U.S. Soldiers burn alleged Taliban bodies

[Balta1701]

I'm just going to post this for now and let you guys comment on it. You can probably guess how I feel about it if the report is true.

 

Australian television on Wednesday broadcast footage of what it said was U.S. soldiers burning the corpses of two dead Taliban fighters with their bodies laid out facing Mecca and using the images in a propaganda campaign in southern

Afghanistan.

 

The television report said U.S. soldiers burned the bodies for hygienic reasons but then a U.S. psychological operations unit broadcast a propaganda message on loudspeakers to Taliban fighters, taunting them to retrieve their dead and fight.

 

A U.S. military statement released in Afghanistan said Army criminal investigators had launched a probe "into alleged misconduct by U.S. service members, including the burning of dead enemy combatant bodies under inappropriate circumstances."

 

"This command does not condone the mistreatment of enemy combatants or the desecration of their religious and cultural beliefs," U.S. Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya said in the statement.

 

"This alleged action is repugnant to our common values, is contrary to our commands approved tactical operating procedures, and is not sanctioned by this command."

 

In Washington, the Pentagon expressed concern. "These are very serious allegations and, if true, very troublesome," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Reuters.

 

"It is the policy of the United States, as well as the Defense Department, to treat all remains consistent with the Geneva Convention and with the utmost respect. These allegations will be aggressively investigated and, if proven to be true, the individuals will be held appropriately accountable," Whitman said.

 

The "Dateline" current affairs program on the ethnic Special Broadcasting Service said the story was filmed in early October. The footage of the burning corpses was shot by Australian photojournalist Stephen DuPont, who was embedded with a U.S. unit.

 

Dateline said the two Taliban fighters burned on hills above the village of Gondaz north of Kandahar were killed by the U.S. soldiers the night before.

 

The footage showed flames licking two charred corpses, their legs and arms outstretched, and a group of five U.S. soldiers standing watching from a rocky ledge.

 

Footage showed two U.S. soldiers reading from a notebook two messages that they said had earlier been broadcast.

 

"Attention Taliban you are cowardly dogs," read the first soldier, identified as psyops specialist Sgt. Jim Baker.

 

"You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."

 

The other unidentified soldier read a second message, part of which said: "You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Talibs but you are a disgrace to the Muslim religion, and you bring shame upon your family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are."

[FlaSoxxJim]

"It is the policy of the United States, as well as the Defense Department, to treat all remains consistent with the Geneva Convention and with the utmost respect. These allegations will be aggressively investigated and, if proven to be true, the individuals will be held appropriately accountable," Whitman said.

 

This is sort of funny. The 2002 Memo for William J. Haynes II, General Counsel, Department of Defense made it very clear that the interpretation of the administration was going to be that Geneva doesn't apply to El Quaida OR the Taliban. But apparently the Geneva Convention does hold sway over what soldiers can do to the bodies of these combatants after they have been killed?!?

 

Am I the only one who thinks that is somewhat bizzare?

[kapkomet]

If it's true, #1, I'm sure the media will be blitzing the s*** out of it because it's negative, and we all know what that means.

 

And more importantly, #2, these bastards deserve the same treatement IF it's true.

[Balta1701]

This is sort of funny.  The 2002 Memo for William J. Haynes II, General Counsel, Department of Defense made it very clear that the interpretation of the administration was going to be that Geneva doesn't apply to El Quaida OR the Taliban.  But apparently the Geneva Convention does hold sway over what soldiers can do to the bodies of these combatants after they have been killed?!?

 

Am I the only one who thinks that is somewhat bizzare?

Actually, according to Ari Fleischer in 2003, that's no longer the case. Direct quote:

 

I have an announcement to make. Today President Bush affirms our enduring commitment to the important principles of the Geneva Convention. Consistent with American values and the principles of the Geneva Convention, the United States has treated and will continue to treat all Taliban and al Qaeda detainees in Guantanamo Bay humanely and consistent with the principles of the Geneva Convention.

 

They will continue to receive three appropriate meals a day, excellent medical care, clothing, shelter, showers, and the opportunity worship. The International Community of the Red Cross can visit each detainee privately.

 

In addition, President Bush today has decided that the Geneva Convention will apply to the Taliban detainees, but not to the al Qaeda international terrorists.

 

Afghanistan is a party to the Geneva Convention. Although the United States does not recognize the Taliban as a legitimate Afghani government, the President determined that the Taliban members are covered under the treaty because Afghanistan is a party to the Convention.

The White House did refuse to grant Taliban detainees POW status, but the standing order of the White House was that the Taliban was to be treated following the rules of Geneva...or at least that's what we've been told.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

If it's true, #1, I'm sure the media will be blitzing the s*** out of it because it's negative, and we all know what that means.

 

And more importantly, #2, these bastards deserve the same treatement IF it's true.

If it is true then I don't have to hear the talking point from Nuke about how the US forces don't tie corpses up from bridges and light them on fire...

 

And that's a damned thing. f***ing goddamn idiots.

 

/waits for the outrage from the talking heads over the story being published rather than seeing outrage for the horrific crimes, if they did indeed occur

[FlaSoxxJim]

Actually, according to Ari Fleischer in 2003, that's no longer the case.  Direct quote:

 

The White House did refuse to grant Taliban detainees POW status, but the standing order of the White House was that the Taliban was to be treated following the rules of Geneva...or at least that's what we've been told.

They really are just making it up as they go then, aren't they?

