The U.S. military is reportedly investigating images released by TMZ showing Marines burning Iraqi insurgents.
According to TMZ, the photographs were taken in 2004 in the province of Fallujah, where some of the heaviest fighting occurred in Iraq.
ABC reports:
The Marine Corps is investigating newly surfaced photos that purport to show Marines burning the bodies of Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah in 2004.
The photos were first published Wednesday on the entertainment website TMZ.com, which says it obtained 41 photos but decided to publish only some of them because “many are just too gruesome.”
An article accompanying the photos says that last week TMZ contacted the Pentagon about the photos and turned them in for their review.
A Marine spokesman confirms that the circumstances behind the photos are being investigated by the U.S. Marine Central Command. The investigation was launched in recent days after the photos obtained by TMZ were turned over to the Pentagon.
Capt. Tyler Balzer says that the investigation will “determine the veracity of the photos, what the circumstances depicted in them are, and if possible, the identities of the service members involved. ” He said the results will then determine whether a broader investigation into possible wrongdoing needs to be launched.
Col. Steve Warren, who runs the Defense Press Office, says it is unclear what circumstances may have prompted the Marines to burn the remains. He said that in extremely rare cases the burning of long-dead remains may have to be done for hygienic purposes, but that it’s something the investigation will have to determine.
The defiling of remains is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice but the photos may also be a violation of U.S. Central Command’s General Order Number One, which provides the guidelines for how American troops serving in the Middle East should conduct themselves.
Two pictures show a Marine pouring gasoline or a flammable accelerant on the remains of two males believed to be Iraqi insurgents. Additional photos show the charred remains after they had been set afire. Another picture shows a Marine posing by a human skull, presumably of someone who had been burned as well.
TMZ says that there are more than a dozen bodies shown in the pictures that they possess. Warren says the faces of the Marines have been blurred in the photos provided to the Pentagon.
See the photos released by TMZ below:
WARNING: The photos you are about to see are horrifically graphic depicting dead bodies.
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
