Marine Corps Urinating Video Condemned By Hamid Karzai

By: United Press International
01/13/2012 05:39 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 12 (UPI) — Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai spoke out Thursday against a video purporting to show U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of suspected Taliban fighters.

“The government of Afghanistan is deeply disturbed by a video that shows American soldiers desecrating dead bodies of three Afghans,” Karzai said in a statement, referring to the Marines. “This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms. We expressly ask the U.S. government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.”

The Marine Corps said it is investigating the video, which surfaced online Wednesday, ABC News reported.

The video depicts four men in uniform looking around before allegedly urinating on at least three bodies. A caption states the Marines are attached to a scout sniper team with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., some of whom were deployed to Afghanistan last year and returned in September.

“Have a great day, buddy,” one of the men is heard saying, apparently to a dead body.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta strongly condemned the video Thursday, The Washington Post reported.

“I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable,” Panetta said in a statement.

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