E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSArmy officials are conducting a criminal investigation into newly revealed photographs showing U.S. troops posing with body parts of dead Afghan suicide bombers. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Updated at 2 p.m. ET: KABUL: The Los Angeles Times published photos showing U.S. troops posing with the body parts of dead suicide bombers in Afghanistan on Wednesday, prompting condemnations from American officials even before the pictures were posted on the newspaper's website.
A total of 18 pictures showing soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were taken in 2010 and given to the Times by a soldier who served with the 82nd Airborne's 4th Brigade Combat Team from Ft. Bragg, N.C., the newspaper reported. Only two of the 18 photos appeared on the site.
In an apparent attempt at damage control, the commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said in a statement -- issued before the photographs and story appeared on the Times' site -- that he condemned the apparent actions of U.S. personnel in the pictures.
Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads
"The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Gen. John R. Allen, strongly condemns the actions depicted in photos released by LA Times that appear to show U.S. Army personnel posing with the bodies of insurgents who killed themselves in suicide attacks in 2010," NATO said in a statement, according to NBC News.
"The actions of the individuals photographed do not represent the policies of ISAF or the U.S. Army," Allen said.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday also condemned the photos. In addition, he made a point to slam the L.A. Times for publishing them, saying he regrets that they were ever made public.
"This is war and I know that war is ugly and it's violent and I know that young people sometimes caught up in the moment make some very foolish decisions," Panetta said. "I am not excusing that. I am not excusing that behavior but neither do I want these images to bring further injury to our people or to our relationship with the Afghan people." Panetta said.
Pictures taken two years ago showing American soldiers posing with the severed legs of a dead Taliban suicide bomber are being condemned by the Pentagon. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
"We had urged the LA Times not to run those photos. The reason for that is those kinds of photos are used by the enemy to incite violence and lives have been lost as a result of the publications of similar photos in the past. We regret that they were published," Panetta said.
In an earlier statement issued by the Pentagon, Panetta said: "These images by no means represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan today.
Panetta said an investigation that could lead to disciplinary measures is underway.
The news comes at a time of growing sensitivity over the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan after a series of damaging and embarrassing incidents involving U.S. troops.
Video: Defense chief slams 'deplorable' Marine video
In January, a video surfaced showing U.S. Marines urinating on Taliban corpses and then came widespread uproar in Afghanistan over the burning of copies of the Quran at the main American base in the country.
Then on March 17 people, mostly children and women, were killed in two villages of Kandahar province in an unexplained shooting rampage blamed on a U.S. soldier. At the time, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for NATO forces to pull out of rural areas and stay in their bases, saying he was at the "end of the rope."
A spike in so-called green-on-blue attacks -- by Afghan army and police on U.S. and other foreign forces -- has stoked concern that some of that anger is spilling over into the security forces and turning them against their Western allies.
The Pentagon said it was investigating Wednesday's incident, which could lead to disciplinary measures.
"Anyone found responsible for this inhuman conduct will be held accountable in accordance with our military justice system,” the statement said.
"The danger is that this material could be used by the enemy to incite violence against U.S. and Afghan service members in Afghanistan. U.S. forces in the country are taking security measures to guard against it," it added.
A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai declined to comment on the report, telling NBC News it would be inappropriate to do so for the time being.
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker also condemned the actions depicted in photos.
NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Afghan schoolgirls poisoned in anti-education attack
- Scandal sends China's netizens into a feeding frenzy
- Norway mass killer Anders Breivik: I 'would do it all again'
- Japanese island man lives as naked hermit
- Microsoft Africa chairman named interim leader of Mali
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
What if it was the Taliban posing with or pissing on your dead brother?
you are a pathetic mooslim lover!
I saw your reality show...."I married a mooslim..."
Your a pathetic Bigot. Why don't you get your boots on the ground. You'd probably be a REMF and still crap your pants. All your bravado is hidden behind stupid posts. It's not Islam, it's not Judaism, It's not Christianity...it's people who think like you that are the detriment through your subjective judgements towards people.
ro45, they already do that , and have been doing it for years , they shouldnt keep trying to catch bullets (or blow themselves up)if they dont want there picture taken with our guys
In all the above posts, it is very easy to identify the writers who have never served, or even tried to serve, in the U.S. military.
