Okay, this is embarrassing.
Coming on the heels of a leaked viral
video which depicted U.S. Marines on duty in theater in Afghanistan urinating
on the corpses of killed Taliban insurgents, American soldiers have been
photographed posing in Afghanistan with a Nazi SS flag.
The dual lightning bolts were the
symbol of the German Waffen-SS, an elite military group responsible for
carrying out German extermination policies of European Jews and other ethnic
minorities during World War II.
The U.K.
Telegraph reports that the photograph was taken sometime in September,
2010. The Marines in the photograph are members of the 1st Reconnaissance
Battalion based in Helmand Province of Afghanistan.
The photograph first came to the
attention of the Pentagon in November, 2011, but military brass has not
revealed whether any service personnel were disciplined as a result of this
photograph. A second picture, taken before 2004, another photo surfaced of a
Marine with an SS rune carved into his sniper rifle – it was unclear at the
time, however, if that was a direct reference to the Nazi SS.
In a statement, a Marine Corps
spokesperson said that there will be accountability. "Certainly,
the use of the 'SS runes' is not acceptable and scout snipers have been
addressed concerning this issue. 'SS runes' are prohibited from use as a symbol
or any other use,” read the statement. "Rest assured, the Marine Corps
does not allow the use of 'SS runes'."
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