US soldiers 'desecrated Taliban bodies'
James Sturcke and agenciesThursday October 20, 2005Senior US military officials launched an investigation today into claims that US soldiers desecrated the bodies of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as part of a propaganda campaign.Australian investigative news programme Dateline broadcast a film which appeared to show US soldiers burning the bodies of two fighters and using their charred and smoking corpses as a taunt to nearby Islamic militants.The programme, which aired last night, depicted what was described as a US psychological operations team broadcasting over a loudspeaker toward a village thought to be harbouring Taliban fighters and sympathisers.According to a transcript of the program, the soldiers faced the bodies towards Mecca in a deliberately provocative move and set them on fire. One said: "Wow, look at the blood coming out of the mouth on that one, fucking straight death metal."A message was then broadcast over a loudspeaker in the local dialect which, according to the freelance cameraman, Stephen Dupont, embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, said: "Attention, Taliban, you are all cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."The cremation of bodies is not part of Islamic tradition, which calls for remains to be washed, prayed over, wrapped in white cloth and buried within 24 hours. Mr Dupont said the burnings happened on October 1 outside the southern village of Gonbaz, near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar."This alleged action is repugnant to our common values," Major General Jason Kamiya said in a statement from the US base in Bagram, Afghanistan. "This command takes all allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behaviour seriously and has directed an investigation into circumstances surrounding this allegation."Afghanistan's government demanded that those responsible be punished and senior Islamic clerics warned that anti-US demonstrations were likely to break out."This is against Islam. Afghans will be shocked by this news. It is so humiliating," said Faiz Mohammed, a Muslim leader. "There are very, very dangerous consequences from this. People will be very angry."The US military said its army criminal investigation division had opened an investigation into alleged misconduct that included "the burning of dead enemy combatant bodies under inappropriate circumstances".General Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said those responsible must be punished.The footage did not show the messages being broadcast, though it did show some military vehicles fitted with loudspeakers and playing loud music.Mr Dupont said the soldiers who burned the bodies said they did so for hygiene reasons. However, Mr Dupont said the incendiary messages later broadcast by the US army psychological operations unit indicated they were aware that the cremation would be perceived as a desecration."They used that as a psychological warfare, I guess you'd call it. They used the fact that the Taliban were burned facing west [toward Mecca]," he told SBS. "They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them ... That's the only way they can find them."The SBS report suggested the deliberate burning of bodies could violate the Geneva conventions governing the treatment of enemy remains in wartime. Under the conventions, soldiers must ensure that the "dead are honourably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged".The rules also state that bodies should not be cremated "except for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1596556,00.html
James Sturcke and agenciesThursday October 20, 2005Senior US military officials launched an investigation today into claims that US soldiers desecrated the bodies of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as part of a propaganda campaign.Australian investigative news programme Dateline broadcast a film which appeared to show US soldiers burning the bodies of two fighters and using their charred and smoking corpses as a taunt to nearby Islamic militants.The programme, which aired last night, depicted what was described as a US psychological operations team broadcasting over a loudspeaker toward a village thought to be harbouring Taliban fighters and sympathisers.According to a transcript of the program, the soldiers faced the bodies towards Mecca in a deliberately provocative move and set them on fire. One said: "Wow, look at the blood coming out of the mouth on that one, fucking straight death metal."A message was then broadcast over a loudspeaker in the local dialect which, according to the freelance cameraman, Stephen Dupont, embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, said: "Attention, Taliban, you are all cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."The cremation of bodies is not part of Islamic tradition, which calls for remains to be washed, prayed over, wrapped in white cloth and buried within 24 hours. Mr Dupont said the burnings happened on October 1 outside the southern village of Gonbaz, near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar."This alleged action is repugnant to our common values," Major General Jason Kamiya said in a statement from the US base in Bagram, Afghanistan. "This command takes all allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behaviour seriously and has directed an investigation into circumstances surrounding this allegation."Afghanistan's government demanded that those responsible be punished and senior Islamic clerics warned that anti-US demonstrations were likely to break out."This is against Islam. Afghans will be shocked by this news. It is so humiliating," said Faiz Mohammed, a Muslim leader. "There are very, very dangerous consequences from this. People will be very angry."The US military said its army criminal investigation division had opened an investigation into alleged misconduct that included "the burning of dead enemy combatant bodies under inappropriate circumstances".General Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said those responsible must be punished.The footage did not show the messages being broadcast, though it did show some military vehicles fitted with loudspeakers and playing loud music.Mr Dupont said the soldiers who burned the bodies said they did so for hygiene reasons. However, Mr Dupont said the incendiary messages later broadcast by the US army psychological operations unit indicated they were aware that the cremation would be perceived as a desecration."They used that as a psychological warfare, I guess you'd call it. They used the fact that the Taliban were burned facing west [toward Mecca]," he told SBS. "They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them ... That's the only way they can find them."The SBS report suggested the deliberate burning of bodies could violate the Geneva conventions governing the treatment of enemy remains in wartime. Under the conventions, soldiers must ensure that the "dead are honourably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged".The rules also state that bodies should not be cremated "except for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1596556,00.html
posted by Knight at 6:09 PM
