Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

 

13 January 2012

FEARS THAT VIDEO MAY NOT BE USED PROPERLY

 

Four US marines have been videoed in Afghanistan pissing on a group of dead Taliban fighters, according to the BBC website on 13 January 2012. At least one of the dead fighters is covered in blood.

 

A man’s voice is heard on the video saying: “Have a great day, buddy.”

 

All four marines are said to have been identified by the US Navy but their names have not been released.

 

The battalion to which the marines belonged is reported as having been active in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as at the notorious US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba where suspects are detained indefinitely without trial in what are said to have been inhuman conditions.

 

It is not clear who released the footage, but correspondents say that it appears to be authentic.

 

The clip has been called “disgusting” and “inhuman” by both US and Afghan officials.

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her “dismay” at the images, according to the BBC, while Afghan President Hamid Karzai is said to have requested the “most severe punishment” for those responsible.

 

In an address to military personnel at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Thursday, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is reported as saying that the video could jeopardise the prospects for US-Afghan peace talks.

 

“The danger is that this kind of video can be misused in many ways to undermine what we are trying to do in Afghanistan and the possibility of reconciliation,” Panetta is quoted as saying.

 

 

 

COMMENT BY ANTIGONE1984

 

 

We note that it is okay to kill people but not to piss on their bodies.

 

Got that?

 

However, we note also that  what seems to bother US defence secretary Leon Panetta is the video, rather than the fact that US marines have pissed  on the bodies of dead Afghans.  

 

Panetta is quoted as saying that “this kind of video can be misused in many ways”.

 

Misused?

 

No need for misuse, we think. 

 

This video speaks for itself without any misuse.

 

Have a great day, buddies.

 

 

THE AFGHAN WAR

 

Afghanistan is occupied by the International Security Assistance Force, a United Nations-mandated military alliance led by the US and including troops from up to 46 countries, including the United Kingdom. The occupation and accompanying war has now lasted for over 10 years. The US alone is thought to have about 90,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, including 20,000 marines. The foreign troops have been fighting al-Qaida, the Taliban and other native opponents of foreign military occupation.

 

 

 

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