'Shut your mouth... war is hell': Ex-Army state politician attacks 'self-righteous' critics of Marines caught urinating over Afghan bodies on video



Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta and John McCain have proclaimed disgust

Afghan government is 'deeply disturbed' by video, says President Karzai

White House officials scrambling to avoid another Abu Ghraib scandal



Senseless video emerged after an anonymous online post on Wednesday



Secretary of Defense Panetta orders top-level investigation into incident

But CNN contributor Dana Loesch 'wants a million cool points' for men



A politician who served in the U.S. Army for two decades today slammed those from outside the military who have criticised the four Marines seen in a video urinating on dead Afghan bodies.

Florida Rep. Allen West, an ex-Army lieutenant colonel, insisted the Marines were wrong but fumed: ‘As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.’

His comments follow reports that all four men could imminently face criminal charges of bringing dishonour to the armed forces. Two men have been interviewed but not detained, reported CNN.

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Horrifying: A video posted online claims to show four Marines urinating on dead bodies ‘All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill,’ Mr West told the Weekly Standard of their ' self-righteous indignation'. But he said the men must face a ‘maximum punishment’.

In addition he suggested they all receive a reprimand letter, issue a public apology to God, the U.S. and their fellow servicemen - and then sing ‘the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter’. The Iraq and Afghanistan veteran spoke after California military psychologist Eugenia Weiss suggested the soldiers involved may have been 'stressed' or 'pranksters with extremely bad taste'. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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TOBY HARNDEN: U.S. Marines urinating on Taliban corpses is no Abu Ghraib scandal Share this article Share Meanwhile a conservative radio host said she wants 'a million cool points for these guys' and would be willing to join them. 'C'mon people, this is a war,' CNN contributor Dana Loesch told FM News Talk 97.1 in St Louis, Missouri. 'Do I have a problem with that as a citizen of the United States? No, I don't.' The Navy's law enforcement arm is heading the main inquiry, which is expected to weigh evidence of violations of the U.S. military legal code as well as the international laws of warfare. Siding with the soldiers: CNN contributor and radio host Dana Loesch (right) said that she would have done the same as the soldiers, and Rep. Alan West (right) said that no one should judge them if they haven't been in war

Separately, the Marine Corps is doing its own internal investigation. Pentagon officials said the criminal investigation would likely look into whether the Marines violated laws of war. These include prohibitions against photographing or mishandling bodies and detainees. It also appeared to violate the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, which governs conduct.

Thus, some or all of the four Marines could face a military court-martial or other disciplinary action.

The psychologist's advice came as U.S. officials spoke out against the footage yesterday and scrambled to maintain damage limitation and avoid another Abu Ghraib scandal. The four were members of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines out of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, reported CNN. An unidentified official said that some of the four are no longer in that battalion. The 40-second clip, which has been described a 'recruitment tool for the Taliban', shows four men in combat gear standing over the three corpses with their genitals exposed as they relieve themselves. There were no further details on their identities. The men can be heard joking 'Have a great day, buddy', 'Golden like a shower' and 'Yeahhhh!' as they groan with relief whilst urinating. Grinning: One of the men can be heard saying: 'Have a great day, buddy' as his colleagues laugh and another jokes: 'Golden like a shower' and 'Yeahhhh!'

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called it 'utterly deplorable' and ordered a high-level probe into the incident, which has drawn condemnation from Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai.

'Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent' Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

'Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent,' said the Secretary of Defense, who has told the commander of western troops in Afghanistan to launch an investigation.

Secretary of State Mrs Clinton expressed 'total dismay' at the video and said it was 'absolutely inconsistent with the standards of behaviour that the vast majority of Marines hold themselves to.'

Mr McCain, Senator for Arizona and a Navy veteran, said the perpetrators were 'obviously undisciplined people', adding that the video 'makes me so sad'.

A spokeswoman for the Marines said: 'While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps' It is not clear if the corpses in the video belong to civilians or insurgents engaged in combat, although the film does appear to have been shot in Afghanistan. 'This act by American soldiers is simply inhumane and condemnable in the strongest possible terms' Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai The anonymous person who posted it included the caption: 'Scout sniper team 4 with 3rd battalion 2nd marines out of camp lejeune peeing on dead talibans.' Mr Karzai said in a statement: 'The government of Afghanistan is deeply disturbed by a video that shows American soldiers desecrating the dead bodies of three Afghans. 'This act by American soldiers is simply inhumane and condemnable in the strongest possible terms. 'We expressly ask the U.S. government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.' 'First they killed the Afghans with mortars, and they then urinated on their bodies. We strongly condemn this inhumane action by the wild American soldiers' Taliban spokesman

A Taliban spokesman said: 'First they killed the Afghans with mortars, and they then urinated on their bodies. We strongly condemn this inhumane action by the wild American soldiers.' The video has sparked anger across Afghanistan, with the top negotiator from Mr Karzai's High Peace Council, Arsala Rahmani, saying it will have a 'very, very bad impact on peace efforts'. He added: 'Looking at such action, the Taliban can easily recruit young people and tell them that their country has been attacked by Christians and Jews and they must defend it.' The film is likely to spark a huge diplomatic row between Washington and Kabul and rekindle memories of the abuse meted out by American troops at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. Condemnation: Leaders including Hillary Clinton and Hamid Karzai have been quick to express their disgust at the Marines' actions as apparently shown in the video

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts as 'highly reprehensible and disgusting'.

