US marines in Nazi banner storm
The US Marine Corps once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the Nazi SS - the special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.
The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable.
However, it was a naive mistake made by Marines who believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to associate themselves with a racist organisation, said Major Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton.
The Marines in the image will not be disciplined because investigators determined there was no malicious intent, Maj Chapin said.
Instead, the Corps used the incident as a training tool to talk to troops about what symbols are acceptable after it became aware of the photograph last November.
The image has since surfaced on an internet blog.
"I don't believe that the Marines involved would have ever used any type of symbol associated the Nazi Germany military criminal organisation that committed mass atrocities in WWII," Maj Chapin said. "It's not within who we are as Marines."
It was the second time this year the Marine Corps has had to do damage control for actions of its troops. It is also investigating a separate group of Marines recorded on video urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban fighters.
Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in Washington said he has been flooded with calls from former Marines offended by the photo and from one member of his organisation who is an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor.
"This is a complete and total outrage," he said.
Mr Weinstein said his organisation was sending a letter seeking a full investigation to the head of the Marine Corps and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.
"First we have Marines peeing on dead bodies and now this," Mr Weinstein said.
The Marines in the photograph are no longer with the unit. Maj Chapin said she did not know if they are still in the Corps.
In the photo taken in September 2010 in the Afghanistan town of Sangin, the Marine Corps unit is posing with guns in front of an American flag and a large blue flag with what appear to be the letters SS in the shape of jagged lightning bolts.
The SS, or Schutzstaffel, was the police and military force of the Nazi Party, which was distinct from the general army. Members pledged an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler.
SS units were held responsible for many war crimes and played an integral role in the extermination of millions of Jews along with gypsies and other people who were deemed undesirable.
The SS was declared to be a criminal organisation at the Nuremberg war crime trials.
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Mr Charles.C. Brown
Feb 11th, 12:34
@ Peter Seebohm, Its easy to say that foriegners are wellcome in Germany. you and many ordinary germans in the street might see it like that but certainly not those who employ them. Let me tell you most of the maltese who decide to travil to places like Germany and France, (a well known country with anti foriegn views) they are all qualified and fluent in german ,french or whatever, of course their are many who can hardly communicate in english, never mind german or french , who goes to these countries looking for work and prepard to do any work on offer,however with regard to the maltese, these kind of workers they usually end up back in Malta after only a few months sometimes days when they find out that in Germany they are even worst off then working in Malta. I know of two cases where a fully qualified chef with trainers skills and who was a head in the London Hilton and had to go toGermany due to personal problems was offered a job as a canteen cook and he is still a canteen cook now 6 years later! the guy is married to a german and speaks fluent german. Another case of a maltese who married a german while he was based there with the army and speaks german more then a native but happen to be of a sallow complection, found work as a baker in the town of Dortmund 42 years ago, hes now retiered after 38 with this well known bakery and never been promoted, not him nor the turks and greeks who worked there, but Germans who works there and stared work a couple of years before this guy retiered they all been promoted to supervisors and managers. i do not know what you would call this but as for me i call it shear racisim!
Mr Charles.C. Brown
Feb 10th, 20:13
@ Charles,W.Sammut. Yes have a good look at the maltese in Britain today and those in Germany today, Many maltese who came to Britain and proved themselves they all been promoted and many are in top positions whether if its in the NHS the British armed forces or simply in hotels and maniufacturing industries. Then please tell me of any maltese, and there are many working in Germany,or of other outsiders who hold top jobs or simply been promoted in Germany. Please tell me as i never heared of any!
john vernon
Feb 10th, 22:20
That just doesn't concern the Maltese in Germany my friend it goes for most foreigner's just ask one of the many Turks what they do for a living.
Peter Seebohm
Feb 11th, 09:11
One example:
Turkish companies in Germany - means almost founded by second or third generation of immigrants - are employing minimum 1,200,000 people. By law they are German companies since they are founded taxed, etc in Germany. You´ve never heard about it because you don´t have any idea how to do a correctly recherche.
Equal or better numbers of employants by Italian, French, British, etc. companies.
85,000,000 people live in Germany, out of them are 16,000,000 who are not born in Germany, resp. their families. NOTE: that is no RACCIST point.
Now, why are those handful of Maltese not in Top Position? Could it be they are simply not qualified?
Germany is looking for ITs, Programmers, etc. The problem is: The language. It is not unusual to talk German in Germany :-) All umemployed Maltese ITs, Programmers, etc. would be very welcome there.
Mr. Charly Brwon, before you cry me down: Tell me how I can make things unhappen which happened before my birth
.
Nathan Pardi
Feb 10th, 19:25
The only cogent point missing here is that these soldiers have been discipined for being in this photo! Their manifest ignorance of history is partly caused by the decrepit, though politically correct, American educational system, which pushes Martin Luther King/civil rights and forgets about wordl history.
As for the American Flag representing "atrocities and war crimes", keep that in mind when, God-forbid, sharia law is introduced to Malta!! Then you will see what real atrocities are. And to think, just yesterday, the Syrian protesters were begging for American help. Sometimes, even a country can't catch a break because you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
P.S. Last time I looked, the internet was an American invention,
Imad Ali
Feb 10th, 13:08
The statement by the Marine Corps that the squad believed that the letters stood for "sniper scouts" rings hollow. If that were the case, there must have been considerable tongue-in-cheek involved. Why did they have to be in runic letters? Hardly a coincidence I daresay.
