No criminal charges in Koran, corpse incidents

Afghans shout anti-American slogans during an anti-U.S. protest in Ghani Khail, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 24, 2012, over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base. / AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File

Updated at 3:36 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Six Army soldiers and three Marines escaped criminal charges, but received administrative punishments for their involvement in two incidents of misconduct in Afghanistan that roiled relations with Afghans, U.S. military officials said Monday.

The soldiers were disciplined for the mistaken burning of Korans earlier this year at a U.S. base in Afghanistan, and the Marines were punished for their participation in a video that showed them urinating on the corpses of Taliban insurgents.

Discipline against a Navy sailor in the Koran burnings was dismissed, and the Marine Corps said that it will announce discipline against additional Marines in the urination case at a later date.

Special Section: Afghanistan, the way forward
NATO: Haqqani death "a blow" to Taliban, if true
American Taliban seeks group prayer in Ind. prison

U.S. military leaders widely condemned the incidents, which were both revealed earlier this year. The Koran-burning triggered riots in the street and retribution killings, including two U.S. troops who were shot by an Afghan soldier and two U.S. military advisers who were gunned down at their desks at the Interior Ministry.

The exact punishments were not disclosed Monday, and it was not clear whether the lack of criminal charges would trigger any protests in Afghanistan. Administrative punishments could include demotions, extra duty, forfeiture of pay, or a letter in their file. They could also stall any future advancement and end their military careers.

Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Karzai's office would review the decisions and wait until Tuesday to respond. The news on the punishments came late at night in Afghanistan.

The Navy said the sailor was found not guilty of any alleged misconduct and that no further disciplinary or administrative action was warranted.

The Korans and other Islamic books were taken from the Parwan Detention Facility, and officials believed that extremists being detained there were using the texts to exchange messages. The religious books and other materials were put in burn bags and then later thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a major U.S. base north of Kabul.

A report on the investigation into the February Koran burning is expected to be released Monday. But officials have previously detailed the incident, describing it as not intentional, but as a mistake compounded by some bad decisions.

U.S. officials have said that the holy books were pulled out by Afghan workers before they were destroyed. President Obama apologized to Karzai for the incident.

Afghan officials, however, have claimed the burning was intentional, and it reinforced perceptions in the country that Americans are insensitive to the Afghans' religion and culture.

The urination video, which came to light in January and appeared on YouTube, showed four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men. On Monday, the Marine Corps revealed that there were also photographs taken at the time.

Discovery of the video led to a criminal investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as well as a Marine investigation of the unit involved — the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines — which fought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand for seven months before returning to its home base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., last September.

In the video, one of the Marines looked down at the bodies and quipped, "Have a good day, buddy."

The Marine Corps, in a release Monday, said one Marine pleaded guilty to urinating on the Taliban soldiers and posing for a photograph. Another Marine pleaded guilty to wrongfully videotaping the incident and also posing for a photograph, and a third pleaded guilty to failing to report the mistreatment of human casualties and lying about it.

The incidents were the first in a yearlong series of disconcerting events straining the relationship between the U.S. military and its Afghan hosts.

As of Monday, 12 American soldiers had died in August from so-called "insider attacks," killings carried out at the hands of people dressed in Afghan military uniforms. Local sources told CBS News that two U.S. troops died Monday on a joint patrol in a fairly remote area when some kind of dispute broke out after they set up a checkpoint.

2 U.S. troops die in latest Afghan insider attack
Afghanistan blames spies for insider attacks
Afghan "insider" escapes; U.S. troop killed

It's been a problem for the U.S.-led military coalition for years, but it has exploded recently into a crisis. There have been at least 32 attacks so far this year, killing 42 coalition members, mostly Americans. Last year, there were 21 attacks, killing 35; and in 2010 there were 11 attacks with 20 deaths.

In March, 16 Afghans from villages surrounding a U.S. base were killed during a middle-of-the-night shooting massacre in southern Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been accused of carrying out the killings and is awaiting trial. Military officials have said that Bales walked to two local villages, where he allegedly killed the villagers and then burned some of their bodies.

Robert Bales' wife: He's innocent
Afghan rampage suspect faces fewer murder charges
Lawyer in Afghan case objects to background check

U.S. and Afghan officials were able to put one area of deep contention behind them. In April, the two nations signed an agreement putting Afghan forces in charge of night raids that Karzai repeatedly called to be stopped because he said civilians were killed or injured in the crossfire. The deal kept the raids going, which the U.S. counted among the U.S. military's most powerful weapons in hunting down Taliban fighters.

[nancy_naive]

It was clearly an accident that the Korans were burned and the bodies pissed on.

[KansasCity-2012]

A battle sick and war weary population is no place to find a fair minded majority for justice.

This is the same mentality present at the time of a famous execution that happened nearly 2 thousand years ago.

[rickschweikert]

Perhaps Obama can apologize again at his 2-hour Islamic prayer session scheduled for this Friday at the Democratic National Convention. Obama denied other religions access to the same event, so the Muslims should have free reign.

[Amedean]

"No criminal charges in Koran, corpse incidents"

.......Good!

[quincytodd]

Another symphasizer for those clowns in uniform! Some nitwits here believe that since one joins the military, they should do anything they like with impunity! There is nothing "Good" about it since we have no right to be in Afghanistan in the first place!

