U.s. Troops Burned Taliban Bodies

[Proteas]

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Report: U.S. Troops Burned Taliban Bodies
Oct 20 1:12 AM US/Eastern

By MERAIAH FOLEY
Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia

The U.S. military said Wednesday it was investigating a report carried on an Australian television network that claimed American soldiers in Afghanistan burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters and then used the action to taunt other Islamic militants.

The SBS television network broadcast video footage that purportedly showed U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of the suspected Taliban fighters in the hills outside the southern village of Gonbaz, near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

The network said the footage was taken by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont, who told The Associated Press he was embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the U.S. Army earlier this month. Dupont said the burnings happened on Oct. 1.

In the footage, which was seen by the AP, two soldiers who spoke with American accents later read taunting messages that the SBS said were broadcast to the village, which was believed to be harboring Taliban soldiers.

Dupont said the soldiers responsible for the taunting messages were part of a U.S. Army psychological operations unit.

The U.S. military said the Army Criminal Investigation Division had opened an investigation into alleged misconduct that included "the burning of dead enemy combatant bodies under inappropriate circumstances."

"This command takes all allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behavior seriously and has directed an investigation into circumstances surrounding this allegation," Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya said in a statement the U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

Shortly after the bodies were burned, the soldiers from the psychological operations unit allegedly read out taunting messages about the act over a loudspeaker to the nearby village, according to a transcript of the program.

"Taliban, you are all cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies," said one message read by a soldier, according to the transcript.

The footage did not show the messages being broadcast, though it did show some military vehicles were fitted with speakers and playing loud music.

Dupont told the AP the messages had been broadcast in the local dialect but were translated into English for him by members of the Army psychological operations unit.

He declined to provide further information, however, saying his agent was now handling all queries about the footage.

Cremation of bodies is not part of Islamic tradition, which calls for remains to be washed, prayed over, wrapped in white cloth and buried within 24 hours.

Dupont said the soldiers who burned the bodies said they did so for hygiene reasons. However, Dupont said the incendiary messages later broadcast by the U.S. army psychological operations unit indicated they were aware that the cremation would be perceived as a desecration.

"They used that as a psychological warfare, I guess you'd call it. They used the fact that the Taliban were burned facing west (toward Mecca)," Dupont told SBS. "They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them ... . That's the only way they can find them."

Ameer Ali, the head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said burning a body would be considered a desecration in the Islamic faith.

The SBS report suggested the deliberate burning of bodies could violate the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of enemy remains in wartime. Under the Geneva Conventions, soldiers must ensure that the "dead are honorably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged."

Furthermore, the rules state that bodies should not be cremated, "except for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased."

Associated Press Reporter Mike Corder in Sydney contributed to this report.

Source: BREITBART

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[MoralLibertarian]

How many of these stories have been false? The one about Americans intentionally shooting at an Italian journalist was a crock, the one about Americans putting a Qur'an in the toilet was bunk. Why is it that liberals believe all the worst rumors about the US Armed Forces before they are proven?

[smith916]

They dont, they use them as part of a political sceme.

Remeber almost 2 weeks ago? i was saying stuff like.

"99999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999 times ten to the 999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999th power iraqis died in america"

and everyone was like

WTF

and i'm like

I'll put it on move on.org and you'll all be force to beleive me

I tried teaching you a lesson about partisonship and propagating through exageration. i even convinced a few of ya'll that i was being realistic about it.

[RedScorpion]

Lol, I like smith's views on things

Very unique :P

[LazyDrunk]

If the bodies were indeed diseased or had parasites, and the burning action itself was legitimate*, what's wrong with tactics to draw out enemies?

*as prescribed by military law.

[MortifiedPenguins]

seriously whats wrong with doing this. how is buring body's so horrible that it gets this much attention. man i'm becoming more of a america supporter by the minute.

Alright so the burn bodies as taunting, so what, there dead bodies and insurgents, terrorists, freedom fighters whatever you want to call them. they don't fight the traditional rules of warfare or is beheading civilians honorable.