They are the tough talking armchair heroes. Sitting home, eating Cheetos and watching porn.
These are the cowards who get us into these wars - and then sit home shooting off their mouths.
Larry maybe some of us had an education and didn't want to what YOU call serve we chose another lifestyle, Not one that almost guarantees us some sort of lifelong Disability check notice I said check not lifelong Disability. These guys are getting Purple Hearts for dropping a loaded magazine on their big toe, Or coming up with some other BS injury so they can get their check they think it's an entitlement and judging by the DV license plates I see on every other car I pass on the roads I guess it is Malingerers taking it away from those who are truly injured and deserve it (SHAME)
That's amusing rank, my brother's whole left side is pretty much useless now, they hit an IED, he didn't get a purple heart, and they only gave him a 40% disability, my brother was a medic who wanted to be a doctor when he left the Army, that's never going to happen now.
My husband served 26 years had both ankles shattered and a shoulder,(his Humvee was up armored) and numerous other injuries over the years he didn't get a purple heart either,
So until you know wtf you're talking about you should probably just shush.
You go girl!
rank , your post is a disgrace to all Americans. these people are protecting your freedom and security. you dont get a purple heart for dropping a loaded magazine on your foot , they are only given for injuries from apposing troops( unless you are john kerry) go get your welfare check. P.S. 1sgfitzswife4id thank your brother and husband for me ...
JEEEEZZZZ!
I think if the guy blew HIMSELF up, a few "Hey, how those virgins working out for ya'" pictures are called for!
6 months into the Iraq war a buddy of my friend came over after getting back, and he was showing up photos of him posing with bodies. I thought it wrong at the time, but...I wasn't there and hey if someone is trying to kill me, I can't picture having any type of respect for them. Just crazy how media is making this bigger than it is, it's WAR....technology is brining it home faster, do you think nothing like this happend in other Wars?
@top gun
I am confident you'll be much better after a reality check.
I'm glad that "MOSinEUR's" absolutely reckless comment that these soldiers have every right to take a "trophy photo" of dead bodies is the first post here. Gives everyone an opportunity to see how these soldiers themselves think and how "slaughterhouse soldier" Robert Bales thinks.
Bales might have had an excuse – he was over there fighting and in mortal danger in an absolutely hideous, wasteful war.
But what a coward you are. MOSinEUR. How impractical and stupid you are.
For every hateful, macho, self-indulgent act like this, MORE AMERICAN SOLDIERS END UP DEAD.
Get it, fool?
You can sit there in front of your computer and spout off – totally and utterly safe, totally and utterly unaccountable – all the while encouraging acts that the military itself BEGS soldiers not to engage in. Why? BECAUSE MORE AMERICAN SOLDIERS END UP DEAD.
OBAMA needs to do his job and get control of our troops!
Progress,
Their technology will not warrant more dead Americans Soldiers. They just wish there were more dead Americans.
Now, let's turn the tables a little. Kill an American Marine and use a crane to hang his dead (beaten to death, dragged through the streets) body by the neck so the town can throw rocks and beat his dead body with sticks for the fun of it all the while taking TROPHY photo's while chanting (KILL AMERICANS) and you know what you "definitely" get? MORE DEAD AFGHANS/IRAQI'S ETC...
Why, because "OUR" technology "can" warrant it. Thanks for listenin'
Out...
The "lets blame Obama" game. Now the president has to be at the war front too?
The problem with this is that it's never well perceived, no matter how justified you think it is to pose with the remains of the enemy. It's photographs like this that get released to the media and on the internet. It's photos like this that draw all the negative attention. It's photos like this that taint the good our other military personnel do and make them targets for retaliation.
WHAT's wrong with that? These are terrorists not hero, they killed innocent people. They're lower than animal! So taken picture with them should even be consider a honor to those terrorists!!!
