Reading the Pictures: Take-Aways on the Video Showing Marines Urinating on Taliban

1. "The Marines issued a statement saying that they had not verified the video's origin and authenticity but that "the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines." (via NYT)

... Yeah, I guess it's been 10 months since that kill squad photo saw the light of day. Oh, but those guys were Army.

2. Right, like this never happens. More like, in this case, someone's trophy vid got loose.

3. For an act of humiliation, these guys are pretty discreet about showing their members.

4. And it's only worse because there aren't any other pictures of the Afghan war attracting attention.

5. No "Live Leak" jokes, please.

6. I honestly don't understand the pixelization.

7. I honestly don't understand the different strategies for pixelization/discretion:

TMZ

ABC

Orange/BSkyB

And at Telegraph, I got to see a cool Jaguar commercial as lead-in!

AP. (Yeah, I can't make it out either.)

Video at LiveLeak

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Comments

[juna]

10:55 PM on 01/16/2012

Sorry but I don't find any aspect of this story funny. These Marines have shamed us all.

[Mardukk]

01:45 PM on 01/16/2012

"Jest washing out their wounds with the only sterile liquid available"

[yankeedoug1121]

12:22 PM on 01/15/2012

oh and it's ok if they (taliban) parade around with an americans head in hand or on a pole?

[canadagirl76]

08:34 PM on 01/16/2012

Who is saying that is ok?

[Sean 6399]

10:54 PM on 01/13/2012

Much ado about nothing.

[Golden111]

04:08 PM on 01/13/2012

Interesting, how low-profile the media is keeping this horrific event -relative to Abu Grab.....Boy, the MSM is running MAJOR interference for BO & his administration. This incident is 10x worse from a public relations stand-point & there is NO liberal outrage directed at this POTUS! Where are the calls for mass rallies down Pennsylvania Ave?!?? Why isn't the LEFT demanding that Obama, Biden & Panetta to be brought up on war-crimes against humanity as they did for Bush & Cheney??? Why are those here sooo SILENT !?

[Jim bob]

09:45 PM on 01/15/2012

When urinating on dead enemies becomes policy, then maybe that'll be the case. Do you see the distinction? Maybe you can ask someone there to help you sound it out. It's not the same. It's different. One is a troop level crime, one is a national war crime. Guess which.

[cardog]

06:30 AM on 01/17/2012

Good point. Given the scale of what human beings on both sides actually do to one another during a war this is really a pissy little matter. Maybe if we saw what REALLY happened in a war we would be less eager to engage.

[IndependentRule]

03:15 PM on 01/13/2012

We have been pussified as a nation. We should show the world we are not to be messed with and back it up. The only mistake made was making a record.....

[BookKeepersSon]

10:59 AM on 01/14/2012

How can we show the world we are not to be messed with if not by recording and distributing video of our atrocious actions?

You want to show the world but hide the evidence. Are you ashamed of the video? (Hint: You should be.)

I think you have a dilema there, Indy.

[IndependentRule]

03:12 PM on 01/13/2012

Good for them... They are patriotic Warriors who VOLUNTEERED for an action fully knowing where they were going and why and had no issue with it. I would think Marines in WWII did much worse and we know what went on in NAM. They should get medals.

[Deos]

10:35 PM on 01/13/2012

Typical Marine behavior...what a shame when the world looks at this and think that all of us soldiers in the same way. There is NO EXCUSE for this...and I been in combat and lost battle buddies, but it never gave me the reason to lower myself as a human being and as a solider to behave in this matter. Even enemies can show respect amongst them self regardless of how they conduct themselves. They don't deserve to have the American patch on their uniform.

[Jim bob]

09:49 PM on 01/15/2012

You know you're out of bounds when you say "typical Marine behavior". You have no idea, and mainly you're just wrong. There are about 200,000 Marines and this is hardly something that any hundred thousand or so of them would do.

Otherwise, yep, you're right. It's low and inexcuseable. I hope the CMC makes an example of them. The Old Corps would have done just that. I'm not sure the new Corps has it in them, but maybe. We'll see.

[Jim bob]

09:50 PM on 01/15/2012

Seriously, you think you know what "went on" in NAM? How dare you. And all of the rest of us are embarrassed by this.

Sgt, USMC
1966-1969
combat veteran,, Vietnam, 1968.

Just in case you were wondering.

[Bloviator88]

03:06 PM on 01/13/2012

The Few, The Proud, The Urines.

[ImaBigBum]

11:05 PM on 01/14/2012

That's the funniest thing I've read this week. Thanks!

[Jim bob]

09:47 PM on 01/15/2012

I think it will stick, too. So to speak.

[AdobePhsyko]

02:22 PM on 01/13/2012

Marines sure have tiny "equipment"

[weirdamerica]

05:05 PM on 01/13/2012

And that's why they joined up.

[OneFish]

01:50 PM on 01/13/2012

I find the calls to punish these soldiers to be just another indication that America suffers from a punishment fetish. Look how we glorify law enforcement on TV, look how we punish so many nonviolent "offenders". The nation is sick in its lust to punish. It is some sort of sick, puritan legacy. If I were their commander I'd tell them don't do that again, we don't want the bad publicity. Then I'd buy them a beer and tell them rest up, you're going back out there tomorrow because America is rife with corrupt politicians and that means you have to risk your lives for the fatcats.

