Thursday, January 12, 2012

U.S. Marine Corps Launches Probe Over Video Showing Alleged Marines Urinating On Dead Taliban

Video surfaced depicting four elite Marines urinating on corpses. Military investigators have identified the Marines involved in desecrating the bodies of Taliban fighters.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 12, 2012
(Updated)

Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, a 39 second video surfaced on Youtube depicting at least four men dressed in what looks like an U.S. Marine elite sniper unit urinating on corpses. Another man is videotaping the act of desecrating the bodies full of blood from three Taliban fighters. The details on the video are graphic and may have been recorded somewhere in Afghanistan, but doesn't provided a date when it was videotaped.
The information posted on the original video stated, "scout sniper team 4 with 3rd battalion 2nd Marines out of Camp Lejeune peeping on dead Taliban." The original video clip has since been removed, according to a Youtube notice. Numerous copies of the video posted by others and media outlets remain on Youtube and the Internet.
One of the men is heard saying "Have a great day, buddy," another one says, "You got it on, the video," "Yeah" yells another and finally one jokes around and says, "Golden, like a shower," referring to the three Taliban dead fighters killed.
The U.S. Marine Corps launched an investigation and the initial probe hasn't confirmed the authenticity of the video. But the preliminary probe found that two of the men are actually Marines, according to a report by CNN dot com.
Investigators later were able to determine the identities of the three other Marines involved in the video. Two Marines and their batallion commander have been assigned to another area and are no longer with the 3rd Batallion, according to investigators. Their identities haven't been released.
The alleged Marines on the video were assigned to the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marine Regiment based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. They were deployed to the Helmand province in Afghanistan in February 2011 and returned to the U.S. in September 2011, according to CNN dot com.
Military sources say, the men in the video are seen with 30-Caliber sniper rifles issued to Special Ops teams and the helmets being worned have a shorter front and sides to allow snipers to have their weapons closer to their face, according to Marine sources.
The men identified are facing potential war crime charges and court martial for their actions, which are deemed disgusting, disgraceful, horrid and actions not associated with the Marine Corps. The Geneva Convention prohibits the photographing and the desecration of dead bodies.
The Pentagon released a statement saying, "the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marine Corps."
The Marine Corps is a component of the U.S. Department of Navy and part of the Pentagon.

Youtube video of four men in Marine uniforms urinating on corpses at link: http://goo.gl/Hbmr1

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