KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Four U.S. soldiers face disciplinary action for burning the bodies of two Taliban rebels – a videotaped incident that sparked outrage in Afghanistan – but they will not be prosecuted because their actions were motivated by hygienic concerns, the military said Saturday.
TV footage recorded Oct. 1 in a violent part of southern Afghanistan showed American soldiers setting fire to the bodies and then boasting about the act on loudspeakers to taunt insurgents suspected to be hiding in a nearby village.
Islam bans cremation, and the video images were compared to photographs of U.S. troops abusing prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Afghanistan’s government condemned the desecration. Muslim clerics warned of a violent anti-American backlash, though there have been no protests so far.
American commanders immediately launched an inquiry and vowed anyone found guilty would be severely punished, fearing the incident could undermine public support for the war against a stubborn insurgency four years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban.
The U.S.-led coalition’s operational commander, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, said two junior officers who ordered the bodies burned would be reprimanded for showing a lack of cultural and religious understanding, but the men were unaware at the time of doing anything wrong.
Kamiya also said two noncommissioned officers would be reprimanded for using the burning of the bodies to taunt the rebels. The two men also could face nonjudicial punishments, which could include a loss of pay or demotion in rank.
“Our investigation found there was no intent to desecrate the remains, but only to dispose of them for hygienic reasons,” Kamiya said. He added that the broadcasts about the burned remains, while “designed to incite fleeing Taliban to fight,” violated military policy. Islamic clerics criticized the findings of the probe.
“These soldiers should be severely punished,” said Khair Mohammed, a senior cleric in Kandahar. “Foreign soldiers in Afghanistan must respect our religion. If they continue to do things like this, every Muslim will be against them.”
The footage shows about five soldiers in light-colored military fatigues, which did not have any distinguishing marks, standing near a bonfire in which two bodies were laid side by side.
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