US probes images of marines 'burning dead Iraqis'

[PonderThis]

More of why the world doesn't like us and our warmongering ways: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25759004

Excerpt: "The US Marine Corps says it is trying to determine the authenticity of images published by a celebrity gossip website that appear to show marines burning the bodies of dead Iraqi insurgents.

The website TMZ has published eight photographs and says it has a further 33 that are too graphic to show.

TMZ said it was told the photographs were taken in Falluja in 2004.

A Pentagon spokesman said the actions depicted in the photos "are not what we expect from our service members".

"We are currently investigation the veracity of these photos, circumstances involved, and if possible, the identities of the service members involved," Marine Capt Richard Ulsh said in a statement.

"The findings from this investigation will determine whether we are able to move forward with any investigation into possible wrongdoing."

Falluja was the scene of fighting between US troops and insurgents in 2004

The series of photos show a man in marine uniform pouring what appears to be flammable liquid on dead insurgents, and then setting them ablaze.

Other pictures show bodies on flame, and charred remains.

In one image, a marine is seen posing next to a skull.

Falluja was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between US forces and insurgents during the Iraq war."

Link to 8 of the photos (Warning - Exceedingly graphic): http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/15/iraq-soldi...adid=hero1

[chuck white]

I'm sure that is more sanitary than just letting them rot.

[PonderThis]

Are you proposing that all enemy combatants (and civilian collateral damages) should be similarly treated?

[chuck white]

No, just dead bodies laying around.

[PonderThis]

Well let's create a few more then, so they have something to practice on.

[Tiamat]

I'm sure that is more sanitary than just letting them rot.

It's not that simple. The level of disrespect just ratchets up the hatred.

[Wonky]

More of why the world doesn't like us and our warmongering ways: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25759004

"The US Marine Corps says it is trying to determine the authenticity of images published by a celebrity gossip website that appear to show marines burning the bodies of dead Iraqi insurgents."

It's almost impossible to understand the changes combat can cause in troops who must face it day after day. Millions of words have been written trying to describe it and I wonder if any have been successful.

I'd recommend Tim O'brien's "The Things They Carried" for insight into this.

We should be very very careful when we send young men to war, and never, but never, go to war until all other options of protecting our security have been exhausted.

[Leonard]

Since the entire Iraq operation was a war crime and crimes against humanity (the US has admitted that they had employed white phosphorus as well as other munitions, depleted uranium) I look forward to Bush/Cheney and company being tried and if found guilty then hung in the Hague and their bodies turned over to the people of Fallujah.........Leonard


Fallujah : U.S. Assault On Fallujah Worse Than Hiroshima.



Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.

Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents.

Their claims have been supported by a survey showing a four-fold increase in all cancers and a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s. Infant mortality in the city is more than four times higher than in neighbouring Jordan and eight times higher than in Kuwait.

Dr Chris Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster and one of the authors of the survey of 4,800 individuals in Fallujah, said it is difficult to pin down the exact cause of the cancers and birth defects. He added that "to produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened".

US Marines first besieged and bombarded Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, in April 2004 after four employees of the American security company Blackwater were killed and their bodies burned. After an eight-month stand-off, the Marines stormed the city in November using artillery and aerial bombing against rebel positions. US forces later admitted that they had employed white phosphorus as well as other munitions.

In the assault US commanders largely treated Fallujah as a free-fire zone to try to reduce casualties among their own troops. British officers were appalled by the lack of concern for civilian casualties. "During preparatory operations in the November 2004 Fallujah clearance operation, on one night over 40 155mm artillery rounds were fired into a small sector of the city," recalled Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, a British commander serving with the American forces in Baghdad.

He added that the US commander who ordered this devastating use of firepower did not consider it significant enough to mention it in his daily report to the US general in command. Dr Busby says that while he cannot identify the type of armaments used by the Marines, the extent of genetic damage suffered by inhabitants suggests the use of uranium in some form. He said: "My guess is that they used a new weapon against buildings to break through walls and kill those inside."

