Officials Slam New Photos of US Troops With Afghan Dead

Army Announces Criminal Investigation

Just months after the video of US Marines urinating on the corpses of slain Afghans was leaked to the public, another desecration scandal has hit today with the release of a series of new photos showing US troops posing happily with Afghan corpses and in some cases partial corpses.

The photos were quickly condemned by a number of officials, and the White House said it wants a “full investigation” into them. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta issued an apology. A number of officials were warned ahead of time of their publication by the L.A. Times, giving them a chance to have their condemnation statements prepared.

Pentagon and White House officials were also quick to condemn the L.A. Times for publishing the photos, insisting that making public the latest in a series of shameful scandals might “trigger a backlash” against troops.

Apparently not everyone was briefed on the impending release, however. House Armed Services Committee Rep. Buck McKeon (R – CA), when pressed about the photos, expressed bewilderment at the question, assuming it was something to do with the 2004 Abu Ghraib photos.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.