Video May Show Burning U.S. Pilot

A video posted on the Internet Wednesday in the name of an extremist group claimed to show Iraqi insurgents dragging the burning body of a U.S. pilot on the ground after the crash of an Apache helicopter.

Parts of the video were blurry, and the face of the man being dragged was not shown. His clothes were so tattered it was impossible to tell if he was wearing an American military uniform.

The U.S. military condemned the posting and said that although reports of a Web site video "suggest that terrorists removed part of a body from the crash site, the authenticity of the video cannot be confirmed."

"We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said.

The video, posted by a group calling itself the Shura Council of Mujahedeen, claimed that its military wing had shot down the craft, which the U.S. military said went down Saturday.

"It's not surprising they would do something despicable like this," said CBS News military analyst Jeff McCausland, a retired U.S. Army colonel and professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. "There'll be outrage, particularly amongst the U.S. military and the public at large."

According to statements on Islamist Web sites, the Mujahedeen Shura Council was organized in January to consolidate al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups. The move was seen as an effort by Iraqi insurgents to lower the profile of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, whose mass attacks against Shiite civilians have tarnished the image of the insurgents among many Iraqis.

The footage in the video, which also was e-mailed to reporters, was blurry but the helicopter could be seen clearly. However, it was not possible to see if it had U.S. markings.

The video also clearly showed the bloody, burning body of a man being dragged through a field. The extremist group, in audio attached to the video, said he was a U.S. helicopter pilot.

In its statement, the U.S. military said it confirmed that the two pilots in the downed helicopter had died, and it had recovered "all available remains found on the scene, given the catastrophic nature of the crash."

The AH-64D Apache Longbow crashed at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday due to possible hostile fire west of Youssifiyah while conducting a combat air patrol, the military said. Youssifiyah is about 10 miles southwest of Baghdad.

About 24 hours later, the military released a statement saying the pilots were "presumed dead" and that recovery efforts were underway, indicating they had not fully secured the site or retrieved the bodies.

Youssifiyah is located in the "triangle of death," a religiously mixed area notorious for attacks by Sunni extremists against Shiites traveling between Baghdad and religious shrines south of the capital.

The Albany (N.Y.) Times Union reported that Capt. Timothy Moshier, 25, of nearby Bethlehem, was killed Saturday when the Apache helicopter he was piloting crashed at around the same time and place southwest of Baghdad.

He leaves behind his wife, Katherine, and their 10-month-old daughter, Natalie, the newspaper said.