[FlaSoxxJim]

/waits for the outrage from the talking heads over the story being published rather than seeing outrage for the horrific crimes, if they did indeed occur

 

Smart money says you won't have to wait long.

 

 

f***ing mainstream media shares the same goals as the enemy, don'tcha know?

[EvilMonkey]

How about you all save some of your self-rightous indignation until it is proven to be true. The media HAS been know to embellish things a bit now and then. If it is true, then it is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

[Balta1701]

How about you all save some of your self-rightous indignation until it is proven to be true.  The media HAS been know to embellish things a bit now and then.  If it is true, then it is a bad thing.  A very bad thing.

I think in this case, it's pretty hard to argue with what the videotape purportedly shows. They even have the names of some of the people doing the reading. LA Times.

 

The tape, shot this month by an Australian photojournalist traveling with a U.S. Army unit, was aired on Australian television Wednesday and immediately drew concern from Pentagon officials....

 

The messages, which apparently were broadcast to the Taliban, highlighted the fact that the bodies were laid out facing Mecca.

 

"Attention Taliban: You are cowardly dogs," read one soldier, identified as psychological operations specialist Sgt. Jim Baker. "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to retrieve the bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."

 

Another soldier, who was unidentified, read: "You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Talibs but you are a disgrace to the Muslim religion, and you bring shame upon your family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are."

 

A third soldier is heard saying, "Wow, look at the blood coming out of the mouth on that one."

 

The video was shot by Sydney photojournalist Stephen Dupont. He also reported that the soldiers had defended their actions by saying they burned the bodies for reasons of hygiene.

 

But the broadcast narrator, identified as reporter John Martinkus — working for the Australian program "Dateline" on the country's publicly funded Special Broadcasting Service — noted that because the burning took place "far away from the village, this appears to make no sense."

[KipWellsFan]

 

I think you can see the video here, can't watch it at school so don't know if it works

http://bareknucklepolitics.com/?p=147

[EvilMonkey]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8...1121939,00.html

 

Stench Prompted U.S. Troops to Burn Corpses

The desecration of Taliban dead prompts outrage in Afghanistan

 

Posted Friday, Oct. 21, 2005

 

There simply wasn't enough room on the rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan for the U.S. platoon and the corpses of the two Taliban fighters. The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier, and in the 90-degree heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence, soldiers who were present have told TIME. Nor was the U.S. Army unit about to leave—the hilltop commanded a strategic view of the village below where other Taliban were suspected to be hiding.

 

Earlier, Lt. Eric Nelson, the leader of B Company, I-508 platoon leader had sent word down to Gonbaz asking the villagers to pick up the bodies and bury them according to Muslim ritual. But the villagers refused—probably because the dead fighters weren't locals but Pakistanis, surmised one U.S. army officer.

 

It was then that Lt. Nelson took the decision that could jeopardize his service career. "We decided to burn the bodies," one soldier recounts, "because they were bloated and they stank." News of this cremation might have remained on these scorching hills of southern Afghanistan had the gruesome act not been recorded on film by an Australian photojournalist, Stephen Dupont. Instead, when the footage aired on Australian TV on Wednesday, it unleashed world outrage. A Pentagon spokesman described the incident as "repugnant" and said that the army was launching a criminal investigation into the alleged desecration of the corpses, which is in violation of the Geneva Convention on human rights.

 

Fueling the furor was the fact that the TV report showed that after the bodies were torched, a U.S. Psychological-Operations team descended on Gonbaz in Humvees with their loudspeakers booming: "Taliban, you are cowardly dogs. You are too scared to come down and retrieve the bodies. This just proves you are the lady-boys we always believed you to be."

 

Muslims traditionally bury their dead, and as one Kabul cleric Mohammed Omar told newsmen, "the burning of these bodies is an offense against Muslims everywhere. Bodies are burned only in Hell." But as one U.S. officer in Kandahar pointed out, the Taliban and al Qaeda never show any qualms about defiling the bodies of dead Afghan or American soldiers. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, anxious to quell any new wave of protests against the U.S. troops in Afghanistan of the sort that followed allegations of Koran desecration at Guantanamo, publicly condemned the burnings. A statement from the U.S. military command for Afghanistan said, "Under no circumstances does U.S. Central Command condone the desecration, abuse or inappropriate treatment of enemy combatants."

 

Not quite what you all made it sem to be, eh?

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8...1121939,00.html

Not quite what you all made it sem to be, eh?

 

I figured it would be something silly like this. Thats why I stayed out of this thread until now. It was fun to watch the leftist crowd here scream bloody murder and its even more fun to know that they, yet again, did it over nothing.

 

 

:rolly

[LowerCaseRepublican]

I figured it would be something silly like this.  Thats why I stayed out of this thread until now.  It was fun to watch the leftist crowd here scream bloody murder and its even more fun to know that they, yet again, did it over nothing.

:rolly

Logistically, stinking bodies -- okay...but this?

 

Fueling the furor was the fact that the TV report showed that after the bodies were torched, a U.S. Psychological-Operations team descended on Gonbaz in Humvees with their loudspeakers booming: "Taliban, you are cowardly dogs. You are too scared to come down and retrieve the bodies. This just proves you are the lady-boys we always believed you to be."

 

With that sort of sentiment joining the burning, how are we better than the terrorists who torched US bodies again?

[FlaSoxxJim]

With that sort of sentiment joining the burning, how are we better than the terrorists who torched US bodies again?

 

We're better because WE SAY SO. :headshake