[adamsaysmoesgay]

At 10/20/05 08:52 PM, -LazyDrunk- wrote: If the bodies were indeed diseased or had parasites, and the burning action itself was legitimate*, what's wrong with tactics to draw out enemies?

*as prescribed by military law.

because it is against there religion, and there gunna be real pissed, and kick our asses, thats whats wrong. Are you ready for another bombing? because i know i wont enjoy our economy getting more fucked up then it already is!

[RedScorpion]

At 10/20/05 08:52 PM, -LazyDrunk- wrote: If the bodies were indeed diseased or had parasites, and the burning action itself was legitimate*, what's wrong with tactics to draw out enemies?

*as prescribed by military law.

What ever happened to us being morally superior? But no, its ok, its war, so morals don't ever apply when you're trying to kill each other. At least this is what I get from some people...

Good ol' eye for an eye tactic always works! Yep.

[RedScorpion]

Sorry, I'm just pissed off by all the people who justify deliberate acts of murder, more than necessary torture (aka Torturing for fun!), and other inane acts by using war as an excuse. 'Well, man, they're killing our guys, and their torturin us this way, so lets show em whos better at what!' I'm not necessarily talking about 'torture to get info' or whatever, but things like taunting the enemy so they will attack. WTF?!

Taunting the enemy to attack... so they can kill them... probably the soundest course of action when you are trying to subdue them right?(sarcasm) Those bodies weren't burned for just any logical reason, but for 'psychological warfare'. That only proves the amount of corruption that people have sunk to! If america is the land of freedom - 'morally correct' - and the middle east are the oppressors, why do people sink so low as to do this...

Never mind

[Memorize]

In short, I agree with most responses and dont see what's wrong.

[Jose]

They pointed the bodies towards west (Towards Mecca) and burned the bodies. Then they taunted the taliban fighters to come fight, but when they didn't they called them cowards for not saving the burning bodies of their comrades. I think it was immoral, but within the limits of the geneva convention.

[Grant]

That sounds like a big war! It really scares me!

[RedScorpion]

At 10/20/05 09:34 PM, -Jose- wrote: They pointed the bodies towards west (Towards Mecca) and burned the bodies. Then they taunted the taliban fighters to come fight, but when they didn't they called them cowards for not saving the burning bodies of their comrades. I think it was immoral, but within the limits of the geneva convention.

Unfortunetely, because of how they word it, it is within the limits of the geneva convention - "except for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased." I guess their motives were based on their religion, although not in a good sense :|

[seventy-one]

At 10/20/05 08:56 PM, fenrus1989 wrote: seriously whats wrong with doing this.

Muslims are supposed to be buried not cremated. Anyways, while an immoral act, it still complies with the geneva convention. The question is though, will it spark more acts of violence, they basically just taunted and challenged the terrorists, someone is bound to respond with force...

[Jose]

At 10/20/05 09:41 PM, RedScorpion wrote:
Unfortunetely, because of how they word it, it is within the limits of the geneva convention - "except for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased." I guess their motives were based on their religion, although not in a good sense :|

But their bodies were rotting. They stopped the health risk and used propaganda. They killed two birds with one stone.

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 10/20/05 09:46 PM, seventy-one wrote:

At 10/20/05 08:56 PM, fenrus1989 wrote:

Muslims are supposed to be buried not cremated. Anyways, while an immoral act, it still complies with the geneva convention. The question is though, will it spark more acts of violence, they basically just taunted and challenged the terrorists, someone is bound to respond with force...

yeah i know that much, yes it's sad but it is a warzone and you must do some things your not proud of. though i do not see these people as muslims though. a muslims knows what is written in the koran.

[seventy-one]

At 10/20/05 10:06 PM, fenrus1989 wrote:
yeah i know that much, yes it's sad but it is a warzone and you must do some things your not proud of. though i do not see these people as muslims though. a muslims knows what is written in the koran.

True, I totally agree with you. These people should not have the honor of being called muslims, and I don't see the problem in it. However, my thought was will this act spark more violence. This will definately be another propaganda tool for recruiting more terrorists.

