US troops burned bodies in Afghanistan because “they stank”: report

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/October/subcontinent_October836.xml§ion=subcontinent

WASHINGTON - US soldiers burned the bodies of two Taleban fighters in Afghanistan because villagers had not claimed them a day after they were killed and the bodies “were bloated and they stank,” a US magazine reported late Friday, citing soldiers who were present at the incident.

Australian television reported on Wednesday that soldiers had burned the bodies of two suspected Taleban militants and afterwards used the incident to insult villagers and try to provoke them into attacking US-led coalition troops.

The incident has prompted a US military investigation into the alleged desecration of the corpses, which is in violation of the Geneva Convention on human rights.

It also further clouds the United States’s reputation, already tarnished by the sexual humiliation of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and allegations of mistreatment of “war on terror” inmates at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

[Montauk6]

1. I guess burning incense was out of the question?

[Burning Water]

16. It could

have been a health problem. Rotting corpses can spread all sorts of diseases.

[oasis]

18. It could have been a taunt to other Taliban fighters. Since that's what

was initally reported.

[Greeby]

2. Bet they smelled spring-time fresh after you burned them, huh?

Assholes :puke:

[norml]

10. I love the smell of burning bodies in the morning.

It smells like, victory.

[ohio_liberal]

3. If that is the case, why didn't they just bury them?

:shrug:

[YDogg]

5. Or why didn't they just leave?

This sounds fishy to me.

[ohio_liberal]

6. Making excuses for illegal behavior

They burned those bodies to set an example, that's all there is to it. In the first Gulf War they buried the bodies of Iraqi soldiers even days after they died (and sometimes even with bulldozers--we all heard those stories). They were stinking by then. In the beginning of 2.0 they told Iraqis to come into the streets to gather their dead and bury them. They gave the dead some small bit of dignity. This is just the opposite.

[kurth]

13. Well, digging is... hard work

Plus, there was no place to bury them... Ya know, land is scarce in Afghanistan. GEEEZ.

[maddezmom]

4. here's the Time article

Stench Prompted U.S. Troops to Burn Corpseshttp://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1121939,00.html

[KharmaTrain]

7. Something Does "Stank" Here

A Vietnam pal would relate stories of S & D missions he'd go on where they'd encounter a small VC unit...the enemy was killed, counted and then the bodies were always quickly dumped in the nearest town and "let the local handle the mess".

Thus this body burning story is disturbing, but it seems there's something missing from both the Australian TV report and this article that lacks credibility. It's hard to determine the troops or even the corpse and it was heavily edited.

I'd like to think our military hasn't become so ghoulish and to do something that they surely knows is one of the biggest taboos in the Moslem world. But then in the culture of Gitmo and Abu Grahb, this isn't the same military it was in Vietnam or WWII.

Now this story has been out for at least 3 days and I really haven't seen any reaction in the Arab world...surely nowhere near the reaction to the Koran flushing story. This also makes me wonder.

[chat_noir]

15. Afghan clerics

Afghan clerics say video may spur an anti-American backlash

KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States has gone to great lengths to win over Afghans, sending billions in aid and using its troops for humanitarian work.

But TV footage purportedly showing U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of Taliban rebels threatens to fray that goodwill.

With Islamic clerics warning of a violent anti-American backlash, the alleged desecration of dead Muslims has American commanders scrambling to contain a public relations calamity that comes as they struggle to bolster support for their war against a stubborn insurgency.

By Daniel Cooney
The Associated Press

[norml]

8. China Daily had this first. I posted it last night.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5130483&mesg_id=5130483

[rodeodance]

9. says there was 'world outrage"

From China Daily:

Earlier, Lieutenant Eric Nelson, the leader of B Company, I-508 platoon 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 were not locals but Pakistanis, said one US Army officer, the magazine said.


The magazine said it was then that Nelson took a decision that could jeopardize his career.

"We decided to burn the bodies ... because they were bloated and they stank," Time reported, citing a soldier.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Gosh, American GI's no longer carry shovels?

Or, is the Pentagon "contracting out" digging now?

What a crock.

[d59cy6]

12. Notice the media self-censoring

I noticed in some of the initial media accounts they carefully censored out the part where the psyops guys called the enemy 'Lady-Boys' (essentially the same as saying 'fags' or 'nig*er'). That alone is a violation of military policy. Remember when in Desert Storm there was a photo released with a bomb on which soldier's had scrawled something like "Die you fags"? There is some really sick stuff going on because out soldiers have been given the green light that anything goes because Bush is so desperate to save face.

