Islamic group demands inquiry into ‘gag’ photo

The Marine Corps Times ^ | April 9, 2004 | Laura Bailey

[tdadams]

An Islamic civil liberties group has called for a Pentagon investigation into an apparent gag photograph of a Marine in Iraq taken during the last year.

In the photo, a smiling Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux Jr. is standing next to two Iraqi boys. All three have their thumbs up as one of the boys holds a cardboard sign that reads “Lcpl Boudreaux killed my Dad, th[en] he knocked up my sister!”

The photo has been circulating around the Internet for at least a month.

On April 2, a Muslim upset by the image e-mailed the photo to the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. The organization, which describes itself as America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, promptly issued a press release calling for an investigation, said organization spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.

“We’re asking ‘was it legitimate, what were the circumstances, did this guy do these crimes or was it a joke?’” Hooper said April 5.

In the April 2 release, the council called on the Defense Department to take action “to let military personnel know that such behavior harms America’s image and will not be tolerated.”

“If the United States Army is seeking to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, this is the wrong way to accomplish that goal,” stated council executive director Nihad Awad in the release.

Boudreaux is a reservist with Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, according to Capt. Jeff Pool, a Marine Forces Reserve spokesman. The New Orleans-based infantry unit deployed to the Kut area of Iraq in May and returned home in mid-September.

Pool said the command began an investigation shortly after it received the photo via e-mail several weeks ago.

Investigating officers have spoken with Boudreaux and are working to determine whether the claims on the sign are true and what, if any, charges to bring against him, Pool said. Investigation results were not expected to be released for another week or two, Marines Forces Reserve spokesman Capt. Patrick Kerr said April 8.

One Arab-American Marine who teaches culture to fellow military personnel called the photo “deplorable” and said such behavior is a serious issue to be addressed.

Gunnery Sgt. Jamal Baadani, the president and founder of the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, is on a one-year tour in the Middle East. There, he gives cultural lessons to newly assigned personnel and is Chief of Host Nation Training Support Coordination.

“This picture and sign directed towards a Muslim family is inexcusable,” he said via e-mail. “Inexcusable because if this lance corporal was given a basic class on Islam, he would have known that remarks such as ‘knocking up’ a Muslim Arab woman is not tolerated and violates the honor of a Muslim woman and her family.

“If it was a local Iraq Arab that did this, he would have been shot by a family member on the spot for violating their family honor,” he said.

[tdadams]

Not using the best judgment for a Marine.

[hobbes1]

Maybe not the best judgement, but a damn fine sense of humor.

[Bikers4Bush]

“If it was a local Iraq Arab that did this, he would have been shot by a family member on the spot for violating their family honor,” he said.

And therein lies the difference you cair losers.

I thinks it's hilarious. Apparently muslims can't take a joke, I'm shocked at this realization.

[tdadams]

True enough, it's funny. But I have to shake my head thinking about how that makes us look when we're trying to build a shaky democracy in a vital area of the world where we're already viewed with suspicion.

[hobbes1]

Well, it isn;t surprising, going back to the Cradle of Civilization days, the Semitic people have always had the market on Stand up comedy cornered.

[MrB]

Registered could have made a better photo than that.

[RightWhale]

An Islamic civil liberties group

Is there a Christian civil liberties group?

[dirtboy]

An Islamic civil liberties group has called for a Pentagon investigation into an apparent gag photograph of a Marine in Iraq taken during the last year.

I wonder if this group also called for an investigation and action against those who killed and mutilated the four American contractors.

Naaahhhh...

[untenured]

Has it been established that this is not some Photoshop hoax? This article implies that it has.

[thoughtomator]

Wasn't that photo already demonstrated to be a fraud? It had the font code for the sign text embedded inside the photo file.

[2banana]

“Inexcusable because if this lance corporal was given a basic class on Islam, he would have known that remarks such as ‘knocking up’ a Muslim Arab woman is not tolerated and violates the honor of a Muslim woman and her family.

Islam is such a sick joke. What about the "honor" of burning people alive and stringing up their mutilated bodies on bridges...

[MississippiMan]

I guess it's looking like the photo is real, then? If so, it's utterly despicable, not to mention stupid to the Nth degree. Being an American Marine doesn't excuse it or make it funny or anything of the kind. This isn't who we need representing us on the battlefield or anywhere else.

MM

[Rummyfan]

Is the photo for real? Lance Corporal Boudreaux? Isn't 'Boudreaux' just about the most common Cajun name used in Cajun jokes? Who cares if CAIR has their knickers in a twist anwyay?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Investigating officers have spoken with Boudreaux and are working to determine whether the claims on the sign are true and what, if any, charges to bring against him, Pool said.

I'd like to know what Boudreaux said during this conversation.

Did he write these words on this sign or did he deny it? Is it a Photoshop job and a hoax?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[highlander_UW]

An Islamic civil liberties group

Now there's an oxymoron for ya.

As for the "joke"...it was in very poor taste.

[null and void]

As for the "joke"...it was in very poor taste.

15 posted on 04/13/2004 9:09:54 AM PDT by highlander_UW ("Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do." Benjamin Franklin)

[BadAndy]

“We’re asking ‘was it legitimate, what were the circumstances, did this guy do these crimes or was it a joke?’”


What crimes? Killing an Iraqi (a soldier presumably) or impregnating an indigenous female?

[tdadams]

I'm not sure. This is the first I've heard of it. Considering the source, I would tend to believe it's depicting an actual occurance.

[AnnaZ]

I hope this photo is a fake. I'm all for a chuckle or two, but I find this to be painfully disrespectful.

[muawiyah]

Why don't the CAIR guys go over there and take a bullet to redeem everybody's honor ~ show how civilized you can get living here.