Mike AI
04-14-2004, 04:30 PM
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?...925-2810106.php (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2810106.php)
April 09, 2004
Islamic group demands inquiry into ‘gag’ photo
Reservist under investigation for claims in image
By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/content/editorial/editart/040904mcphoto.jpg
—
An Islamic civil liberties group has called for a Pentagon investigation into an apparent gag photograph of a Marine in Iraq taken during the last year.
In the photo, a smiling Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux Jr. is standing next to two Iraqi boys. All three have their thumbs up as one of the boys holds a cardboard sign that reads “Lcpl Boudreaux killed my Dad, th[en] he knocked up my sister!”
The photo has been circulating around the Internet for at least a month.
On April 2, a Muslim upset by the image e-mailed the photo to the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. The organization, which describes itself as America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, promptly issued a press release calling for an investigation, said organization spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
“We’re asking ‘was it legitimate, what were the circumstances, did this guy do these crimes or was it a joke?’” Hooper said April 5.
In the April 2 release, the council called on the Defense Department to take action “to let military personnel know that such behavior harms America’s image and will not be tolerated.”
“If the United States Army is seeking to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, this is the wrong way to accomplish that goal,” stated council executive director Nihad Awad in the release.
Boudreaux is a reservist with Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, according to Capt. Jeff Pool, a Marine Forces Reserve spokesman. The New Orleans-based infantry unit deployed to the Kut area of Iraq in May and returned home in mid-September.
Pool said the command began an investigation shortly after it received the photo via e-mail several weeks ago.
Investigating officers have spoken with Boudreaux and are working to determine whether the claims on the sign are true and what, if any, charges to bring against him, Pool said. Investigation results were not expected to be released for another week or two, Marines Forces Reserve spokesman Capt. Patrick Kerr said April 8.
One Arab-American Marine who teaches culture to fellow military personnel called the photo “deplorable” and said such behavior is a serious issue to be addressed.
Gunnery Sgt. Jamal Baadani, the president and founder of the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, is on a one-year tour in the Middle East. There, he gives cultural lessons to newly assigned personnel and is Chief of Host Nation Training Support Coordination.
“This picture and sign directed towards a Muslim family is inexcusable,” he said via e-mail. “Inexcusable because if this lance corporal was given a basic class on Islam, he would have known that remarks such as ‘knocking up’ a Muslim Arab woman is not tolerated and violates the honor of a Muslim woman and her family.
“If it was a local Iraq Arab that did this, he would have been shot by a family member on the spot for violating their family honor,” he said.
April 09, 2004
Islamic group demands inquiry into ‘gag’ photo
Reservist under investigation for claims in image
By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/content/editorial/editart/040904mcphoto.jpg
—
An Islamic civil liberties group has called for a Pentagon investigation into an apparent gag photograph of a Marine in Iraq taken during the last year.
In the photo, a smiling Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux Jr. is standing next to two Iraqi boys. All three have their thumbs up as one of the boys holds a cardboard sign that reads “Lcpl Boudreaux killed my Dad, th[en] he knocked up my sister!”
The photo has been circulating around the Internet for at least a month.
On April 2, a Muslim upset by the image e-mailed the photo to the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. The organization, which describes itself as America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, promptly issued a press release calling for an investigation, said organization spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
“We’re asking ‘was it legitimate, what were the circumstances, did this guy do these crimes or was it a joke?’” Hooper said April 5.
In the April 2 release, the council called on the Defense Department to take action “to let military personnel know that such behavior harms America’s image and will not be tolerated.”
“If the United States Army is seeking to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, this is the wrong way to accomplish that goal,” stated council executive director Nihad Awad in the release.
Boudreaux is a reservist with Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, according to Capt. Jeff Pool, a Marine Forces Reserve spokesman. The New Orleans-based infantry unit deployed to the Kut area of Iraq in May and returned home in mid-September.
Pool said the command began an investigation shortly after it received the photo via e-mail several weeks ago.
Investigating officers have spoken with Boudreaux and are working to determine whether the claims on the sign are true and what, if any, charges to bring against him, Pool said. Investigation results were not expected to be released for another week or two, Marines Forces Reserve spokesman Capt. Patrick Kerr said April 8.
One Arab-American Marine who teaches culture to fellow military personnel called the photo “deplorable” and said such behavior is a serious issue to be addressed.
Gunnery Sgt. Jamal Baadani, the president and founder of the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, is on a one-year tour in the Middle East. There, he gives cultural lessons to newly assigned personnel and is Chief of Host Nation Training Support Coordination.
“This picture and sign directed towards a Muslim family is inexcusable,” he said via e-mail. “Inexcusable because if this lance corporal was given a basic class on Islam, he would have known that remarks such as ‘knocking up’ a Muslim Arab woman is not tolerated and violates the honor of a Muslim woman and her family.
“If it was a local Iraq Arab that did this, he would have been shot by a family member on the spot for violating their family honor,” he said.