Also, notice that from just the existing video, the Pentagon has already specifically condemned what they saw. That is very interesting because obviously there is now a strong attempt to backtrack and undoubtedly anyone prosecuted will just get a wrist slap. So if the soldiers were just acting to protect heigene, then what specifically is the Pentagon strongly condemning right now?

[LynnTheDem]

14. So are we still "ALLEGING"? We ALLEGE we burnt them instead of

burying them coz they "stank"?

Yeah sure.

[Zodiak]

17. Bodies do not stink and become bloated within a day of death.

That is a little accelerated, especially in the dry landscape of Afghanistan. Now when one dies, one poops the pants, but that is hardly a reson to burn a body.

For an excuse to be valid, it has to at least be believable.

Putrefaction generally starts to occur after 4 days post-mortem. In Afghanistan, I see no reason why the process would be accelerated.

Black putrefaction is the really stinky stage, and that doesnt occur until about a week or more after death.

This news piece relies on the fact that most Americans know very little about death.

[progressivebydesign]

19. Did you hear the host on NPR TRYING to spin this from the man there?

It was pathetic. The fellow who filmed this was saying that he captured the entire thing on film, and wants it to be judged by the people who see it, and he would not try to attach his own interpretation on it.. but what he saw was the troops deciding to burn the bodies on ORDERS, but that the pysc ops came over and began broadcasting the fact that the bodies were burned and facing West, etc. The filmer said that he thought they did it to draw out Taliban to fight them... (GREAT let our soldiers be sitting ducks and inticing them to be killed). He said the soldiers were acting on orders to burn them... So the interviewer/host was trying to put words in the filmers mouth... saying 'so you are saying that OTHER people out there are reading bad things into your film, and it really wasn't wrong at all', and the guy had to correct him a few times... but the NPR guy was peddling the story that people were misinterpreting the ENTIRE incident because pysc ops didn't SPECIFICALLY mention Mecca when they broadcast into the village, but rather mentioned that they faced West. NPR has certainly become quite the media lapdog, haven't they?

THese people over there knew exactly what they were doing and why. THe orders to burn the bodies is one thing, but why did they go out of their way to make sure they were violating their religious beliefs, and make sure they all faced the wrong direction WHEN they did it. That's why the filmer was inncorrect in trying to make it sound like the soldiers burned them to simply dispose of them, when the bodies were placed EXACTLY in the direction that was an offense to their religion... saying that psyc ops just came along and noted what had happened is ridiculous. It was ALL planned.

[donsu]

20. in N.O. they put the stinky bodies in the ditches for the alligators

to eat.

heard a first person report. I think on CNN in the late afternoon or early evening yesterday or the day before.

[leftchick]

21. and Iraqis are stripped naked in Abu Ghraib because...

their clothes are dirty! See? it all makes sense now!

:grr:

[countryjake]

22. We decimated Fallujah for behavior like this!

From your article:

"Under the Geneva Convention, the disposal of war dead 'should be honorable, and, if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which the deceased belonged.'"



So that's why they deliberately turned those bodies to the West, against Muslim tradition, and then drove around broadcasting their deed?

The Australian who witnessed and recorded it on tape, had damn well better be watching his own back, even if he is "embedded", since the official "probe" has begun! I've noticed newer reports are no longer even mentioning what he originally reported, that he saw them deliberately turn the bodies to face in the wrong direction, before they lit them on fire.

Sounds as if the decomposition wasn't repugnant enough to stop them from touching them, now doesn't it? They were in such a hurry that they took the time to compose a taunting statement, have it translated and then read from loudspeakers throughout the region?

It's actions like these that put every single one of our soldiers at greater risk and festers the hatred of America throughout even the moderate Muslim world!


From CNN:
U.S. Probes Burning Bodies Report - Thursday, October 20, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/10/20/us.afghan.ap/index.html

~snip~

Shortly after the bodies were burned, the soldiers from the psychological operations unit allegedly read out taunting messages about the act over a loudspeaker to the nearby village, according to a transcript of the program.

"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," said one message read by a soldier, according to the transcript.

The footage did not show the messages being broadcast, though it did show some military vehicles were fitted with speakers and playing loud music.