The Pentagon is investigating complaints that U.S. soldiers posted gruesome photographs of dead Iraqis on a Web site in exchange for free access to online pornography, army official said, according to The New York Times.
Some photographs posted on the Internet site showed people in U.S. army uniforms standing around dead bodies. Other pictures included graphic images of severed body parts and what appeared to be internal organs spilling from bodies onto the ground.
The authenticity of the digital photographs, some of which were submitted by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, couldn’t be verified.
Posting such images violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which defined conduct unbecoming an officer or enlisted soldier, said military spokesman Paul Boyce, according to The Times.
Another army official who reviewed the Internet site said that such acts also violate Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which states that "The remains of persons who have died for reasons related to occupation or in detention resulting from occupation or hostilities... shall be respected."
However, the United States is not party to this protocol, which was added to the conventions in 1977.
"Disgusting trade"
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights group, urged the Pentagon to open an investigation after details of the photographs were revealed in news media and online reports.
"This disgusting trade in human misery is an insult to all those who have served in our nation's military," Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's legal director write in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
He also demanded Mr Rumsfeld to "investigate this troubling phenomenon and do whatever is necessary to bring it to an end."
A spokesman for Mr Rumsfeld said that the Pentagon had recently become aware of the allegations and was investigating them. "Obviously it is an unacceptable practice," Bryan Whitman said.
Military officials said the Pentagon's preliminary probe was being conducted by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. They said it was difficult to identify the soldiers in the photographs because they didn’t wear name tags or unit markings.
Free access
The Web site on which the gruesome images appear was originally formed for users to trade pornographic photographs of their wives and girlfriends.
Interviewed by the Online Journalism Review of the Annenberg School for Communications last week, the owner of the site said he had offered the soldiers free access if they could prove they were members of the U.S. army.
"This is directly from them [the soldiers]. They can take the digital cameras and take a picture and send it to me, and that's the most raw you can get it. I like to see it from their point of view, and I think it's newsworthy," Chris Wilson told the Online Journalism Review.
"Cooked Iraqi"
The photographs are often accompanied by commentaries celebrating the killings. But the forum also includes a space for discussion about the war and its purpose, The Times reported.
One picture on the site, titled "Cooked Iraqi," shows uniformed soldiers posing in front of charred remains. The photo prompted several anonymous comments including one that said: "Burn baby, burn!"
Another commentator had a different reaction: "Yip, its funny when it's a 'second rate' Iraqi, but an outrage when its one of your own," adding, "Typical and these are the people charged with the responsibility of showing the world how we can improve life in Iraq."
The U.S. army was hit by a scandal in 2004 when pictures of American guards physically and sexually abusing Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib jail emerged.
On Wednesday, a U.S. military court sentenced army Private Lynndie England, the women at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, to three years in prison, AFP reported.
A military jury found England guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act.
England also received a dishonorable discharge. She will be eligible for parole after one year and can also have her sentence reduced by up to six months for good behavior.
Female bomber
In Iraq, more than six people have been killed and about 35 wounded in a bomb attack on an army recruitment centre in the northern city of Tal Afar, AFP reported, quoting police sources.
"A suicide bomber blew herself up in front of the recruitment centre. This centre was supposed to be open today for volunteers," Iraqi General Nejam Abdullah said.
One of those wounded, Jumaa Mohammed, also said that the bomber was a "young woman" who pushed her way through the crowd" and blew up herself.
Attacks by female human bombers are rare in Iraq and today's blast was the first in Tal Afar since U.S. and Iraqi forces announced an end to military operations in the town 10 days ago.
In other violence, a car bomb exploded at an Iraqi police squad in Baquba, killing one civilian and injuring more than 13 people, including several policemen, a hospital official said, according to BBC.