Posted on 10/21/2005 4:34:10 PM PDT by blogblogginaway
The desecration of Taliban dead prompts outrage in Afghanistan
There simply wasn't enough room on the rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan for the U.S. platoon and the corpses of the two Taliban fighters. The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier, and in the 90 degree heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence, soldiers who were present have told TIME. Nor was the U.S. Army unit about to leave — the hilltop commanded a strategic view of the village below where other Taliban were suspected to be hiding.
Earlier, Lt. Eric Nelson, the leader of B Company, I-508 platoon leader had sent word down to Gonbaz asking the villagers to pick up the bodies and bury them according to Muslim ritual. But the villagers refused — probably because the dead fighters weren't locals but Pakistanis, surmised one U.S. army officer.
It was then that Lt. Nelson took the decision that could jeopardize his service career. "We decided to burn the bodies," one soldier recounts, "because they were bloated and they stank." News of this cremation may have remained on these scorching hills of southern Afghanistan, had the gruesome act not been recorded on film by an Australian photojournalist, Stephen Dupont. Instead, when the footage aired on Australian TV on Wednesday, it unleashed world outrage. A Pentagon spokesman described the incident as "repugnant" and said that the army was launching a criminal investigation into the alleged desecration of the corpses, which is in violation of the Geneva Convention on human rights.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Just out of curiousity, what worked where for the British?
But what if they were Hindus? Don't they burn their dead?
"Yeah, why not set up a fund for the funerals of the dead terrorists and bury them with full military honors?"
Well .. I wouldn't go that far - but burying them for sanitary reasons - just digging a hole covering them up - what big deal is that ..?? Decaying flesh attracks all kinds of bugs.
Your reply was over the totally rude, condescending and had no relation to what I said. Good grief! When are you people going to stop this knee-jerk reaction stuff - it's getting tiresome!
Big mistake was allowing the Aussie cameraman anywhere near the area.
And the presstitutes are making like this was a bad thing to say to people who burned 3,000 of our people who had never lifted a hand against them?
I seem to remember a lot of talk over the years, including after Katrina, about having to dispose of dead bodies in a timely manner because of the danger of disease.
The criticism America gets seems closely tied to it being America and thus no action or inaction can go without criticism!
Good grief! What is the matter with people lately! That was a snotty reply and I didn't deserve that and I'm sick of this stuff!
You can explain your opnion without having to attack me!
'xactly---the LTs career is being harmed because he did this in the presence of cameras. He didn't learn the lesson they all should have learned--people who do not have your best interests in mind will use pictures of your actions to do you harm. And the excuse that they stank isn't the most convincing of arguments--I doubt the smell was improved that much by burning them--you'd think they could have dragged them downwind or something if that were truly the issue.
I sure hope there were no Korans in their pockets.
Kills 2 birds with 1 stone.
Exactly. Tying the hands of U.S. soldiers and destroying military careers over the 'sensibilities' of Islamists and CAIR spokesnuts is ridiculous.
Am I the only one, or is anyone else tired of these Bush administration people shooting off their mouths before the facts are known? Kinda like the Bennett thing?
The French too.
"Australian photojournalist, Stephen Dupont"
Should have never allowed a leftist to cover our troops.
"I just don't understand why burn them .. why not just bury them ..??"
What part of rocky hilltop, don't you understand?
Next time they should use the photojournalists as kindling to start the funeral pyre.
The lt could say he converted to asatru the norse religion and he was honoring fellow warriors and getting rid of maggots.
When are we going to ban "embedded reporters"? This was a safety measure, not a desecration. Hindsight as always, is 20/20. What if, after the village refused the bodies, we just pitched them off the cliff? Oh yeah, the little bastard would have snapped photos of that too. Nevermind....
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