More US War Crimes -Anyone In AU Catch This? (NRR)
SonicReducer
421 Posts
Did anyone in Australia catch this on television? "Army Examining an Account of Abuse of 2 Dead Taliban By ERIC SCHMITTPublished: October 20, 2005WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 - The Pentagon announced Wednesday night that the Army had started a criminal investigation into allegations that American soldiers in Afghanistan had burned the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters and then used the charred and smoking corpses in a propaganda campaign against the insurgents. The events were shown on an Australian television program, broadcast there on Wednesday night, depicting what is described as an American psychological operations team broadcasting taunts over a loudspeaker toward a village thought to be harboring Taliban fighters and sympathizers, according to a transcript of the program. It was posted on the Web site of the Special Broadcasting Service http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=archive&daysum=2005-10-19# . An American soldier, an Afghan soldier, and two Taliban had just been killed in fighting there, the transcript of the program said. According to the program's translation of the taunts, which were delivered in the local language by American forces on the scene, a soldier identified as Sgt. Jim Baker, said: "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. 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." After news agencies reported the broadcast, the Pentagon said such acts were forbidden and began the criminal investigation.Several senior officials said preliminary indications suggested that the video and the program's translation were accurate, and that the incident posed the potential to do further harm in the Islamic world to the image of the United States, already badly tarnished by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. The reference to the bodies "facing west" appeared to be a deliberate mocking of the Islamic requirement to face Mecca during prayers. The Muslim faith prohibits cremation and holds respect of the body of the dead as a central tenet.The American soldiers told a freelance photojournalist who recorded the incident that they burned the bodies for hygienic reasons, he said in an interview in the studios of the SBS program "Dateline."But human rights organizations said Wednesday that burning bodies was an act of desecration in the Islamic faith and a violation of the Geneva Conventions. A statement issued by the Central Command said "desecration, abuse or inappropriate treatment of enemy combatants" were never condoned and that they would violate United States policy "as well as the Geneva Convention.""This command takes all allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behavior seriously," Maj. Gen. Jason K. Kamiya, the American commander of daily tactical operations in Afghanistan, said in a separate statement issued by the Central Command. "If the allegation is substantiated, the appropriate course of action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and corrective action will be taken." General Kamiya continued, "This command does not condone the mistreatment of enemy combatants or the desecration of their religious and cultural beliefs." In the past, allegations of disrespect for Islam by American forces have sparked heated and even violent reactions in the Muslim world.Pentagon and Bush administration officials said Wednesday night they were trying to determine details of the incident, which the program said happened earlier this month in Gonbaz, a village in southern Afghanistan about 60 miles from the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. "Really bad news," said an administration official who follows Afghan issues closely."This is very serious," a senior military official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the pending investigation. The program's video was taken by Stephen Dupont, a freelance Australian photojournalist who was embedded in the American unit to document its operations. Mr. Dupont's photographs from the region have been widely published. In a separate interview posted on the network's Web site on Wednesday, Mr. Dupont said soldiers from an unidentified airborne unit appeared to believe they were doing the right thing in laying the corpses of the two dead Taliban toward Mecca, and then setting them on fire. The video shows flames swirling around two charred corpses, their legs and arms outstretched, and a group of five American soldiers watching from a rocky ledge. A spokesman for Mr. Dupont, Robert Pledge, said Wednesday night that the incident took place on Oct. 1, and involved soldiers from the First Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.Mr. Dupont said the first group of soldiers told him, "We've been told to burn the bodies; the bodies have been here for 24 hours and they're starting to stink so, for hygiene reasons, this is what we've got to do."But then Mr. Dupont said a second group of soldiers from a psychological operations unit intentionally used the burnt bodies as a propaganda tool. "They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them," Mr. Dupont said. In the program, Sergeant Baker's taunt is heard first. Then a second soldier, who was not identified, chimes in singling out several mullahs by name: "Your time in Afghanistan is short. 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." In the interview with the producers, Mr. Dupont explained that the American soldiers had been trying to bait the Taliban fighters to shoot at them. "They want the Taliban to fight them because they can't find them otherwise."
Comments
But the anti-war movement this time is weak.
Did y'all catch the Frontline special the other night about prisoner interrogations on Guantanamo Bay and in Abu Gharib. Fucked up. And no one has gotten in trouble except for Lindsey England. No way, was she the only person doing that shit. According to actual interrogators that shit was widespread.
I agree. I was referring more to how the government has gotten us involved in a wholly unecessary fight, and how the rhetoric from the right is eerily similar.
I love to taunt me some Taliban in the morning
In that sense it's like nearly every war the US has entered.
In what sense? The unnecessary fight part? Or the eerily similar rhetoric part?
I feel bad for the 38% of Americans who still support Bush's war, and especially for those poor people who are forced to fight that war and then resort to things like this.
yeah lbj and kennedy were on the right right ?
the vietnam anti war movement was very weak in the beginning until about 68. compared to the vietnam movement at the same time the movement now is very strong. didn't have any effect but i believe it will.
dave
I hope so.
Burning bodies to taunt others. Fucking sick.
Agree with the sentitments here that the burning of enemy corpes is a barbaric act
Australian TV also broadcast secretly recorded footage from within North Korea this week too, showing some realities of life within that country - public executions, dead bodies in streets etc etc horrid stuff
Mostly the rhetoric, but the unnecessary part works too. Every war the US has been in has involved propaganda aimed towards the masses in effort to convince them the war is just. Can you think of a time when it truly was?
US soldiers seem to have a certain amount of non-thinking bravado. As though the things they do will have no resonanace. Was a bit unnerving. Especially with the Psy-Ops dudes who wrote really childish taunts that they would have translated into Pashtun to go over the loudspeakers. Like they were at a fun fair having a laugh. Not something you'd expect from professionals.
Looking for a few guilty Taliban, yet pissing off 1000s of innocent civilians unnecessarily is not a good look.
And playing heavy metal music while driving through the villages to purposely piss people off seemed a tad immature. And would not endear you to the locals. The scene where the soldiers smash down some old guys door then walk in & then start apologising patronisingly... in English to the obviously scared old man verged on the ridiculous.
yo i wanna see this stuff. anyone got links?
here's a link to the program on which the item screened:
http://abc.net.au/foreign/content/2005/s1479934.htm
Actually Dave, I was talking about the kind of "If you're against the war you're a traitor" stuff, perpetuated by the right wing then, and now.