WASHINGTON (AP) —
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the Marine Corps on Friday to
re-investigate and take appropriate action against the Marine snipers
who posed with a logo resembling a notorious Nazi symbol.
The top
Marine officer apologized for the incident and ordered his commanders to
look into the use of such symbols by snipers and reconnaissance Marines
and make sure they are educated on how inappropriate such actions are.
The
rapid-fire announcements came on the heels of demands from a leading
Jewish organization and others for President Barack Obama to order an
investigation into the incident and to hold the troops accountable.
An
initial Marine investigation into the matter concluded that the troops
would not be disciplined because there was no malicious intent. The
Marines mistakenly believed the "SS" in the shape of white lightning
bolts on the blue flag were a nod to sniper scouts — not members of
Adolf Hitler's special unit that murdered millions of Jews, Catholics,
gypsies and others, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp
Pendleton, Calif.
But the furor over the photo — which was taken
in September 2010 in Afghanistan — grew as Jewish leaders and others
questioned whether it was an innocent mistake.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said that racist and anti-Semitic symbols have no place alongside U.S. service members.
And
in a statement released Friday, Marine Corps Commandant James Amos
ordered individual instruction for the sniper and reconnaissance Marines
about the prohibitions against inappropriate symbols.
"I want to
be clear that the Marine Corps unequivocally does not condone the use of
any such symbols to represent our units or Marines," Amos said. "On
behalf of the Marine Corps and all Marines, I apologize to all offended
by this regrettable incident."
The Marines involved in the photo are no longer with Charlie Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, out of the base north of San Diego. Chapin said she did not know if they had left the Corps.
Military
officials learned of the photograph in November and investigated
immediately. It later surfaced on a blog of a military weapons company.
The
photo, taken in the Sangin district of Helmand province, shows 10
Marines posed with sniper rifles in front of an American flag above a
dark blue flag with the "SS" letters.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder
of Los Angeles' Simon Wiesenthal Center, who had called for Obama and
Panetta to investigate the incident, said he welcomed Friday's
development.
"I'm happy to hear that at the highest echelons of the United States government, this is being taken seriously," Hier said.
According to Chapin, the Corps has used the incident as a training tool to talk to troops about what symbols are acceptable.
"I
don't believe that the Marines involved would have ever used any type
of symbol associated with the Nazi Germany military criminal
organization that committed mass atrocities in WWII," Chapin said. "It's
not within who we are as Marines."
It was the second time this
year that images have surfaced showing Marines acting improperly and
forcing the Corps to deal with the fallout. Last month, the Pentagon
scrambled to contain the damage after an Internet video purportedly
showed Marines urinating on Taliban corpses — an act that appeared to
violate international laws of warfare and further strained U.S.-Afghan
relations. Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to offer
assurances of an investigation, and the top Marine general promised an
internal probe as well as a criminal one.
Those Marines, like the
ones in front of the flag, fought in former Taliban strongholds in
Helmand province. They are based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Mikey
Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, headquartered in
Albuquerque, N.M., said the scandals hurt U.S. military missions. His
organization wrote to Amos and Panetta on Thursday, calling on them to
"condemn this stomach-turning display without equivocation or delay and
severely punish all of those responsible."
The Military Religious
Freedom Foundation released another photo showing a Marine and his rifle
with the "SS" logo. According to the Marine Corps Times, embedded
electronic information in the image shows that it was released by the
Corps in 2004 and taken at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at
Twentynine Palms, Calif. Two Marines in it were with a scout sniper
platoon.
The newspaper said that suggests the practice is more
widespread and that the logo's use is meant to signify "scout sniper," a
position exclusive to the Corps. The Army has scouts and snipers but
considers the positions to be separate.
The photograph appeared on
the blog for a military weapons manufacturer, Knight's Armament, in
Titusville, Fla. Spokesman Jon Oxford said the company invites troops to
send in photos so customers can see how its weapons are used in the
field.
The company removed the photo Thursday because of the media attention, he said.
___
Watson reported from San Diego.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
This Sept. 2010 photo posted recently on the Titiusville, Fla.- based arms manufacturer Knight's Armament's Internet blog, shows members of Charlie Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