Unfortunately there are still people out there that suffer from a Third Reich fetish. The above incidence is an absolute insult to the brave Americans who died in combat fighting the Waffen SS, and an especial insult to the 86 G.Is who were shot dead while unarmed prisoners of Kampfgruppe Peiper at Malmedy in Belgium in December 1944.
john vernon
Feb 10th, 12:57
Don't judge these men until you have faced what they face on a day to day basis
War is no picnic
Raymond Sacco
Feb 10th, 21:30
@john vernon:
And what did these men face Mr. Vernon? They don't look that depressed, posing, proudly with their deadly rifles for a photo! Was it the war effect which made the other marines to urinate on dead bodies in Afghanistan! And was it the war stimulation which provoked some other marines to film the torture and abuse of Iraqi citizens in Abu Ghraib? Or is it the sheer arrogance conveyed by their mother land's flag, knowing that they are the only military forces who cannot be prosecuted by the I.C.C.?
War is certainly no picnic, but for civilians who are slaughtered innocently on a day to day basis!
Robert Callus
Feb 10th, 10:12
Reminds me of Srebrenica. After the genocide where the Dutch troops who were supposed to protect the Bosnian people gave the green light to Mladic to commit the massacre was over, the Bosnians found a lot of racist graffiti in the Dutch quarters.
A grave insult after a genocide that left over 8,000 dead and tens of thousands refugees.
The graffitti are still there, a painful memory for the Bosnian people but also part of the evidence of the grave injustice they were subjected to.
Charles W. Sammut
Feb 10th, 09:36
Doesn't the American flag also symbolise atrocities and war crimes committed on a large scale during WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central America, amongst others? Not to mention all the U.N. Security Council resolutions against Israel for its crimes against Palestinians, and that were vetoed by the U.S.
Better say nothing than play holier than thou and expose your hypocrisy.
George Attard
Feb 10th, 10:09
I'll admit that America's popularity in the world has diminished drastically because of George W. Bush and the Iraq fiasco but seriously Mr. Sammut, atrocities in WWII??? If it wasn't for the Americans you would have posted your comment in German!
john vella
Feb 10th, 11:37
Mr. Charles W. Sammut
You can point your finge at Israel and the United States to kingdom come as this is a free country.
However the latest veto was by Russia and China, to use your words 'against crimes' onging in Syria.
All those countries you mention including Malta have either cemeteries and or effigies of all those American service men and women that died in battle and lost at sea to keep us free.
I hope you are not expecting Russia, China or Germany to keep us free, they were nowhere to be fought in the last battle for freedom in Libya.
Charles W. Sammut
Feb 10th, 13:00
@ George Attard
Germany was annihilated two generations ago. Nothing was left, it was divided into East and West and occupied by the 'victors' of WWII. So I am not writing in German. But who do you think runs Europe?
Both sides committed atrocities, mostly on civilians. But also on POWs. Look it up. Just a few pointers, the fire bombing of civilians in German cities, the shooting of surrendering Japanese and German servicemen, the dropping of 2 nuclear bombs on the civilian population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Of course many crimes were covered up and only the losers were brought to justice. But such is the nature of war.
@ John Vella
I did not justify Russia's and China's recent veto. The whole concept of the UN Security Council is flawed. Why should only certain countries have veto powers? The UN is a useless corrupt organisation that never did much good except to the pockets of the parasites running it. Does 'Oil for Food' ring a bell?
And please, do you think that the US, UK and France helped topple Gaddafi out of the goodness of their hearts?
The US has a shameful record of backing right wing dictators in South and Central America in spite of the horrific human rights record they had. They did not try to export democracy there because it did not suit them.
And who exactly were we kept free from in WWII. We were occupied anyway, by the British. Look at Once Great Britain today. And look at Germany today.
Thank goodness there is the free internet, (for how long?) and you can look things up for yourselves and not believe the bent truths you see on Discovery, History and Military channels and the charades churned out by Hollywood.
David Doublesin
Feb 10th, 21:11
Charles W. Sammut
Korea? Last time I checked the internet it was the Japanese who committed atrocities in Korea in WW2. It is also a fact that the Communist North invaded the South in 1950 and if it were not for the U.S. who defended the South (no oil) the whole country would today be run by a ruthless communist dictator. I am also sure that you can check the internet and find out who supplied and supported North Korea for over 60 years.
The worst atrocities are those committed by leaders on their own people.
Marco Bellagio
Feb 10th, 22:29
I think, Charles W. Sammut is trying to point out, that the US flag is not a symbol of freedom and prosperity, but that it is more perceived as a symbol of ruthless suppression and war crimes.
He does not say that all wars of the USA are connected with war crimes, but I think he wants to say that if Americans commited war crimes, they were never punished for them. Some of their biggest war crimes are not even recognised as such.
Example Hiroshima or Dresden. These were pure punishments of civilians and attacks with the INTENT to kill civilians. Did the people who gave the orders to that and those who followed them EVER ended up in a court being punished for them? Well, the answer is no. They are even celebrated as heros.
If you try to rule the world with two different versions of right and moral - one day it will come back to you and hit you like a Boomerang.
Peter Seebohm
Feb 11th, 09:19
Mr Sammut
I stand on one point with you
America could throw one of the bombs to a small island of Japan and tell them: Look what we may do with your towns.
Instead they decided to throw it on big towns.
I bet, some of the US militarians fot multi orgasmens
David Doublesin
Feb 11th, 15:10
@ Peter Seebohm
It took Japan 6 days after the second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki to surrender.
You must be very naive to believe that you could have persuaded the “kamikaze” Japanese to surrender by any other means.