[Marxism] Another reason to protest the war

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

NY Times, September 28, 2005
Army Investigates Photos of Iraqi War Dead on Web
By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 - The Army has opened an investigation into whether
American troops have sent gruesome photographs of Iraqi war dead to an
Internet site where the soldiers were given free access to online
pornography, Army officials said Tuesday.

Some photographs on the Internet site show people in American military
uniforms standing around what appear to be dead bodies. Other photos
include graphic images of severed body parts and what appear to be internal
organs spilling from bodies onto the ground.

The images are said to come from Afghanistan as well as Iraq. Their
authenticity has not been determined.

Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said that if soldiers had posted the images,
their actions could violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which
defines conduct unbecoming an officer or enlisted soldier.

Another Pentagon official who reviewed the Web site said it raised
questions, as well, of whether the acts could be viewed as a violation of
the Geneva Conventions, which set standards for treatment of remains of
those killed in a combat zone.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights
and advocacy group, called for an investigation after details of the
photographs were described in news media and online reports.

Arsalan Iftikhar, the group's legal director, asked Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld to "investigate this troubling phenomenon and do
whatever is necessary to bring it to an end."

On the Web site, the photographs are set aside from the pornographic images
that are its standard content. Those who provided the pictures often
included crude captions. But there is also some discussion about the war,
its purpose and conduct.

Attempts to reach the operator of the Web site on Tuesday were not successful.

An article published last week in the Online Journalism Review of the
Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern
California identified the site's operator as Chris Wilson, and said he
lived in Florida but maintained the site on computer hosts overseas.

The article quoted him as saying: "To me, this is from the soldier's slant.
This is directly from them. They can take the digital cameras and take a
picture and send it to me, and that's the most raw you can get it. I like
to see it from their point of view, and I think it's newsworthy."

On the site, under the headline "Cooked Iraqi," a posted photograph shows
uniformed men posing in front of what appear to be charred remains. The
photo promoted several anonymous postings including one that said, "Burn
baby, burn!"

Another contributor had a different reaction: "Yip, its funny when it's a
'second rate' Iraqi, but an outrage when its one of your own," adding,
"Typical and these are the people charged with the responsibility of
showing the world how we can improve life in Iraq."

Officials said the military's preliminary inquiry was being conducted by
the Army Criminal Investigation Command. They said it had proved difficult
to identify the military personnel who can be seen in some of the
photographs wearing Army or Marine Corps uniforms but no clear name tags or
unit markings.

Digital cameras have been ubiquitous in the modern combat zone, and it was
digital pictures and videos that provided the first public evidence of the
extreme degree to which military police soldiers had abused Iraqi detainees
at Abu Ghraib prison.

In the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and reports of other abuses by American
troops, Pentagon and military officials acknowledged that such behavior
could severely damage the American war effort in Iraq.

"I think it's really a disturbing phenomenon to see that our military
personnel would be engaging in such inappropriate behavior, behavior that
brings dishonor to the military," Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a telephone interview.

--

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