[MoralLibertarian]

At 10/20/05 08:56 PM, fenrus1989 wrote: seriously whats wrong with doing this. how is buring body's so horrible that it gets this much attention. man i'm becoming more of a america supporter by the minute.

It's against Islamic law.

[LazyDrunk]

At 10/20/05 09:15 PM, RedScorpion wrote:
Taunting the enemy to attack... so they can kill them... probably the soundest course of action when you are trying to subdue them right?(sarcasm) Those bodies weren't burned for just any logical reason, but for 'psychological warfare'.

No, they were burnt because burning kills diseases :)

The taunting is what constitutes "psychological warfare, not the necessary burnination.

That only proves the amount of corruption that people have sunk to! If america is the land of freedom - 'morally correct' - and the middle east are the oppressors, why do people sink so low as to do this...

Never mind

Damn right nevermind.

[Blackhawkdown]

I really don't buy the whole "they taunted the nearby village bit".

To start they have images of the bodies being burned, but they didn't record the message, the most icrimating part. That dosen't make much sense.

Also the reporter said that the some of the guys in the psy ops units transtalted the message for him. That makes no sense at all. Lets say they did broadcast the supposed message. Why would they tell the reporter what it means? It makes no sense. Instead of saying "it's a message taunting the people" they would tell the reporter it was something along the lines of "we're telling the people to stay away from the bodies because they were carrying some sort of diases." That way they would have covered their asses and completed their objective.

It truly makes no sense at all when you step back and take a look.

[RemRulzz]

burn body to me this is going to far...

[deadafterall]

OMG! This just in, Osama killed thousands from the world trade center attacks...now what were you talking about again?

[Gunter45]

There doesn't seem to be anything blatantly wrong with their actions, even if it was entirely true. I've seen enough crap from both sides to seriously question the validity in any article having to do with Iraq in its entirety.

[bcdemon]

I really don't see much of an issue with this. As long as the US doesn't bitch when thier soldiers get crispy fried or something.

[fli]

At 10/20/05 08:56 PM, fenrus1989 wrote: seriously whats wrong with doing this. how is buring body's so horrible that it gets this much attention. man i'm becoming more of a america supporter by the minute.

Alright so the burn bodies as taunting, so what, there dead bodies and insurgents, terrorists, freedom fighters whatever you want to call them. they don't fight the traditional rules of warfare or is beheading civilians honorable.

Okay Fenrus, I'm going to sound so snubby right now, but I can't do it any other way.

So what's wrong with this?
We're Americans.

We're suppose to be\ better, in that-- we're not barbaric (supposedly).

While it's sounds bad and it may sound approving, before I say this, let me say that I'm not approving anything-- or mean anything overtly patronizing. It's understandable that the Taliban will act like barbarians... like dogs and dishonorable people.

We're suppose to be better because we're better off as a country--
and we're Americans.

We're not suppose to sink that low of a level.

[adamsaysmoesgay]

At 10/21/05 01:41 AM, Gunter45 wrote: There doesn't seem to be anything blatantly wrong with their actions, even if it was entirely true. I've seen enough crap from both sides to seriously question the validity in any article having to do with Iraq in its entirety.

ok, but when we get bombed again, dont go crying like a baby. This is against there relgious beliefs, and the people that burned the body should atleast go to jail or something

[Der-Ubermensch]

They decapitate people, the US burns corpses... Evening the score would have been burning them alive.

[punisher19848]

I don't care if they did burn a few of those sons of bitches: hell, I commend them for it (if they did)! So your enemy your meciless side!

[Dilapsor]

So how many more videos like this are going to come out before our troops and commanders realise that if they're going to desecrate bodies and molest captives that TAKING PICTURES OF IT IS A BAD FUCKING IDEA?

[RedScorpion]

At 10/21/05 12:56 PM, Dilapsor wrote: So how many more videos like this are going to come out before our troops and commanders realise that if they're going to desecrate bodies and molest captives that TAKING PICTURES OF IT IS A BAD FUCKING IDEA?

Lol, yea, that is pretty stupid