Warning: This diary includes profanity-laden quotations from an adult Web site and descriptions of adult content.
To avoid paying a $10 donation to ogle nude women at an adult Web site, it appears that American soldiers have agreed to trade photos from their personal collections of images of horribly mutilated Iraqi corpses. Yes, for a lousy ten bucks, it seems that some of our men in uniform are allegedly selling the last remaining shreds of dignity of their fellow human beings.
The Associated Press summarized the findings of the Army’s preliminary investigation into the matter:
After an initial look at complaints about U.S. soldiers posting photos of Iraq war dead on an Internet site, Army investigators concluded they had too little evidence to pursue criminal charges.
So much for that quaint Geneva Convention! Can you imagine Americans shrugging and looking the other way while pictures of the mutilated bodies of their sons and daughters were displayed on a foreign pornographic Web site?
A close, albeit sickening, look at the subject Web site immediately revealed a few important points. It seems relatively easy to track down the individuals that posted the images. Some users appear to not only have made no attempt to cover their tracks, but have provided a clearly marked trail. In addition to the disturbing photos of gore, the adult site also features many photos of our men in uniform comporting themselves in ways that seem extremely unbecoming of the uniform.
Until I took a few moments to look at the site, I did not fully grasp the absolute monstrosity of juxtaposing pornography with sensationalistic, grisly images of the remains of someone’s father/brother/son. The Army needs to be prevented from sweeping this one under the rug. Allowing the culture — widespread or isolated — that produced this disgraceful display to continue will only serve to bring more shame and dishonor on our country.
The Specifics of the Deal: Trading Images of Death for Images of Sex
The webmaster of www.nowthatsfuckedup.com summarizes the special offer made available to military patrons:
If you are a U.S. Soldier stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other combat area and would like free SUPPORTER access for the site, you can post real pictures you or your buddies have taken while you have been deployed.
This section is for the gory ones so that people who do not wish to see that kind of stuff can just not go in here. I also do not want already published pictures that were taken by news people. This is supposed to be an area where we can see pictures posted by the solders themselves.
Just post your pics like you normally would and when I see them I will approve you for free access to the wife and g/f area. There have only been a few people cheat from this but I do now know what kind of pics to expect from the guys over there. So please do not waste my time if you are not a military person by just posting iraq pics you found on CNN or something.
Keep up the good work over there guys, we love seeing your pics.
Uploading pictures of the dead grants a serviceman a full 90 days of access to the Amateur Wife and Girlfriend Forum where members are encouraged to post photos of their naked wife or girlfriend.
The uploaded images of the Iraqi corpses and body parts are displayed on a page built with the adult site’s standard template. Chillingly, in lieu of a caption, textual advertisements for porn web sites are displayed beneath each image of death. Here are just a few examples of the words used to honor the Iraqi dead:
See My Wifes Huge Tits
A little peek at one of my naughty little wife when she got horny and the camera was handy.TEENS FUCKED IN THEIR SLEEP(!)
SWEET DREAMS BITCHES! HOT TEEN GIRLS GETTING FUCKED WHILE THEY SLEEP- VERY PRETTY GIRLS RAMMED HARD!My Girl FUCKS 4 GUYS
My girlfriend fucks 4 of my buddies at the same time! Watch her take cock like a champCrack Whore Confessions
Real Prostitutes get naked and tell their Fucked Up Stories!Enormously Giant Black Cocks
Fucking and Ruining tight white pussys
To make the presentation even more disrespectful, each member comment includes a ranking that accompanies the user name. Here is a depiction of the default ranking:
Yes, each page of horrifying images of corpses is accompanied by comments where each begins, “I’m Just Here to Masturbate.”
The Images of User I_AM_LONG
I arbitrarily selected a single user to investigate how soldiers were using the Web site. As of late Thursday evening, 23,935 users have viewed the extremely gruesome photos I_AM_LONG submitted less than a week ago on Saturday, September 24. (View only with great caution! These are extremely disturbing images of mutilated corpses.) Similarly graphic photos posted by some other users have been viewed more than 100,000 times.
