OLYMPIA, Wash. — The U.S. Army on Monday apologized for any distress caused by recently published photos of American soldiers posing with dead Afghans, calling their content “disturbing” and “in striking contrast” to the Army’s standards and values.
The Army issued a statement in response to graphic images that Rolling Stone magazine posted on its website on Monday — about a week after the German news magazine Der Spiegel published three of the photos.
Rolling Stone says the photos are linked to an ongoing war crimes probe involving members of the 5th Stryker Brigade, based south of Seattle. Five soldiers from the platoon have been charged with murder and conspiracy in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan men last year.
Rolling Stone obtained about 150 photos in all, said Eric Bates, the magazine’s executive editor.
Two of the photos show soldiers charged in the case — Spc. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Class Andrew Holmes – crouching alongside a young victim.
Morlock, the first of the five to be court-martialed, was sentenced last week to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty.
Copy the Story Link
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.