The survey was carried out by a team of 11 researchers in January and February this year who visited 711 houses in Fallujah. A questionnaire was filled in by householders giving details of cancers, birth outcomes and infant mortality. Hitherto the Iraqi government has been loath to respond to complaints from civilians about damage to their health during military operations.

Researchers were initially regarded with some suspicion by locals, particularly after a Baghdad television station broadcast a report saying a survey was being carried out by terrorists and anybody conducting it or answering questions would be arrested. Those organising the survey subsequently arranged to be accompanied by a person of standing in the community to allay suspicions.

The study, entitled "Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009", is by Dr Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi, and concludes that anecdotal evidence of a sharp rise in cancer and congenital birth defects is correct. Infant mortality was found to be 80 per 1,000 births compared to 19 in Egypt, 17 in Jordan and 9.7 in Kuwait. The report says that the types of cancer are "similar to that in the Hiroshima survivors who were exposed to ionising radiation from the bomb and uranium in the fallout".

Researchers found a 38-fold increase in leukaemia, a ten-fold increase in female breast cancer and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults. At Hiroshima survivors showed a 17-fold increase in leukaemia, but in Fallujah Dr Busby says what is striking is not only the greater prevalence of cancer but the speed with which it was affecting people.

Of particular significance was the finding that the sex ratio between newborn boys and girls had changed. In a normal population this is 1,050 boys born to 1,000 girls, but for those born from 2005 there was an 18 per cent drop in male births, so the ratio was 850 males to 1,000 females. The sex-ratio is an indicator of genetic damage that affects boys more than girls. A similar change in the sex-ratio was discovered after Hiroshima.

The US cut back on its use of firepower in Iraq from 2007 because of the anger it provoked among civilians. But at the same time there has been a decline in healthcare and sanitary conditions in Iraq since 2003. The impact of war on civilians was more severe in Fallujah than anywhere else in Iraq because the city continued to be blockaded and cut off from the rest of the country long after 2004. War damage was only slowly repaired and people from the city were frightened to go to hospitals in Baghdad because of military checkpoints on the road into the capital.

http://iraqatrocities.blogspot.com/2012/...worse.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=falluga+...=firefox-a

[tvguy]

Nice Picture Osama is that what you has for dinner?

[tvguy]

images published by a celebrity gossip website that appear to show marines burning the bodies of dead Iraqi insurgents."

Well that's good enough for Pondie and Leonid to start slamming America.

To listen to some people one would think Saddam was Nelson Mandela and instead of being murdered, tortured and gassed by their own government.
The people must have been in some kind of paradise.

[PonderThis]

Nice Picture Osama is that what you has for dinner?

You're ridiculing birth defects which have multiplied since our invasion and assault of someone else's sovereign country, obviously from something we did that caused this - it wasn't like this before. This is an exceedingly callous attitude towards others and their well being. I hope you sleep well at night.

[Leonard]

Nice Picture Osama is that what you has for dinner?

You're ridiculing birth defects which have multiplied since our invasion and assault of someone else's sovereign country, obviously from something we did that caused this - it wasn't like this before. This is an exceedingly callous attitude towards others and their well being. I hope you sleep well at night.

Well Ponder did anyone really think TV would not slap Kam in the face the minute the site reopened; ''NO rude behavior, trolling, or personal attacks.''

But we should leave TV to himself as his comments pretty much speak for themselves and do not require a response.

[SFLiberal]

War is a nasty business. Is there really a good way to kill your enemy? I suppose the Marines could have just left the bodies to bake in the sun and bloat up until they exploded and then spread disease. Let's face it, some here so hate our troops that they will find anything they can to bash them.

[PonderThis]

Nice Picture Osama is that what you has for dinner?

You're ridiculing birth defects which have multiplied since our invasion and assault of someone else's sovereign country, obviously from something we did that caused this - it wasn't like this before. This is an exceedingly callous attitude towards others and their well being. I hope you sleep well at night.

Well Ponder did anyone really think TV would not slap Kam in the face the minute the site reopened; ''NO rude behavior, trolling, or personal attacks.''

But we should leave TV to himself as his comments pretty much speak for themselves and do not require a response.

