Marine who urinated on corpses in Afghanistan dies at age 28

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Marine-who-urinated-on-corpses-in-Afghanistan-dies-5691196.php

who urinated on corpses in Afghanistan dies

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A decorated retired Marine whose career as a sniper was derailed by a video that showed him urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters has died, his attorney said Friday.

Cpl. Robert Richards, 28, was found dead Wednesday by his wife at their Jacksonville home, Attorney Guy Womack said. Neither foul play nor suicide is suspected.

The death was most likely from Richards changing medications he took because of injuries he suffered in a roadside bomb during one of his three tours in Afghanistan, Womack said.

Richards was demoted from sergeant after a video showed four Camp Lejeune Marines — in full body armor — urinating on three Afghans in 2011. One Marine looks down at the bodies and jokes, "Have a good day, buddy."

The video was posted on YouTube in early 2012. It was condemned internationally and caused outrage in the Middle East.

[Schema Thing]

1. This is definitely a time for me to say nothing at all.

[Initech]

24. +1

[hrmjustin]

2. May he rest in peace.

[pintobean]

3. +1

[In_The_Wind]

9. +1

[bluestateguy]

4. I better just keep quiet and say nothing here

I'll keep my thoughts private

[gyroscope]

5. Winning hearts and minds as always

one (urine-soaked) corpse at a time.

[earthside]

6. The glory and honor of war. n/t

[WinkyDink]

18. Dulce et Decorum est:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes( and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
Thought to have been written between 8 October 1917 and March, 1918
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html

[2banon]

7. Camp Lejeune / Jacksonville is the home of much of my early school years

My dad was stationed there for a number of years, interrupted with tours to Vietnam. In part, Camp Lejeune and the Vietnam war is why and how I became an antiwar activist.

Or maybe it was bound to happen regardless of where I was raised.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. What a tragedy all the way around.

This man was twisted by war and jingoism, as much a victim as a pawn of the Empire.

Humans have the capacity to be magnificent, and the capacity to be deformed in the soul. Nobody really chooses the latter course. It is something wrought upon them by some toxic combinations of genetics and experience. Even a Rove or a Cheney. We need to protect ourselves from these monsters rather than allowing them to climb into positions of power over others, but I think we need also to pity them and, where possible, to heal them.

[Iggo]

10. Anything I say here might be considered desecration of the man who just died.

And that would be utterly disgusting and wrong.

[Avalux]

11. Changing medications caused his death?

I find that very strange, otherwise no comment.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. very strange for a 28 yr old to die from that cause

[murielm99]

26. Heath Ledger...

My husband served on a coroner's jury. A man died from mixing up his meds. He was not this young, but not a senior citizen. It can happen. We are juggling with some very potent drugs these days.

RIP to all concerned.

[bigtree]

13. awful, awful effect of war

. . .

[sabrina 1]

14. Another victim of our illegal occupations of foreign lands.

May he rest in peace!

[Eleanors38]

15. God speed in the next life.

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. Winner of the "creepiest subordinate clause of the year" award:

>>>whose career as a sniper was derailed by a video that showed him urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters>>>>>

Now excuse me while I get mad at whomever took that video!

And LEAKED it. ( No pun intended.)

[PowerToThePeople]

17. Don't get angry...

Now excuse me while I get mad at whomever took that video!

And LEAKED it. ( No pun intended.)

I am proud of whoever leaked the video, as otherwise we would not know the horrible things done in our name.

May this Marine rest in peece.

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. i think he/she was being sarcastic

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. I was being a smartass. A common reaction when war atrocities are revealed....

... I'm not telling you anything you don't know, apparently... is for people ( usually people who are to some degree *responsible* for the policy that produced the atrocity; go figure.) to fly into a demented rage ... not at the atrocity or the person committing it....but at the person or persons who brought said atrocity to their attention.

Manning, Ellsberg, Greenwald, Snowden, et al et al et al.

They're eeeeevil.

*EEEEeeeevil*, I tells ya!!!

[rudolph the red]

19. RIP Devil Dog

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Karma

[99Forever]

23. RIP

May all have more respect for your passing than you did for others.

[delta17]

27. The article is interesting.

He was deployed several times, badly wounded, and saw his friend lose his legs. He did something very wrong by urinating on those corpses. He died at age 28, possibly because of medication for his injuries.

Basically, this guy was put through the ringer and died way too young. I think his story shows that if you send people to war multiple times, without the coping mechanisms that most of us have at home, the results will be ugly. I don't condone what this guy did, but I think the system is partly to blame.

[IronGate]

25. RIP and Semper Fidelis.

I hope he crosses gently.

[Inkfreak]

28. He was young and did something monumentally stupid.

But it is sad that yet another person has died due to an unjust war. May he rest in peace

He did a disrespectful thing. It was incredibly poor form. I have no idea how his life panned out afterword. Maybe he regretted it, maybe not. I hope he did. My thoughts are with his family.