What!? Not sure what your sayin' man
I served in Iraq and survived; but, there were numerous suicide bomb attempts in the area where I worked. The adrenaline rush of being part of any of that can't be put into words. Surviving and then taking a picture of the retard who tried to kill you doesn't bother me one bit. My Marine son was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan and will be 100 percent disabled the rest of his life--any Afghan government or military official feel bad about my son? I doubt it. And I just learned this week that an 82nd Airborne Soldier from my home state stepped on a land mine a couple weeks ago and lost both legs and both arms. He is maybe 25 years old with a wife and baby back home. Anyone from Afghanistan feel bad for him? War sucks. Fighting a war is just that...it's fighting. When someone celebrates a battle victory, I say, "Good." Let's bring our fighters home as soon as possible--we'll have the next few decades of reminders of just how nice our fighting heroes were treated while going after the bad people.
God bless you, your son, the 82nd AB soldier, all our troops and America. Live on, Live strong.
Thank you for your efforts and big American hearts and souls.
Out...
Blessings to you WarDad, my brother was a medic, same thing happened to him a couple of years ago, thankfully he didn't lose any body parts but his whole left side was blown to hell and it ended his dreams of being a doctor.
We all know war is ugly, WTF do you expect, American GIs are honorable soldiers, but really WTF do you expect when you live with the madness of killing. To hell with the Afghanis, they do not deserve the gift of FREEDOM we are trying to give them. Mr President, get us the hell out of CORRUPT Afghanistan!!! Karzai SUCKS!!!!
I feel that any human being who is that twisted in their mind,American or whoever needs to be punished and remove from society. This is just morbid and it turned our PROUD military into nothing more than weak ass al-quaida freaks. They want to hang bodies from bridges,that's there thing,we are suppossed to be above them,not living in holes and using childredn to kill innocent people. This is disgusting,imagine how those soldiers would of felt if it were their dead bodies in the picture. These people have families with youn innocent children and this is how we,Americans, prove we are there to help. BULL@!$%#!
"The actions of the individuals photographed do not represent the policies of ISAF or the U.S. Army," Allen was quoted as saying.
And yet most of you say it does! Time to fire Traitor Allen, eh!
"These pictures will result in more retaliations"? Oh, do they need an excuse? The bomber who blew himself up, hoping to take as many others with him as possible has achieved the immortality, though not exactly the way he wished, through this "Kodak Moment". To loosely quote Shakespeare.."methinks thou doe'st protest too much"....loosely.
"The actions of the individuals photographed do not represent the policies of ISAF or the U.S. Army," Allen was quoted as saying.
What a lying jerk. How many "isolated incidents" does this make now? 123? I smell a pattern!
Nor do the actions of the enemies. Give us a break man........ heh
Sure it's not your upper lip?
I just hope the Army does not go around punishing our soldiers for surviving suicide attacks.
Our soldiers deserve celebrating with the left over of those that blow up women and children.
Congratulations guys!!!! Now come home. Your families need you here too.
geeeessssshhhhh-
When my husband was in Iraq the last time, they would be watching the gates because they could tell who the suicide bombers were, he said they'd be all sweating and shaking and 3/4 of the time they'd end up blowing themselves up at least 1500 feet from where they were supposed to (killing/hurting no one but themselves) They just laughed at the dumbassness of it, but no one ever thought to take pictures or video, or at least none that we've heard of.
I personally don't see anything wrong with this, those people blew themselves up, the only thing I can think of is I hope they didn't hurt or kill any of our soldiers in the process.
I was too old for Iraq however, know the feeling. I was scared to death. As a kid, we all watched movies and what I remember from the movies, never compared to the real thing. Movies show heroes with the big ol' pat's on the back and everyone loves you, your now popular as hell man.
The real deal is pretty much the opposite in a soldiers mind. No matter how good or bad things turn out in the zone, a soldier is scared to death which actually heightens your awareness. One shot, one kill. Not fun however, satisfying that your training was successful and your still alive.
