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Los Angeles Times – October 21, 2005
U.S. fears fallout over reported abuse of bodies
By Richard A. Serrano and John Hendren
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration moved swiftly Thursday to curb international outrage over a report that U.S. troops in Afghanistan desecrated the bodies of Taliban fighters, setting them ablaze to taunt militants.
U.S. embassies around the world have been given "instructions to engage" their host governments to head off anger provoked by a videotape showing Americans torching the remains of two militants, and Assistant Secretary of State Karen P. Hughes will address the issue during a trip to Muslim areas of South Asia, a State Department official said.
"What we see in this tape is not at all reflective of the values of the military or of the United States," department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The diplomatic reaction accompanied a series of harsh denunciations by the Pentagon, which has ordered the Army Criminal Investigation Command to launch an inquiry into the soldiers' actions. Based on the videotape, the troops appear to be part of a unit that specializes in psychological warfare….
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the video would harm America's image abroad and serve as "recruiting tools for terror groups." Without a thorough review, he warned, the U.S.-declared war on terrorism would be viewed even more strongly in the Muslim world as a "war on Islam." Awad said bodies must be buried quickly, after they first are washed and wrapped in a clean cloth — none of which apparently took place in the incident.
The tape, made this month by Australian photojournalist Stephen Dupont as he accompanied American troops, aired Wednesday on Australia's SBS television network.
According to the report, the bodies were set afire in the hills above the village of Gonbaz, north of Kandahar, after the two Taliban fighters were killed by U.S. soldiers the night before. Five troops stood around the fire, and two of them read messages through loudspeakers, trying to provoke other Taliban guerrillas.
The U.S. soldiers, one of them identified as a psychological operations, or "psy-ops," specialist named Sgt. Jim Baker, dared the Taliban to "come and fight like men."
In their defense, the U.S. soldiers reportedly said they had burned the bodies for hygienic reasons.
The incident was condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who ordered an investigation, according to Associated Press……
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-desecrate21oct21,1,3766918.story
Reuters – Oct. 20, 2005
US tries to limit damage from Taliban body burning
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday tried to limit damage from television images appearing to show U.S. soldiers burning the corpses of two Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and using the incident for propaganda.
U.S. embassies around the world were told to explain that what people saw in the tape shown on an Australian television report did not reflect the actions of most of the U.S. military or of U.S. values overall, the State Department said.
"I saw the news reports and the video myself. These are very difficult images to see," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, but he insisted they should be seen as isolated incidents.
Muslim-American groups feared the incident could worsen anti-American sentiments in Muslim countries where many people perceive the United States as being culturally insensitive.
The television report said U.S. soldiers said they burned the bodies for hygienic reasons - an act which could be expected to deeply upset Muslims, whose faith prohibits cremation and demands respect for the dead.
After the burning, according to the TV report, a U.S. psychological operations unit broadcast a propaganda message on loudspeakers to a nearby village thought to harbor Taliban fighters, taunting them to retrieve their dead and fight.
The U.S. image abroad has been battered by a series of human rights scandals, from the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to the detention without trial of foreign terror suspects at a U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
More than 100 detainees have died in U.S. detention in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. military consistently pins the blame on individuals and has denied there is any institutional tolerance of such behavior.
In June, the U.S. military detailed five incidents in which U.S. jailers at Guantanamo Bay "mishandled" the Koran. It said that in one case a U.S. guard's urine splashed through a vent onto the Islamic holy book and in others the Koran was kicked, stepped on and soaked by water.
The airing of the latest videotape coincided with a trip this week to the predominantly Muslim states of Indonesia and Malaysia by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, whose role is to try to improve America's image…..
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights group, urged the Pentagon to conduct a review of policies and training related to personnel in Muslim countries.
"Given the growing number of such incidents involving American military personnel worldwide, it is imperative that the Pentagon launch a top-to-bottom review of policies and training to help prevent the war on terror from being perceived as a war on Islam," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.
Awad said reports of abuses of Muslim prisoners and disregard for Islamic sensitivities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, were harming the image of the United States and serving as recruiting tools for terrorist groups.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20555808.htm
NPR – October 20, 2005
CAIR rep discusses body-burning controversy on NPR
By Corey Flintoff
All Things Considered, October 20, 2005 · The U.S. military in Afghanistan is investigating claims that U.S. soldiers desecrated the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters and mocked Islamic customs in an effort to taunt insurgents. U.S. officials worry the reports could provoke a backlash against Americans in Muslim countries. . .
Ibrahim Hooper is the communications director for CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He says the actions of the psyops team were a deliberate effort to inflame Muslim sensibilities.
Mr. IBRAHIM HOOPER (Communications Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations): Muslims, when you bury the dead, you position them--the bodies facing Mecca. And also, cremation is prohibited by Islamic tradition. So to have American military personnel mocking these religious traditions and sensitivities sends a very negative message to Muslims in Afghanistan and throughout the world.
FLINTOFF: Stephen Dupont told an Australian interviewer that he didn't believe the men who set fire to the bodies knew they were violating Muslim traditions, but the psyops soldiers did.
Mr. DUPONT: I think that the psychological operations unit that did the broadcast of the incident with the Taliban, including some other broadcasts--I think they're quite well aware of it. These are older guys. I mean, that's their job. They're psyops, you know; they use this as a weapon.
FLINTOFF: Major Matt McLaughlin, a spokesman for the Army Central Command, says the Army has launched a criminal investigation.
Major MATT McLAUGHLIN (Spokesman, Army Central Command): These are extremely serious allegations. That's absolutely unacceptable behavior. But let us be very clear: It is the policy of the US military to treat all human remains with absolute respect and dignity, consistent with the Geneva Convention. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable.
FLINTOFF: A US military official familiar with the issue said the investigation was ordered by the highest levels of the US command in Afghanistan, and said the video was regarded as `horrific.'
Ibrahim Hooper says the Council on American-Islamic Relations is concerned that the incident is one of many that represent a coarsening of attitudes among US military people who are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. He says his group fears that some returning soldiers may bring those prejudices home with them.
Mr. HOOPER: We're concerned that you're going to eventually have a lot of American military personnel coming back from these areas with very negative attitudes about Islam and Muslims. And what will happen when these people are interacting with the millions of fellow citizens who are Muslims…….
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4967495
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