[Meaningfull]

07:59 PM on 01/13/2012

well said:-))

[naaman]

01:26 PM on 01/13/2012

Listen to the cries of Nick Berg (sp?) and Danny Pearl as they were being beheaded! How bout the death of Americans where their dead bodies are multilated, sticks stuck in places they don't belong, etc. And the bleeding hearts say peeing on a DEAD terrorist's body is barbaric?! - The Teliban doesn't play by the war rules, why should we! War is war. Let's fight a war as that and not as missionaries! - Gitmo prisoners are treated well & even gained weight; where are the terrorist's prison camps for their enemies?! Where are the captured American & British prisoners!

[Eugi]

01:52 PM on 01/13/2012

I agree with your first comments but not your conclusion. Yes, listen to the cries of Nick and Danny and realize that by urinating on corpses of the enemy (former friend, by the way!) is exactly what would excuse further mistreatment of US troops who have been captured or killed. Don't you agree? Thanks to this video, and the US nationals who say it's just fine (looking at you Ms. Loesch) we can say NOTHING if the next video out is Taliban urinating on US soldiers' bodies. This is sickening.

[naaman]

11:42 AM on 01/14/2012

Thanks for your comment. (Is your former friend Danny? or Nick? - Sorry for your loss.)

[GustavoRejivik]

07:18 PM on 01/15/2012

If all the Taliban did was piss on bodies .. that's be a huge improvement.

[Pantsy]

03:41 PM on 01/13/2012

well said, upthewazooforus. would you also agree that it had the potential of putting our troops in further danger? i'm sure the taliban will be more than happy to retaliate.
and, it undermines all the work our military has done to gain the trust of the local populous.

[naaman]

11:40 AM on 01/14/2012

I was going to thank you for your comment; you almost persuaded me, till your snide last sentence. That did it for me, "Skippy." - Your dignity left with: "so you can stick that..." -40 years in the Army & your retired as ? ? You just met a pet lover you don't like. Cute dog, though. A terrier?

[timiam]

01:06 PM on 01/13/2012

What did you expect?
You trained them to be killers
One day they will come home and be your neighbors
if they are lucky enough not to be homeless.
A recipe for disaster over an entire lifetime.

[upthewazooforus]

02:21 PM on 01/13/2012

Since when did training overrule morals? I was trained "to be a killer" 40 years ago, but I never forgot that I was part of something bigger.....the human race. You might try meeting and talking to some of the returning "killers", you might find it enlightening.

[Jondrea Smith]

04:14 PM on 01/13/2012

A man's life meant something back then too. It starts with the dehumanization of the enemy and goes from there to the desensitization of the soldier and the romanticizing of the kill. I also find the symbolism if the urination symbolic in that it was only after the 'big gun' had been used that they fell that they could be vindicated for their um.....phallic shortcomings.

[GustavoRejivik]

07:35 PM on 01/15/2012

Just a bunch of kids joking around, wasn't nice, but surely this reaction is overblown, if JAG Prosecutes these guys I'll be VERY angry.

[clownprince]

12:54 PM on 01/13/2012

The faces of these shameful individuals should not be hidden. They embarrassed the country by their heinous actions, so why should their identities be shielded to prevent them any humiliation?

[Nelson Montana]

11:18 AM on 01/13/2012

I'm sure this wasn't meant to be something for the world to see. What if an American soldier urinated on the corpse of a nazi who ran the ovens at Auschwitz? It may be crass, crude, disgusting and distasteful, but I wouldn't have a big problem with it.

[thecid]

01:28 PM on 01/13/2012

Reality check -- these aren't diplomats...funny...one thing we were told in the military: "we are ambassadors whether we like it or not"

[fulrayjr]

01:40 PM on 01/13/2012

Respectfully Nelson, here's why you should have a problem with this:
1. We (The United States) are a nation of laws. Those laws govern us regardless of the political circumstances.
2. Our Armed Forces are a "professional" service, governed by the UCMJ.
3. Even though many disagree, our Armed Services are still bound by Geneva Convention rules.
4. Unfortunately, none these apply to the Taliban. Still, it does not give our service members license to deviate from the rules.
5. In wars of imperial conquest, as this one is, images like this does little to win "hearts and minds" of the indigenous population and places our military personnel in danger of lethal reprisals.

[GustavoRejivik]

07:25 PM on 01/15/2012

I don't see why we should wring our hands over this too much, sure it wasn't professional, but neither is War. No way these guys should face eager JAG Wussies at a trail or Progressives happy to view any American indiscretion as criminal.

Meanwhile Muslim extremists continue to subjugate women, mass suicide bombings, overruns another city and kidnaps UN Workers .. NO outrage or endless discussion about Islam Extremists and THEIR actions on here .. only a little weenie and some piss .. out sense of scale is WAY our of Proportion here guys..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/15/us-yemen-idUSTRE80D0RG20120115
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/iraq-bomb_n_1206223.html

[memull]

11:18 AM on 01/13/2012

Regardless of how you feel about the Taliban (and no doubt they are a cruel and misguided group of people), those corpses were somebody's son, or maybe their husband, or brother, or friend...or whatever. Pissing on the dead, no matter who it is or which side you are on, is despicable in any sense of the word. As decent human beings, should we not be above such behavior?