US probes 'body desecration' clip

11 January 2012 Last updated at 20:54 ET

The US Marine Corps has pledged to fully investigate the online video

The US military has said it is investigating a video that appears to show a group of Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters.

The Marine Corps said the actions portrayed in the clip, which was posted online but has not yet been verified, were not consistent with its values.

The footage shows four men in military fatigues appearing to urinate on three apparently lifeless men.

A man's voice is heard saying: "Have a great day, buddy."

'Disgusting and immoral'

The men lying on the ground have brown skin, bare feet and are dressed in loose-fitting outfits. One appears to be covered in blood.

The origin of the video is not known, nor is it clear who posted it online.

The men in military fatigues seem aware that they are being filmed.

Pentagon spokesman Capt John Kirby said in a statement: "We are deeply troubled by the video.

"Whoever it is, and whatever the circumstances - which we know is under investigation - it is egregious behaviour and unacceptable for a member of the military."

Marine Corps headquarters at the Pentagon said in a statement: "The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps. This matter will be fully investigated.''

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the video, if verified, showed behaviour that was totally unbecoming of US military personnel.

"We condemn this apparent desecration of the dead as a violation of our nation's military regulations and of international laws of war prohibiting such disgusting and immoral actions,'' the group wrote in a letter faxed to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.

In a separate case, the US military has been prosecuting five soldiers from the Army's 5th Stryker Brigade who are accused of killing Afghan civilians during their deployment in Kandahar province in 2010.

The US has about 20,000 Marines deployed in Afghanistan, based mostly in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. In total, about 90,000 US troops are on the ground in Afghanistan.

The US and its partners in Afghanistan have said they plan to hand over security of the country and withdraw combat troops by the end of 2014.

Continue Reading... Labels: 'body, desecration', probes

Australia probes Obama security slip

Australian officials were working Sunday to trace how a top-secret dossier containing detailed plans for US President Barack Obama's recent visit to Australia came to be found in a gutter.

The 125-page booklet, classified "In Confidence" and containing the phone numbers and contact details of senior personnel from Australia and the US, was found near parliament on Thursday by a Fairfax journalist.

"The incident is currently being investigated," a spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland told AFP.

"In line with long standing practice, the Australian Government does not comment on security matters," he added.

Most of the manual was devoted to a minute-by-minute schedule of Obama's movements during his 27-hour visit to Canberra and Darwin last week, even detailing which car door he would use and the seating arrangements within his convoys.

It also ran through the exact breakdown of his secret service detail and motorcade arrangements, including Obama's ambulance, counter-assault teams, communications and intelligence, according to the journalist, Dylan Welch.

The booklet cover stated that the information was "not to be communicated either directly or indirectly to any person not authorised to receive it", Welch said, and it included contact details for a range of figures.

It also named a long-serving member responsible for Obama's protection.

Welch claimed to have found it in a gutter 100 metres from Parliament House on early on Thursday.

During his Australia tour, Obama addressed a joint sitting of the nation's lawmakers there that morning, before heading to Darwin to address troops.

Continue Reading... Labels: Australia, Obama, probes, security