Marines name general to handle investigation of video
The four U.S. Marine snipers captured on video purportedly urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have been identified, according to The Associated Press. Those implicated were not immediately named.
The Washington Post reported Friday afternoon that the four have been questioned,
Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of Marine Corps Forces Central Command, has been appointed to decide what, if any, disciplinary action should be taken against the four. He will name another officer to lead an internal investigation that will be conducted in addition to a Naval Criminal Investigative Service criminal probe already under way.
The four Marines were with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which fought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand for seven months. Upon returning from their deployment in September, the Marines apparently began showing the video to friends and acquaintances back at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The act is drawing widespread condemnation. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the act "deplorable," while President Hamid Karzai called the video "completely inhumane."
And CNN reports that Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the deputy commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has ordered troops to "treat the living and the dead with dignity and respect."