In TV's defense, his response was pre-forum closure. I thought my response to his response met new forum guidelines.

[PonderThis]

War is a nasty business. Is there really a good way to kill your enemy?

That's an excellent question. I know you're a man of faith, what does the Lord have to say about how to treat your enemies? I'd suggest you go by that then instead.

[Leonard]

War is a nasty business. Is there really a good way to kill your enemy? I suppose the Marines could have just left the bodies to bake in the sun and bloat up until they exploded and then spread disease. Let's face it, some here so hate our troops that they will find anything they can to bash them.

Yes, War is a very nasty, but profitable business that has long lost any effectiveness in stabilizing the world, and in the case of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan they were illegal, under international law and immoral.

And I don't think anyone actually hates the troops but many certainly hate the results and do have serious problems with the leaders who send these guys off to fight in wars for corporate profits and political expediency killing, maiming and displacing millions of innocent men, woman and children in the process...........................Leonard

The United States invaded Iraq and subsequently “broke up” the chaos-stricken country in order to “weaken” it, a political analyst and writer in Philadelphia says.

The US waged a nearly 9-year war on Iraq, starting from 2003, after Congress passed the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, authorizing military action against the country.

“The US broke up this country to weaken it, so this ongoing war and chaos is entirely predictable,” Linh Dinh told Press TV on Saturday.

“With American soldiers gone, the US media is no longer paying much attention to Iraq, but hundreds of people continue to die each month,” Dinh said.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced it would deliver new arms and ammunition to Iraq to fight al-Qaeda linked militants currently in control of key cities in Anbar province.

A Pentagon spokesman said that Iraq will be receiving “several thousand” M-16 and M-4 rifles with ammunition as requested by Baghdad.

Dinh criticized Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for requesting weapons from the US because it “weakens his government’s legitimacy further.”

The recent internal conflicts in Iraq, including deadly clashes between the Iraqi army and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in the city of Fallujah, have war hawks calling for the US to go back to the country.

According to the United Nations, at least 8,000 people lost their lives in Iraq in 2013.
Cut & Pasted from................ http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01/18/...weaken-it/

[Leonard]

Nice Picture Osama is that what you has for dinner?

You're ridiculing birth defects which have multiplied since our invasion and assault of someone else's sovereign country, obviously from something we did that caused this - it wasn't like this before. This is an exceedingly callous attitude towards others and their well being. I hope you sleep well at night.

Well Ponder did anyone really think TV would not slap Kam in the face the minute the site reopened; ''NO rude behavior, trolling, or personal attacks.''

But we should leave TV to himself as his comments pretty much speak for themselves and do not require a response.

In TV's defense, his response was pre-forum closure. I thought my response to his response met new forum guidelines.

Pre or Post closure, the comments didn't meet the guidelines that were in place at the time. And your response met the guidelines and you are to be commended for such chivalry.

[tvguy]

Nice Picture Osama is that what you has for dinner?

You're ridiculing birth defects which have multiplied since our invasion and assault of someone else's sovereign country, obviously from something we did that caused this - it wasn't like this before. This is an exceedingly callous attitude towards others and their well being. I hope you sleep well at night.

Well Ponder did anyone really think TV would not slap Kam in the face the minute the site reopened; ''NO rude behavior, trolling, or personal attacks.''

But we should leave TV to himself as his comments pretty much speak for themselves and do not require a response.

The topics of the threads YOU post speak for themselves. A hatred for this great country. You posted a picture of something VERY disturbing that will almost certainly be offensive to some readers.
There is a way to hide the image from those who don't care to see it.

Japan could have and should have not attacked the USA. Japan could have and should have surrendered.

[PonderThis]

I suppose Iraq should have just surrendered too. Anybody we drive our warships up to should.

[Leonard]

I suppose Iraq should have just surrendered too. Anybody we drive our warships up to should.

If there still is a world 20 years from now the United States of America's empire will be like the former USSR, a former. And one can only hope the winners will be kinder to the planet and its people than the British, Russian and US empires have been.

This is not just lugubrious but a reality derived from looking at history. The people of the world deserve so much better than what they are getting from their failed governments and policies.