show American forces urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. It could aggravate anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan as the Obama administration hopes to end a decade-long war.

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.

The video comes at a sensitive moment for the Obama administration, which is about to launch a flurry of diplomatic efforts it hopes will kindle peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

How the video will affect that initiative is unclear.

A senior member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council said it would undermine the peace efforts, but a Taliban spokesman said it was accustomed to such "brutality" and suggested the video would not affect existing discussions.

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".

Although the U.S. military has stopped short of confirming the video is authentic, the Pentagon on Thursday came close.

"We don't have any indication that it's not authentic," Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby said.

"It certainly appears to us to be what it appears to be to you guys... troops urinating on corpses. But there's an investigation process ongoing. We need to let that work its way through to determine all the facts of the case."

(Reporting By Missy Ryan and Phil Stewart; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Comments

[DogPizza]

05:00 PM on 01/13/2012

If you have any "respect" or "dignity" for someone, why would you kill him ? Otherwise, if killing him is right, i guess peeing on his grave or corpse can't be wrong.

[Susanne Freeborn]

07:28 AM on 01/13/2012

There is so much convoluted justification for immoral behavior being offered in the comments below that it is mind boggling. Supporting immoral, illegal behavior is not equivalent to supporting our troops. It is a false equivalency that dishonors the memory of our dead. What they did was wrong and 'sticking up for them' is juvenile. The dead fighters deserved respect for the price they paid with their lives. They came by their own deaths honestly in war. It part of the rules of engagement not to commit acts of desecration against the fallen.

Honorable behavior is supposed to be part of what separates our side from theirs. For those who say that the Taliban have done despicable things, I wonder, do you think behaving equally despicably sets some balance right? It doesn't. It just makes the world and even uglier place. There are court martials in the future of each these Marines and possibly in their chain of command.

Those laws exist for an honorable purpose and for the protection of people and agreements we have with other lawful countries of the world. Our soldiers pissed on the memory and honor of those who have died in the prosecution of this war. They dishonored the Marine Corps, our country and all of us.

[lerm1]

08:09 PM on 01/12/2012

Forward rifle squads on forward bases make their own justice. Pestering our brave warriors about such a trivial event is hateful and grossely inappropriate. Our soldiers have more important things to think about. They should not have to worry about what PC Brown Shirts think.

[thanadar]

11:48 PM on 01/12/2012

I totally agree.

[lerm1]

10:46 AM on 01/13/2012

Fight the power.

[Susanne Freeborn]

07:30 AM on 01/13/2012

It is not trivial. Honor is never trivial.

[sophie M]

07:20 PM on 01/12/2012

i wonder how many Taliban. tinkled on our dead soldiers.

[Marliss]

07:53 PM on 01/12/2012

Oh, more of the Two Wrongs Make a Right thing? I thought we were better than 'them'?

[Portann]

07:14 PM on 01/12/2012

Great, good to know my tax dollars are supporting frat boys with guns making a mockery of our country and putting us in harm's way with inevitable retaliation. I am privleged to know Marines who haves served our nation proudly with dignity and honor. Thanks for the pissing contest boys. They are the Few, The Proud, The Urines.

[hamsterhater]

08:12 PM on 01/12/2012

You can't find more important things to get ticked off about? Try, just try.

[sophie M]

07:06 PM on 01/12/2012

kids, that have learned how to kill . and learn fear.
they have seen their brothers and sisters murdered and maimed, because of war.
the taliban, AQ. are the enemy.
they are young boys with deployment after deployment
they have seen the horrors of war.
look what ........ you?
have done to our young boys..all you war mongers.

[Marliss]

07:40 PM on 01/12/2012

They're not "kids". They signed up to kill Muslims. And get paid for it. They're enjoying themselves. Listen to the audio to this video - it's like a sexual release for them. They enjoy these kinds of circlejerks (and worse) at the expense of the "enemy". They are war mongers too. They were not drafted, they were voluntary participants.

[hamsterhater]

08:13 PM on 01/12/2012

Yeah, volunteered to protect your right to make stupid statements.

[Grimmsd]

06:53 PM on 01/12/2012

Supporting the troops would mean identifying the parties involved, pulling them out of the theater of combat and getting them counseling and therapy.

Blaming them for treating their enemies that way is a cop out. You told them to kill them. They did, you should be thanking them.

[ffjsb]

07:29 PM on 01/12/2012

BS. Every Soldier, Sailor, Marine, and Airman in theatre is briefed extensively on Rules of Engagement and the Code of Conduct before arriving in theatre, and they carry a card with the ROE on their person. They have undone 10 years of work in 10 seconds. Anyone who acts like that is beyond counseling. They have a lack of personal character and integrity, and have betrayed their brothers in arms. They should get the max. time in jail.

[writerjohnny]

09:14 AM on 01/13/2012

Cosigned.

[Grimmsd]

11:43 AM on 01/13/2012

If I was a US Marine and I found out that people would turn on me for such a minor thing, and it is a minor thing, after risking my life daily for those people, I wouldn't do it again.

We asked so much from these men. We asked too much from these men. What they did for us is incredible. What happened is that we as a society pushed them past the point of breaking. And they broke. We have to accept responsibility for that. Punishing them for our failure to adequately support them is unreasonable.

[alpi57]

06:44 PM on 01/12/2012

People have become so jaded that they have lost all morality. This is how we lost Viet Nam. When the public opinion turned with images and news of rape and killing of children and gang behavior. This is following that same playbook to the tee.

Bring them home before these few do more damage to our already destroyed image abroad.

[TBrennan]

06:38 PM on 01/12/2012

I think if I were on the ship that dropped OBL's body at sea I would have gone to the rail to relieve myself as his body was dropped.

[TBrennan]

06:37 PM on 01/12/2012

I'm not going to try to defend this behavior but it shouldn't come as a surprise that when 19 yr olds are sent into combat this kind of thing happens. Rhetorical questions: Is it a bigger insult to put a bullet into someone's head or to urinate on them? Does it matter which comes first?

[graffitijoe]

06:35 PM on 01/12/2012

I thought the repeal of DADT made this kind of behavior OK. We can't help it if all societies are not as enlightened as we have become.

[blutopie]

06:27 PM on 01/12/2012

American Values .....

[ffjsb]

07:38 PM on 01/12/2012

Those AREN'T American values.

[alpi57]

06:41 PM on 01/12/2012

Good....you can wait outside of Levenworth with the rest of the cheerleaders here and applaud their arrival.

Marine Corps Values: Honor, Courage, Commitment. I like you to explain where this silly act falls within those virtues.

Don't bother, you can't. Plus, you are too dumb to try to explain this.

[hamsterhater]

08:15 PM on 01/12/2012

Dumb is as dumb does.

[Marliss]

06:42 PM on 01/12/2012

Oh, another brainwashed MIC drone collecting military entitlements/benefits/WELFARE.

[hamsterhater]

08:17 PM on 01/12/2012

I guess only you are "entitled" to entitlements? I'm sure you feel that way.

[Layman23]

06:21 PM on 01/12/2012

A victory celebration is customary and those who were in a situation of either "Kill" or "Be Killed" are sure to let some steam out after the conflict.

But this was just a bad way of doing it.

[lochnessmonster]

06:20 PM on 01/12/2012

I could not bring myself to watch this. How do ppl like this at sleep at night? Or is it the PTSDs that make them behave like this? Repeated deployments?