E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
NBC News
The video is believed to have been shot in July 2011 in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Five other Marines have already pleaded guilty.
Two more Marines — including the first officer to be implicated — have been charged in connection with a video that became public last year showing Marines urinating on the dead bodies of insurgents in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps said Friday.
The video, which showed four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men, set off protests across Afghanistan after it was published on YouTube early last year. Five other Marines, two of them sergeants, have already pleaded guilty in plea arrangements that brought light sentences.
The two Marines named in the new charges include the highest-ranked Marine so far implicated in the scandal, Capt. James V. Clement, now stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Va.
He faces an Article 32 hearing — similar to civilian preliminary hearing — on a raft of serious charges, including dereliction of duty, failing to properly supervise junior Marines, failing to stop the misconduct of junior Marines, failing to report misconduct and making false statements to military investigators.
Sgt. Robert W. Richards, who is now stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was charged with dereliction of duty, violation of a lawful general order and conduct prejudicial to the good order and discipline of the armed forces. Richards is alleged to have taken improper photographs that showed the mistreatment of human casualties.
Lt. Gen. Richard Mills, former commanding general of the Marines' Combat Development Command in southwest Afghanistan, will decide on their fates after their Article 32 proceedings, the Marine Corps said.
The incident is believed to have occurred in July 2011 in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, a significant center of Taliban activity and the scene of prolonged fighting between the Taliban and U.S.-led international forces.
The impact of the video rivaled that of the release of photographs showing alleged U.S. torture and human rights abuses against prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, U.S. officials said last month when some of the other Marines pleaded guilty.
"Events like Abu Ghraib and the torture that happened there at that prison certainly acted as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida," said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for the Defense Department. "Certainly, we are concerned about any backlash that might occur."
Then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, "That kind of behavior is deplorable, and I condemn it."
No date was set for Clement's and Richards' hearings.
Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.
Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com
Related:
Leave a Comment:
They should claim they're homosexual and have problems with their partner; then they could leak state secrets and never go to trial.
What I want to see is those guys piss-boarding a live rag head!
if i was there, you would see 5 marines in the pic
Taking a piss on some S#lt in a latrine, so what?
personally I think this is wrong to charge these guys,, what is wrong with this,, why are we bending over for the Muslims, look what they have done to our soldiers, they care less about us,
if the military thinks they need to punish these guys, how making them do KP duty for a day
or jog around the parade grounds, but only one lap
The fact is kids , war is war. We ask our boys to put their lives in harms way and all you libs bitch about how WE conduct business!! @!$%# you! Most of you in here have never been there . You have no clue! So go suck on your bible and see if that will quell your idiot thoughts.
So what's the problem???? I am sick and tired of hearing what offends these people that want to kill us. You know what offends me??? People that get offended.
The apologist nonsense will not let this go.
More reason for Americans to not enlist or stay in the military.
Let all the anti-military, peacenik people fight the next war. I bet they know how to get the job done!
This is bullcrap big time from our so called commander in chief, Obama. HE should have pulled out our sons and daughters from that hell hole where the people pi*s on our sons and daughters daily.
They deserved to be pis*ed on. This is war and so, BFD, so they pi*sed on a few Muslims. Who gives a sh*t anymore? Let those solders be, and get on with the job of getting us the he*l out of that hell hole.
When will the high ranking people who gave the orders to torture be hanged.
All this pissing and moaning over some dead rag heads. Geez, the military is becoming a bunch of wimps. Those dumb ass grunts only crime was posing for pictures. Semper fi
I support anything the men "out front" do to the enemy. Unconditional, unwavering support. They'll never have to worry about me being on a jury that sends them to jail. Just don't take any more pictures dudes..please!! No, I don't give a damn about the U.C.M.J. or any of their kangaroo court martials. They need a stern talking to followed by 20 push ups.
How about rape?
Shooting enemy combatants or civilians that have or are surrendering?
Wiping out an entire village as a "lesson" to anyone thinking of resisting?
Not good conduct, or the image the military wants to project. The photo ended up plastered all over the planet.. I'm not surprised they were reprimanded.
High five on hitting the urinals in unison. Great teamwork! Here's your pissing on the enemy ribbon..
When they are found GUILTY the apporperate punishment would be to have 100 GAY Boy Scouts piss all over'em.
That was a very noble attempt to spell "appropriate." Hey, everyone-- let's listen to that semi-literate angry guy! He probably has something really insightful to say!
Not an article 32, Give those men a Medal of Common Sense
In WWII, we got a surprising amount of information from captured prisoners of war by treating them decently, a complete shock to them, because this was not how our own captured soldiers were being treated. By stooping to the level of those we oppose, we BECOME them!
there is always a time and place for appropriate reaction to existing conditions
@joe....REALLY??????
I think it is a travesty to put our fine men, warriors in our fight against evil people who mean to do us harm, on trial, for simply being warriors
If by "warrior" you mean a person who will attempt to destroy the enemy without any restraint whatsoever, then these men aren't "warriors." Rather, they are soldiers, soldiers who we expect will follow orders. Is that really too complicated for you to grasp?
Oh boo hoo, those bad marines urinated on the dead SOB's. As a few of you have said we would not have won the second WW if the rules of engagement were what they are to-day. My dad was a fireman in the marines hoping from island to island in the south Pacific, He had to burn them out of the caves or cook them whatever was needed. With all the liberal sissies we have in our country to-day he would have had to go to Leavenworth for trying to win a war, which we did succeed in doing. The Msgt that wouldn't allow the Korean refugees across the bridge because they were carrying machine guns on their backs, he to would have been in Leavenworth, he opened up on the SOB's. I to would probably be there also, gee whiz I shot some chinese
I see a lot of ppl that need a urine bath here. i'm sure your families would agree of that sort of treatment, some might even pay extra for treatments. make you better ppl. i'd get the Taliban and a few communists to help, since they have the finest pee. but remember, no crying, right wing nuts, that would be too pc.
So let's get this right. They can cut off Daniel Pearl's head without anything at all being done but a "few good men" piss on some dead bodies and our military is going to prosecute them just to pacify a bunch of towel heads. And that's the only real reason why they're doing it. What a travesty. What's worse is the fate of these good men are in the hands of a bunch of political pundants whose only worry is to not offend the Afghans. I say piss on them too!! I don't agree these men should've done what they did, but to prosecute them for it. Really? These marines deserve a medal.
" our military is going to prosecute them just to pacify a bunch of towel heads. "
No, our military is going to prosecute them because their actions were clearly illegal and brought dishonor to the Marine Corps.
"What's worse is the fate of these good men are in the hands of a bunch of political pundants whose only worry is to not offend the Afghans."
Their fate is not in the hands of "political pundits" (yes, that's how you spell that word, genius). Their fate is in the hands of a military jury made up of members of the military.
pat amoroso, you are in need of a good urine shower.
I think the military or the Obama Administration is making too much about this. War is stressful and I'm sure it was done to relieve tensions and to show hatred towards the enemy. The taliban and other islamic terrorist and jihadists are much worse at what they do. Somalia brings up a few memories of islamic scum.
This is total bullchit charges. The enemy cuts heads and body parts off and we don't bring that up enough in the news,or about all the barbaric and cruel punishment they do not only to our guys but there own people. It is always how we act. Why not bring out in the open who they really are and what they do.