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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.
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I still can't understand why our soldiers should show "respect" for dead terrorists. Terrorists who, I should add, show absolutely no respect for our dead soldiers (or even live civilians). After they finish urinating on them, which gives the soldiers intense satisfaction, they should bury them facing Las Vegas, with a pork sausage in their mouths. And let the Taliban KNOW this - that if they're caught, we will prevent them from entering Paradise for all eternity.
So your argument is that we should not be expected to behave any nobler or better than terrorists. That a really crumby argument. Basically you're excusing our soldier's barbarism and savagery because that's what the terrorists do.
I suppose, following in true Obama upside down, it's all about me style they could have made them US citizens and dropped on a drone them.......then peed in the crater.
Punishing these marines is just pandering to a very small vocal minority. I bet if you polled Americans 99% of them would support this.
ISLAM = TERROR.
Unfortunately for your argument, that small vocal minority happens to be the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It exists for a reason.
I agree.
I agree Joe.. People who want to punish these amazing men are anti american. Im glad they pissed on them. I wish i could piss on the whole damn place
If you're reading the comment on here you might think decent people are in the minority but I assure you ignorant brazenly violent people are the actual minority.
Alright kids, keep your IPhones in your tents. These video postings are your own downfall. Do I care if you pissed on them? No. But the pussification of the United States does.
So what, They were pissed on. Who cares? Our soldiers get pissed on everyday by our own Government but nobody seems to care. It's war and people are getting shot and blown away and these pukes are protesting a few soldiers pissing on dead bodies. Hell, these pukes do far worse but no one is protesting that!
I'd have taken a @!$%# in their mouths...
code of conduct in america does not exist anymore.
They aren't in America.
If we are at War, the only rule that should be administered to our troops is, there are no rules. If we go to War, We had better mean it. I believe in total annialation of the enemy, and there will be others that get killed. We cannot go around asking, Are you the enemy, and then coddle the Enemy. Our Leaders should all be impeached for charging any of our service people for anything when they are in some god forsaken country getting shot at. All of our leaders should have to go to war as well, then they would know what it is like. We should have the Draft back, and the children of our fearless leaders should all be drafted, no one gets out of it for any reason. That would stop the wars if our leaders precious little punks had to go to war. Paper Tigers is all we have, for Leadership.
So we can shoot them in the face and blow out the back of their heads..its just not okay to piss on them...What a joke this country has become..Get the press out of war zones..we did that in vietnam for a damn good reason.
No. In Vietnam we'd just piss on the ones who were still alive.
and then pitch them out of the helicopter. :)
'we did that in vietnam for a damn good reason.'
Haha, perfect, use one of the most wrong-headed military blunders in our nation's history as an example.
The pussification of America! This is an example of what is wrong with this country...Rules of engagement! There are no rules in war you dumb a** politicians and generals,,,its kill or be killed...you trained these marines to kill, now let them do their job! This sh**hole of a country should have been nuked back into the stone age!
Exactly, eazyray. If we can't look ourselves in the mirror and say, "we caused people to urinate on corpses" we shouldn't wage war. War isn't a chess game. It is a degrading hell.
'its kill or be killed...you trained these marines to kill, now let them do their job!'
Winning a war is not simply a matter of killing. A good general or a politician (I can't believe I'm defending politicians) might understand that but a meat head like you just wants to kill, kill, kill. Good thing the intelligent men are in charge (sort of).
These guys are scapegoats. War is a disgusting, animalistic thing. There's no such thing as a decent war.
This is a serious offense! Urinating in public! -- those guys should be punished! Make them go without lunch or at least no desert.
I think when those who thing this is "deplorable" behavior and any kind of big deal at all....should go serve a hitch getting shot at, ambushed, shelled and attacked. Then they have a comment coming. Not one second sooner.
I'd like to see the result of a non-muslim-world vote on whether ALL muslims should get urinated on. Daily.
They volunteer for such duty and take a oath to be of good character and conduct, becoming a soldier in the USA military.
They should be charged. Unprofessional and against all acts of good conduct, becoming to a soldier. Why ever in the world lower yourself to the enemies standards and morals ?
Well said Bill.
The United States has become the land of the lame and the home of the homosexual. The US military have become kinder and gentler when they should be relentless and heartless (that is how you win a war).
They should have made sure they could not have been identified in the picture. They should have known how america is now and what the military is becoming. Serious underestimation of the risk of cell phone cameras and a trial by public opinion. I don't care if they pissed on their enemy - those guy's camels have probably pissed on them at some point anyway. It'll be o.k. They still get their virgins.
That is war. When you support war, you support brutalizing our young people to the point where they piss on corpses. There's no such thing as polite war.
Teddy Roosevelt would douse muslim captives with pig's blood before executing them. This way they never get their 72 virgins, and die in some crazy muslim damnation. Peeing on those blackhearts is too good for them. Those marines should get commondations!
I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go.
What ? No one needed to take a dump ?
Give these soldiers the medals they deserve, then shut the @!$%# up!!! No one ever said war is fun, ask my father, he said war is HELL!!! I wasn't so lucky, or should i say i was? I did not get to go to war, not even after seven years of trying!
Hero's ! The piss of a marine is to good for those barbarians.
Well what happens over there,should stay over there.
F the ragg heads I would pi$$ed on all of them,even the living
Whizzing on dead scumbags is quite the hoot. Personally, I'd have dropped a deuce on them. But I would not have taken pictures. What happens in combat zones, should stay in combat zones.
Pinch a loaf on those scuzzy bastards!
Don't pee on them let the turd drop some missiles.
They ought to give them a medal and bury those muslims with pigs
When you gotta pee, you gotta pee!
The mistake they made was posting it. Only
Exactly!