My husband did 26 years (recently retired) we always laugh because he went to Desert Storm when I was in 9th grade, he's ten years older than myself. His last deployment was 2008, his major gripe was soldier's from other countries, he had one that was supposed to be doing the watch tower he was from someplace in Africa if I remember correctly, but I wouldn't quote me on it. Every time a round would go off this soldier would duck and start freaking out, he didn't understand the difference (until my husband showed him) between an outgoing round and an incoming round, a story I would love to share but not on an open blog lol. My husbands division was the first one in the whole time of being in Iraq to bring everyone and everything home.
What do the people want from our soldiers. So what if they take pictures with terrorist corpse. The terrorists came to kill, to destroy and to humiliate. They would do worst than we do. They would burn American soldier's bodies in public, spit on the bodies, bit them, then burn them and celebrate. Is the soldiers's doing a crime? Why did they go to war for? What is the reason of them dying for? What are they fighting for? What about those who did not die, why can they celebrate when they kill they enemies? And since when taking pictures with dead bodies become a crime. American politicians want to change everything their ways and want people to follow them. They want to show a picture of a perfect human being when they are full of it. They want to show that they know God better or they are the one to carry the words of God to the world better than anyone else. Americans need to realize and understand that they are not supper human being. The country happend to be a wold power. That's all. Wold power which means if a nation doesn't comply with the world power's want, that nation will be invaded and will be forced to comply herself with the demands. The American news media make a more complicated situation for our soldiers by publishing certains events that endenger the lives of the American soldiers. Can't they stop that too?
What a bunch of pansy assed whining cry babies. What it comes down to in combat, or whatever you want to call it, is kill your enemy! There is no nice way to do that and we're talking about an enemy that chops the heads off of captives, brutalizes women, kills children in the name of Allah, total animals. Last time I checked, you don't win battles by being nice or respectful to people like this and anything you can do to raise rear in their ranks helps win battles. I would be dipping my bullets in pigs blood, taking pictures of it and leaving them on the dead Muslims so others can find them and know we're not f__king around! I'm sure the same people who are upset and shocked about this, would have rather seen the bombers succeed in killing our troops. By the way, most of those attacks against our troops are filmed and put up on Islamic web sites to inspire more martyrs. We need to get in there, kill every last one of them. We need to do what Black Jack Pershing did, start burying the Muslim dead with pigs and let them know that's the end they all will face if they keep fighting the war the way they do. They will never be our friends or allies and always will be a threat to the West. They need to know we're going to exterminate them if they keep on with their Jihad.
Like McDonalds said when it made the chicken McNugget.....parts is parts.....same with a suicide bomber.
It would p--- me off if they were standing with bodies of victims, but they are not. I may be called a liberal by most, but when it comes to kill or be killed I will choose to survive. Who are the other troops in this picture?
Those POS that we have been giving our sons and daughters for that blow themselves up deserve to be treated like the killers they are.
Anyone who thinks this does not go on when OUR solders are killed have their heads up their butts.
I want to see all the news agencies publish picture of how our solders are treated when blown up. NOT a pretty picture from what the returning vets here are living with.
MSNBC and the Liberal Media's endless war on the military. I sometimes wonder if their propaganda is in support of the Taliban or other anti-American cause.
I haven't been there or done that like other folks are touting here, but that doesn't mean you neglect right from wrong (ie. respect for the dead and your enemy). It seems like these soldiers need some mental therapy and should be treated (not condemned) because taking a photo with a deer, boar, elephant, is one thing but with another human being is another. What are you going to do with the photo anyway? Hang it on your wall in your house proudly displayed?? I don't think so. This is a photo showing the face of revenge and dishonor. Also, the media should be condemned in its own right for posting these and other photos of the situation - Who needs to see this?
Anyway, what do I know - the US murders thousands of babies a day so why should our population, be it civilian or soldier, be held to a higher standard.
Leon Pannetta, and the rest of our leaders are pussies for condeming our troops for taking a picture with a dead suicide bomber. The suicide bomber tried to kill our troops and allies, but they focus on a photo of the survivors being happy the bomber is dead. Wow, what a nation of wimps we have become. no wonder we are losing this war. You all better start learning to speak Chinese, or Arabic because unless the USA grows a spine it is all over.
Yeah right!? Like as if "we" killed the guy. WTF man!