by Gomer Pilon, TYDN Military Affairs Writer
WASHINGTON -- (TYDN) The Obama administration said Tuesday it was considering courts-martial for the four U.S. Marines who only urinated but did not defecate on corpses of Taliban fighters, TheYellowDailyNews has learned.
At least three administration officials, speaking to TheYellowDailyNews on condition of anonymity and granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said the Marines face execution for failing to defecate on the bodies of insurgents they killed in Afghanistan.
Military analysts, in exclusive interviews with TheYellowDailyNews, said the Marines' failure to evacuate their bowels on the dead is the biggest act of treason since 1953, when Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for passing along atomic bomb information to the Soviets. These military analysts, meanwhile, said the upcoming court martial marked the first time servicemen would be tried in a military tribunal for failing to defecate on Taliban fighters.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating the authenticity of a 85-second video of the marines emptying their bladders on three dead Taliban. The video was obtained exclusively by TheYellowDailyNews and posted on its website last week.
Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos called the lack of defecation "wholly inconsistent with the high standards of conduct and warrior ethos that we have demonstrated throughout our history."
The American Civil Liberties Union, saying the Uniform Code of Military Justice clearly spells out that treason was committed, declined to defend at trial the four Marines whose identities have not been released.
"In our interviews with the four Marines, we have concluded that none of their bowels were ready to defecate when they filmed themselves urinating on the dead," Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director said in an exclusive interview with TheYellowDailyNews. "However, the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires that servicemen who film themselves urinating on corpses must also film themselves defecating as well. The law is clear."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the video "utterly deplorable," and said it was beyond the realm of belief that none of the soldiers could defecate.
"Not one of them could defecate?" Panetta asked. "We can't send our fighters half way across the globe and have them not unload on our adversaries."
The Marines are currently being held at Guantanamo Bay awaiting trial, a well-placed military official with direct knowledge of the confinement told TheYellowDailyNews in an exclusive interview.
"They're at Gitmo right now and are not being tortured," said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about his direct knowledge of the confinement. "We're using them to practice our waterboarding tactics."
