Film rolls as troops burn dead

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | October 19, 2005 | Tom Allard

[Rebelbase]

US soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the bodies of dead Taliban and taunted their opponents about the corpses, in an act deeply offensive to Muslims and in breach of the Geneva conventions.

An investigation by SBS's Dateline program, to be aired tonight, filmed the burning of the bodies.

It also filmed a US Army psychological operations unit broadcasting a message boasting of the burnt corpses into a village believed to be harbouring Taliban.

According to an SBS translation of the message, delivered in the local language, the soldiers accused Taliban fighters near Kandahar of being "cowardly dogs". "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," the message reportedly said.

"You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Taliban 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."

The burning of a body is a deep insult to Muslims. Islam requires burial within 24 hours.

Under the Geneva conventions the burial of war dead "should be honourable, and, if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which the deceased belonged".

US soldiers said they burnt the bodies for hygiene reasons but two reporters, Stephen Dupont and John Martinkus, said the explanation was unbelievable, given they were in an isolated area.

SBS said Australian special forces in Afghanistan were operating from the same base as the US soldiers involved in the incident, although no Australians took part in the action.

The incident is reminiscent of the psychological techniques used in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

[Ciexyz]

I am really sick of attempts by the MSM to "get" the military on some action or other.

[Frank_Discussion]

Aye.

[Dahoser]

Awesome! I'm always glad and eternally grateful that the Marines on my side.

[Stashiu]

Now, you have to remember that the lefties don't do military service, they live off the blood and sweat of others....hence they don't get it, period.

Having said that, I am always disgusted at how they remain silent at the treatment of our citizens and warriors, yet set up a howl when we are not politically correct with folks who are trying to kill us.

The hypocrisy is stunning.

[reluctantwarrior]

If I gather 100 mullahs and burn a corpse after desecrating it in oder to denigrate their religion I have committed a crime against humanity as defined by the UN unless the person was a legal combatant then i cant commit a war crime in the strict legalese of LOAC. War crimes or crimes against a religion can't be allowed, in an insurgency the people are the Strategic terrain and offenses against societal norms fall outside the band of behavior that even the tacit enemy supporters understand and you drive them further into the enemy camp.

[takenoprisoner]

fight fire with fire

[SkyPilot]

Why do lefties ignore this?

Good question.

My take is that they don't want the West to prevail, meaning Judeo-Christian values. They actually fear, loathe, and hate these values more than they fear and hate Islamic fascism.

[ApplegateRanch]

Hey hey Ho ho
UN gotta go
Go go go go go
On the Geneva Ho
Clean sweep,
Wipe your feet
On the UN sheet

Why don't they admit that Geneva doesn't apply to these cowardly dog lady boy disgraces who shame their families?

[Frank_Discussion]

I hope everyone understands I think this action was fine by me. OK?

Eff the damn savages! Feed 'em fatback with a lead chaser.

[Centurion2000]

I'm fresh out of pity for islamic fighters.

SEMPER FI

[rdcorso]

I love the smell of freshly burnt Taliban,in the morning.

[JamesP81]

There was a thread last year in which it was revealed that this kind of taunting was part of the plan to make them come out from their holes in the ground.

The first armored column that entered Baghdad during major combat operations in Iraq did the same thing. It was ingenuous. Instead of slogging through town, house to house, we PO'd them enough that they all came out and attacked the armored column. Needless to say, this didn't work out so well for them.

[Billthedrill]

What, we can kill 'em but we can't insult 'em? Have the Herald reporters dropped into an alternate universe?

[Poodlebrain]

Save the pig blood for dousing the ashes and any embers. We wouldn't want them to reignite and cause a wildfire. Remember the lessons from Smokey Bear.

[whd23]

I'd prefer a film of these scum being hacked up and fed to pigs. Then get the pigs drunk, slaughter them, and burn the pig corpses. And if that's not offensive enough, be sure that the men involved in disposing of the cowards are southpaws.

[takenoprisoner]

Surely these bodies of deceased men is legal according to the geneva convention...(sarc off) Seems some idiots haven't figured out that the war on terror is not exactly a conventional war...henceforth, no need for conventional rules...and especially those mandated by some wussies in geneva a millenia ago.

Burn them all and take no prisoners.

[When do we get liberated?]

Isn't it a shame nobody has come up with pork based marshmallows?

[Safetgiver]

Afghanistan may well be a signatory. Taliban terrorists are NOT as they aren't a country. Afghanistan has a soveriegn government, remember?

[appleharvey]

All's fair I say. As John Rambo said,"They drew first blood."

[metmom]

OTOH, Burning Americans, hitting their charred corpses with sticks, and stringing up their cremains on the local bridge is A-OK...


Right. Do as I say, not as I do. Funny how outraged they get when we treat them as they treat us.