Buring the enemy bump.
Posted on 01/15/2014 10:28:46 AM PST by nickcarraway
With Fallujah back under the control of Sunni insurgents, the nightmare of Iraq in 2004 is alive again. Today, TMZ published eight horrifying images, allegedly taken nearly a decade ago in Fallujah, which appear to show U.S. Marines posing next to dead bodies, soaking them in gasoline, and lighting them on fire. The gossip site claims to have published just a few of the 41 photos it obtained — "Many are just too gruesome" — and the military has opened an investigation.
"The actions depicted in these photos are not what we expect from our service members, nor do they represent the honorable and professional service of the more than 2.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Commander Bill Speaks, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, in a statement. "The Marine Corps is currently investigating the veracity of these photos, circumstances involved, and if possible, the identities of the service members involved. The findings from this investigation will determine whether we are able to move forward with any investigation into possible wrongdoing."
There is no statute of limitations on violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The upsetting pictures are not the first of their kind and track with known abuses in the region by U.S. forces at the time. According to a 2005 report from Human Rights Watch, "The torture of detainees reportedly was so widespread and accepted that it became a means of stress relief for soldiers."
The recent fall of Fallujah has brought that time to the surface again for some troops. "It's just like, wow, thanks for dragging up all these memories I tried to forget that were controlling my life," one soldier told the New York Times recently, calling photos of the recent developments "nauseating." "For a while I lived out of a bottle trying to shut the memories off," he said.
I checked out the pictures - the ignorance of those trying to make a big deal of this is stunning.
It appears these people were already dead, so, essentially these were cremations.
With that being true, these burnings were far less gruesome than what the world’s hero, Nelson Mandela, did.
The only thing that upsets me is they apparently forgot to bring bacon bits to the cook-out.
That comment is shameful and disgusting.
Burning large numbers of enemy corpses is simply a necessary public health measure.
Buring the enemy bump.
Oo-rah!
Semper fi!
absolutely nothing shocking to see there .
The Marines were tasked to ferret out a rats nest of foreign jihadis that had infested Fallujah city . They resisted , they were killed . What did they want them to do ? Leave them to rot on the ground ? Or each one given a respectful MOSLEM f-ing funeral , ala Osama bin Laden ?
Personally I would favor lining up the corpses in an open area , running Abrams tanks back and forth over them a bit and then leaving them for the Iraqi dogs to enjoy the remains .
I was in Hue, Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Hundreds of unburied enemy and civilian corpses accumulated. Hue being an urban center there was not enough suitable ground for burial. And with a battle raging public sanitation lost its priority. In some areas of the city bodies were sprinkled with lime by local health officials until they could be safely carted away. Where I was the bodies were doused with diesel fuel and set on fire. This was a temporary fix to ease the odor and flies until the bodies could be properly buried. One natural process going on was packs of hungry dogs who stripped bodies to the bone.
Recall that 10 years ago the Abu Ghraib prison pictures came to light as the GWB administrations first major embarrassment, the first of many to come.
Looking back it was a bad sign as what was to come.
Shocking! Burning the bodies of MUSLIM ENEMY dead?! I think they should have put them in the bottom of a latrine instead- or at least douse them with bacon grease instead of valuable gasoline.These people are the scourge of the earth, NOTHING is more horrifying than them being alive at all, IMO.
We should have burnt the place to the ground instead sending in our Marines.
Yes, these are about the most unshocking ‘shocking photos i have seen in a long time. The Marines pictured are doing a post action (quite a bit post action considering some of the remains are already partially skeletonized) battlefield police up which includes disposing of enemy remains which were a public health problem. One marine is shown posing with an M-16 pointed at the skull of one of these remains. This is shocking? The people going on about this are what is disturbing. We have so many pansy types in the chattering classes that have not the first idea about what a lot of ‘real world’ events are. I remember a prof in college who was very anti-Viet Nam but who had been a combat soldier in the Big War. Some bearded wonder popped off about the atrocious behavior of American soldiers and how they didn't take Viet Cong prisoners. The prof without missing a beat said ‘Of course who takes prisoners on a patrol unless you are supposed to grab one? Who do you think is going to watch them so they don't summon their friends? GI’s want to come back alive that's their first order of business.’ The bearded wonder seemed truly perplexed at this teaching moment.
You know the of all the enemies we have faced the jihadist are about the most despicable and I would say merit being considered human garbage that has somehow become mobile. They are just excrement under the boots of our military. (and hopefully armored vehicle treads as well)
“There is no statute of limitations on violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
Bravo Sierra! There are SOLs for any number of offenses under the UCMJ. Not sure who this reporter’s been getting his info from.
Really?
Have you forgotten the Third Reich? The Japanese? The North Koreans and their Red Chinese comrades? The North Vietnamese, Viet Cong, and their Red Chinese comrades?
We have warred with some really nasty people over the last 100 years. Their nastiness does not detract from the fact that they are human. In fact, their fallen, sinful, depraved humanity has a lot to do with their nastiness.
someone please tell me - after blowing someone’s head off with a .50 round and while his friends and cohorts are still trying to kill you - what’s the proper way to dispose of an enemy corpse laying in the street?
Obviously every troop that went to Iraq should be put on trial, maybe after being extradited to the World Court, for Crimes Against Mohammedan Sensibilities.
You either burn them or you dig a big hole and bulldoze them in. Or you round up the locals and force them to bury them with appropriate funerals and such.
First, you're absolutely right. Second it's a real health hazard having corpses rotting nearby and if you have to hold a position it's a better idea to burn a corpse than to assign already tired troops who may need to put out a lot of effort improving their own position to dig a nice tidy grave. I know for a fact that Marines try to get corpses underground as fast as possible whenever possible.
I also know that anyone who ever had to hold a position in a hot built up area with rotting corpses nearby would be in favor of burning the corpses rather than subjecting troops to the ordeal of adjusting to hordes of corpse fattened flies all over them and their gear not to mention the stench.
If it's up to me, the "proper" disposal of a corpse isn't chit compared to the health and welfare of my people and screw anyone who can't understand that.
What kind of "abuse" is it to burn already rotting bodies stinking up the place?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.