Fwd: Army: Postings of war dead merit no Army charges

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Postings of war dead merit no Army charges

 

Robert Burns

the Associated Press

 

September 29, 2005

 

WASHINGTON -- The Army said Wednesday that its investigators could not

confirm that grisly photographs of purported Iraqi war dead on an Internet

site were posted by U.S. soldiers, a case that has stirred concern at the

Pentagon.

 

Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said the Army's Criminal Investigation

Division in recent days concluded from a preliminary inquiry that there was

insufficient evidence to pursue felony charges against anyone.

 

" While this may not rise to the level of a felony crime, it's still

serious, " Boyce said.

 

An Islamic civil-rights group expressed disappointment in the Army's

decision not to pursue criminal charges.

 

" Their conclusion would be entirely premature, " said Ibrahim Hooper,

spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. " For this to be

treated in a manner that suggests the Army does not take this seriously is

only going to further harm our nation's image and interests around the

world, particularly the Muslim world. "

 

Boyce and other officials said that while no criminal investigation would be

pursued based on available evidence, disciplinary action may be taken

against individual soldiers if it can be verified that they used government

computers to transmit digital photos of Iraqi war dead. Such an act could be

deemed a violation of Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice,

which proscribes behavior that undermines good order and discipline or

brings discredit to the military.

 

The Web site is owned by 27-year-old Chris Wilson, who oversees it from his

apartment in Lakeland. He started it about 18 months ago as a place where

men could post nude photos of their wives and girlfriends.

 

For the last seven or eight months, the site also has become a venue for

soldiers serving in the war zones to post photos depicting their daily

lives, including the grisly images of bodies identified as Iraqi and Afghani

insurgents.

 

" To me this is a real look at what's going on over there, " Wilson said in an

interview Wednesday. He said he has no intention of taking the photos down

or stopping future posts. " It's right from their cameras to the site. "

 

Some of the photos show dismembered corpses, described in accompanying Web

postings as Iraqis killed in U.S. attacks. Some show what appear to be

internal human organs; others show what look like charred human remains.

 

Boyce said Army investigators could not verify that U.S. soldiers were

involved because the Web site postings were anonymous and investigators were

unsure of the authenticity and origin of the photos. He said the matter had

been referred to U.S. commanders in Iraq.

 

 

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