[MagnaCartaUK]

They were certainly unwise and selfish to promote even greater hostility to their comrades-in-arms, but the most striking contradiction here can, in part, be found in the photo of those enraged Afghans in the above photo. That 'outrage', (though probably engineered), was nigh-on instant. Yet yesterday the Taliban murdered 17 people for simply attending a party. Some of victims were beheaded, others had their throats cut, and some showed signs of torture before being executed. So - where is the same outrage now? I suppose such apparent indifference of this latest slaughter speaks volumes for people who refuse to condemn their own, or are too afraid to speak out. But if they are too afraid to stand up for themselves - then why should we do it for them? If Afghan civilians want to be free of the Taliban - then show it. That's the choice they should be given - strike their true colours, or suffer as a consequence of their own apathy and indifference to change. Freedom comes at considerable cost, it always has, it does now, and it always will.

[rubytart]

Let's be clear - NJP is not "Not being punished". The paper can say what they want - the soldiers in this story no longer have military careers. I would imagine most are either out - or on hold just waiting for this to be dealt with before they are out. This witch-hunt has cost the tax payers at least $1M per sniper they have gotten rid of - not mentioning how many of our troops these snipers are not protecting now. It takes over $1M to train each of them.

As for the soldier - I would imagine they have paid at least 2 - 3 years of wages for their attorney(s) to defend them, as no one trusts a military attorny to defend them against the military that is being directed by hillary clinton to fry you.

I wonder how many of these guys still have all their body parts at this time - I am sure it would make the liberals happy if we threw the book at a few Purple Heart recipients here no longer sporting arms, legs, faces, etc like we did with the other guy in the fire-fight not too long ago. Really great govt we have - prosecute frat boy stuff - but not say anything about our boys being shot in the back of the head by our "allies" all the time. And it is NOT 12 that we have lost that way - it is over 40.

[p_syrus]

Since both 'desecration of the dead' and 'religiously motivated hate crimes' are recognized criminal offenses and the perpetrators were apparently caught in the act: why is the department of defense refusing to prosecute these men?

Extraordinary measures are taken to punish foreigners who are SUSPECTED of criminal activity. Why are not ORDINARY measures taken to prosecute AMERICAN CITIZENS apprehended in the act of criminal activity.

[netjunkie1]

Because the dead killed their comrades.

[quincytodd]

No surprise here. I figured that these bozoes were going to worm their way out of this mess, one way or another! That video of those clowns urinating on those dead Afghans turned my stomach upside down and that is a national disgrace, especially since we have absoluely no right to be in that country in the first place!

[jaimieandlis]

no, you're a cowardly disgrace and an islamic sympathizer.

[netjunkie1]

I do agree with you in many respects we don't belong there.
At times like this, I remember Daniel Pearl....and video of Taliban executing teachers, men, women and children. I recall the child bombs they use as well.
I remind myself that our military is a tool of the corporate machine, when I see Syria in civil war and we just sit by the sidelines giving them the finger...
But I also see we can't just leave nations like Pakistan with WMD's when they pretend to be our friends...I'm for attacking the facilities and leaving..taking or destroying their WMD's.
As for Afghanistan, the opium alone funds wars...now they have lithium too...guess what that's used in?

[LBMonizRetiredJournalist]

It's been decades since I was a U.S. Army soldier and things may have changed but "administrative punishment" then consisted of an Article 15 which was the lightest punishment the military handed out.

According to Reuters: As part of a plea deal, three Marines pleaded guilty and will receive a permanent mark on their records that will impact any future promotions and re-enlistments.

It was unclear what disciplinary action the four other non-commissioned officers will face in the urinating incident, and what resolution, if any was in charging the officers. While their careers may tank, it's far better than serving time in the tank.

This sure doesn't help the view most of the world has about us as a nation when we give the least punishment possible for desecration of corpses.

[netjunkie1]

I guess they wont be recalled for more tours of duty...
Lucky...so they leave the military, now they can get jobs working in private armies...

[jaimieandlis]

pissing on dead muslims who were trying to kill them? that's a bad thing? no wonder we lose wars all the time

[hlmelsaidtwitter]

Must respect the others religions,faith,holly books.

[gnimelf1968]

Why? They want all Christians and Jews dead. Why should we respect them?

[gmcken]

I respect everyone's right to believe what they want, but I do not have to respect the belief itself. I think all religions are nothing but fantacy

[kbrum1066]

In articles from around the world over the last several years include such items as the Taliban killing people for "partying", frequent burning of the Bible, worldwide protests for the caricature of a religious figure, the murder of people because they change their religion or voice disagreement over a religion or refuse to change their religion, the pouring/spraying of school girls faces with acid because they are learning, women murdered over false accusations or because they want to drive, and of course the beheading of people that basically disagree with them. We are not to be offended when they do these things to others, but we are supposed to be offended if we do anything to them. How hypocritical!!!!
One should not always assume that things are as they seem. For instance, how do we know that they were not peeing on the bodies to protect them from scavangers? We don't. (although in complete honesty I suspect they meant to disrespect the dead... just as I am equally sure that they disrespect our dead.)
In truth, if these are the worst things that they do to corpses or if burning another's religious text is the worst thing they do to the enemy, then they are saints compared to most soldiers in most wars. If they were true professionals, then they would respect the corpses and the religious views of the enemies... but it is incredibly difficult to maintain professionalism when your friends are being slaughtered around you. Those of you who have been in combat or even in the military know what I am referring to.
When we fight a war based on someones feelings or fear of offending someone, we have lost before we have even begun. Which is why we do not when wars over the 75 years.