In another section of the site, I_AM_LONG has also posted general photos that include images of what appear to be he and his friends cavorting. He opens his post with the comment:
Hey, I just got in from Iraq, and my friend showed me this site, it’s awsome! [sic] I really want access, so i’m going to post my pictures from Iraq here, I’m also going to put some in the gory section. This site is awsome, [sic] I love that it is allowing us a place to post our stuff from overseas so everyone can see it!
The majority of solo portraits in the series are of a same individual who I assume is probably I_AM_LONG. In one head and shoulders portrait, the non-Caucasian subject appears in uniform wearing a homemade hat emblazoned with a Nazi swastika and the slogan “White Power”. It is difficult to imagine the circumstances that resulted in this photograph and why any soldier would elect to post it on the internet.
In another image, three uniformed soldiers pose with their pants and underwear at their ankles and their genitals discretely covered by their armor or helmets.
An image entitled WhatPortaJohn.jpg depicts one soldier who appears to be directing a stream of urine towards a sleeping soldier while a third soldier looks on. The urinating soldier’s surname is prominently emblazoned on a rear pants pocket.
An image labeled FullMoonTonight.jpg depicts a soldier dropping his trousers and pointing his posterior in the direction of a sleeping soldier’s face.
These images are reminiscent of cliché drunken fraternity pranks. In that respect, I guess the images shouldn’t be that surprising. After all, these young men appear to be of college age. However, the setting is missing the alcohol. And any sense of judgement is glaringly absent. Why take easily identifiable photographs of you and your buddies in uniform engaging in such activities and post them on an internet porn site? Do you suppose any of these soldiers had the privilege of receiving any cultural training in the rigorous modesty standards of the country in which they are serving?
Identifying I_AM_LONG
In case the Army is unable to identify I_AM_LONG from the many photos of the subject and his buddies in the various locations they were stationed, there is another major clue. One of the comments referencing a second thread states:
this is the post I put up for I_AM_LONG while he was still overseas
This user who posted the comment very conveniently includes a link to his personal web site that leads to a street address and telephone number.
Beastiality, Blow-up Dolls and Breasts
Unlike the photos of death, the majority of general photos from soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are fairly mundane. However, a quick scan of a few contributed posts reveals a number of images that Karen Hughes, our newly anointed Middle East PR guru, would have quite a challenge defending.
User muteelfdisorder posted a self-portrait that features full frontal nudity and depicts a simulated act of bestiality with a seemingly disinterested, tethered donkey. The introduction to this remarkable photo series states:
This is a donkey my unit bought from a local guy near Kandahar, Afghanistan. If I don’t deserve access for these I don’t know who does!
elbambino remains fully clothed in his uniform as he poses with a blow-up sex doll.
And, I don’t believe this is the image that the Army wants to convey of its female soldiers.
The Military Needs to Take Action
I greatly respect the courage and dedication of the men and women serving in our military. However, I am appalled by the apparent lack of leadership that has contributed to the disgraceful spectacle on display at the rather aptly named www.nowthatsfuckedup.com.
Military leaders need to ensure that all soldiers understand the immorality (and illegality) of taking trophy photos of the dead and posting them on the internet. There should be a policy of zero tolerance policy for such behavior.
The leadership should also make it clear that publicly posting photos of oneself or fellow soldiers engaged in activities that would be commonly perceived as lewd or immoral by the residents of the country where they are stationed is not only inappropriate but potentially extremely damaging to the mission.
Technical Note: Clicking on hyperlinks to jpg images at the subject Web site may result in the display of a 403-Forbidden error message. If you encounter this error, you may still view the image. In Internet Explorer, right click on the hyperlink and select Properties. Copy the URL for the image to the address window of your browser.
Cross posted at ePluribus Media and Daily Kos.