Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to promise an investigation into a video apparently showing United States Marines urinating on the Afghan corpses, and he issued a statement condemning the act.
“I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” Panetta said in a statement, according to the American Forces Press Service (AFPS).”I have ordered the Marine Corps and ISAF commander [Marine Corps] Gen. John Allen to immediately and fully investigate the incident . . . Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent.”
AFPS also reported that Panetta called Karzai and “expressed his view that the conduct depicted in the footage is utterly deplorable, and that it does not reflect the standards or values American troops are sworn to uphold,” in the words of Pentagon Secretary George Little.
