[1][2] The video was widely viewed on YouTube, TMZ and other sites, and caused anger and outrage in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
One of the bodies is covered in blood and the Marines can be heard joking "Have a great day, buddy", "Golden like a shower" and "Yeahhhh!".
[7] Subsequent investigation would reveal that the incident took place around July 27, 2011 during a counter-insurgency operation near Sandala, Musa Qala District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan,[8] a Taliban stronghold and a center of opium poppy production that was the scene of tough fighting at the time.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos assigned LtGen Steven A. Hummer to conduct an internal investigation.
[10] ISAF spokesman Col. Gary Kolb told CNN, "In extreme cases, an act such as urinating on a body could be construed as a war crime.
"[11] Initially, Gen. Amos designated Lt. Gen Thomas Waldhauser, the highest ranking Marine in Afghanistan, to receive the reports and decide on discipline and punishment.
[13] These conversations created the issue of unlawful command influence: it now appeared that Waldhauser was being pressured by his superior rather than sitting as an impartial judge.
[8] A press release from Lt. Gen Mills' headquarters stated: "We hold Marines to a high standard of ethical behavior.
"[15] Two U.S. Marines—Staff Sergeants Joseph W. Chamblin and Edward W. Deptola—have been charged in the middle of September 2012 for "violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice" for their involvement in the urination incident.
Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.
"[27] Goldie Taylor, a former Marine responded to Loesch's remarks, "disgusting,” adding “to say you would ‘drop trou’ and do the same thing, I question someone’s integrity who would say something like that.
[30][31] An Afghan soldier who shot dead four French troops in Afghanistan and wounded another eight seriously in a fragging incident said that he did it because of the American Marines who urinated on bodies in the video.