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said: 'The behaviour depicted in this video is reprehensible and is not in keeping with the values of U.S. Armed Forces.'

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby said the video was deeply troubling: 'Whoever it is, and whatever the circumstances, which we know is under investigation, it is egregious behaviour.'

And the Council on Islamic-American Relations, a prominent Muslim civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington, also quickly condemned the video.



The group wrote in a letter faxed to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta: 'We condemn this apparent desecration of the dead as a violation of our nation's military regulations and of international laws of war prohibiting such disgusting and immoral actions.



'If verified as authentic, the video shows behaviour that is totally unbecoming of American military personnel and that could ultimately endanger other soldiers and civilians.'



The video adds to a list of embarrassments that includes the abuses from Abu Ghraib, pictured

The three corpses are all male and are wearing civilian clothes. The youngest lies on his front with an overturned wheelbarrow dumped by his side.

The other two are on their backs and one has a large blood stain on his chest.

Marines spokeswoman Kendra Hardesty said: 'While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps.

'This matter will be fully investigated and those responsible will be held accountable for their actions.'

Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Upton added: 'Allegations of Marines not doing the right thing in regard to dead Taliban insurgents are very serious and, if proven, represent a failure to adhere to the high standards expected of American military personnel.'

The footage emerged on Liveleak.com where some people left comments in support of what the soldiers had done.

One commenter wrote: 'We're all proud of you guys', while another put: 'The first bath they have had in years!' and 'cut their heads off and bury them with a pig'.

However others were disgusted and wrote: 'Not cool.. fight with honor and dignity for others, you sign up to get shot at so deal with it , set an example for future Soldiers. dont pee on the dead.'

Camp Lejeune is in North Carolina and is the largest Marine Corps Base on the East Coast of the U.S., home to 40,000 marines.

The 3rd Batallion 2nd Marines consists of 800 Marines and sailors and is nicknamed the 'Betio Bastards', a reference to the island of Betio in the Tawara Atoll and the site of one of the most deadly battles with the Japanese in World War II.

More recently they have served in Iraq, the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and in Afghanistan. Their motto is: 'We quell the storm, and ride the thunder!' or 'Strength and Honour'.

Addressed: The Council on Islamic-American Relations has written to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, pictured here with U.S. President Barack Obama

News of the footage had yet to reach the streets of Kabul today, but Afghans who were told about what the tape appears to show were horrified.



PREVIOUS U.S. ARMY SCANDALS

Iraq's Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2004 saw U.S. troops photographing themselves humiliating and intimidating detainees.

Ringleader Charles Graner and six other members of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company were charged in 2004 with abusing detainees.

Graner stacked prisoners into a pyramid, knocked one of them out with a head punch and ordered prisoners to perform lewd acts on themselves while soldiers took pictures.

Last August the war criminal became the last Abu Ghraib defendant to be released from military prison and received the longest jail sentence.

And an attack in Haditha in November 2005 when a U.S. squad killed 24 Iraqis, including women and children, further tainted America's reputation.

Sergeant Frank Wuterich faces nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and is the last defendant in the biggest and lengthiest criminal case against U.S. troops to arise from the Iraq War.

The new video is certain to deepen concerns in the Muslim world about U.S. troops fostered by various controversial videos and photos.

Those include WikiLeaks' release of a classified video showing a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq.

And not forgetting the disclosure that U.S. soldiers killed unarmed civilians in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in 2010.

Photos published in March by two magazines showed soldiers posing with the bloodied corpse of an Afghan boy they had just killed .



Sayed Abdul Samad, an elderly man with a long white beard and a white turban, said: 'According to Islam and international law it's against humanity and it's illegal.'



Feda Mohammad, a middle-aged man in jeans, a jacket and a woollen hat, said: 'They've committed a crime. We don't want them in our country. We don't like foreigners in our country and they have to leave.'



Qaisullah, a 44-year-old shop keeper near the capital's Shah-e-dushamshera mosque, called for the soldiers in the video to be punished.



He said: 'The government has to discuss with the U.S. government the prosecution of those soldiers so in future nobody will be able to make fun of Afghans.



'I haven't seen the video but I'd say it will harm our country and peace talks. It starts just with footage on TV but will end up with demonstrations around the country and maybe the world.'



The image of American troops has been battered by a series of scandals involving troops behaving appallingly whilst in Iraq and Afghanistan. The further revelations are likely to make winning the hearts and minds of locals in the field even harder.

The most shocking instance was the abuse at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Baghdad in 2004 where detainees were piled naked into human pyramids for the amusement of their American guards.

Other inmates were put on wooden platforms with a hood over their heads and told they would be electrocuted if they stepped off. There were also reports of rape, sexual abuse and other forms of torture. Eleven soldiers and a number of officials were disciplined over the scandal.

There was also the 'Thrill Kill' squad which murdered three Afghan civilians for sport and took their body parts as trophies. Their leader, Sgt Calvin Gibbs, 26, was jailed for life for blasting innocent bystanders to death at random then covering his tracks by leaving grenades next to their bodies.

Nine other members of the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division were also implicated. British troops were also accused of abusing and urinating on an Iraqi detainee.