Photos Show US Soldiers Posing With Afghan Corpses

[zabet]

Photos Show US Soldiers Posing With Afghan Corpses
Army Investigators Seize Photos Of Soldiers Posing With Afghan Corpses, Severed Body Parts

(AP) SEATTLE (AP) - Those who have seen the photos say they are grisly: soldiers beside newly killed bodies, decaying corpses and severed fingers.

The dozens of photos, described in interviews and in e-mails and military documents obtained by The Associated Press, were seized by Army investigators and are a crucial part of the case against five soldiers accused of killing three Afghan civilians earlier this year.

Troops allegedly shared the photos by e-mail and thumb drive like electronic trading cards. Now 60 to 70 of them are being kept tightly shielded from the public and even defense attorneys because of fears they could wind up in the news media and provoke anti-American violence.

"We're in a powder-keg situation here," said Eugene R. Fidell, president of the National Institute for Military Justice and a military law professor at Yale University.

Since the images are not classified, "I think they have to be released if they're going to be evidence in open court in a criminal prosecution," he said.

More here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/01/ap/national/main6919675.shtml

[liberal N proud]

1. Like hunters with their take

Sick!

[Mimosa]

2. That photo is heartbreaking. n/t

[DCKit]

3. I welcome these young men and women back into our society....

after they undergo intensive therapy. Police departments around the country don't seem to be as concerned.

WTF did we think was going to happen?

[gateley]

4. Sending a man or woman into a killing situation has got to fuck with their heads. I'm

thinking it's some kind of self-preservation instinct/reaction or something. I'm surprised there aren't more incidents like this. That we know about.

[texastoast]

5. Such is the life of a soldier

We turn them into animals for us. And why prosecute the soldiers? It's hypocrisy. This is the way of war, and this is SO not the first time something like this has happened, and it just makes things worse--for the families of the deceased, for the soldiers who posed for or took the pictures, and for their own families. If anyone thinks this will be a deterrent to such behavior in the future, I believe you are wrong. My spousal unit received Polaroid photos like this hidden behind other, less offensive, photos from his buddies who went to Vietnam.

Same shit. Different day.

Put this shit squarely on the backs of those deciding to go to war.

[w8liftinglady]

7. I spoke with my partner,an MP during Vietnam,about this...

He indicated that this was not a new behavior...and,much like you said,is seen in people trying to dehumanize killing.War involves killing,folks....and sending the same guys 3 or 4 times...this is what you get.Then,when you get back-and no one supports you(like the US was when he came home from Vietnam..)..or ignores your sacrifice(Like our troops this go-around)...the mind-f&ck internalizes.It worsens with each deployment,with the lack of support at home,with no jobs-so you stay in.
This,my friends,is what you get with war.

[Quantess]

6. Nobody learned their lesson, did they?