Marines in Afghanistan posed with Nazi SS symbol
Official says scout snipers didn’t intend racial statement
SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Marine Corps is dealing with fallout from the revelation that a group of Marines based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and deployed to Afghanistan posed for a picture in front of a flag bearing a Nazi symbol.
The Marine Corps confirmed that the Marines pictured in the photo, which surfaced on the Internet, were part of one of its scout sniper teams deployed in Sangin province in 2010. The photo shows the Marines posing in front of a U.S. flag with a flag bearing the Nazi SS symbol underneath.
Lt. Col. Stewart Upton said in a statement that the scout snipers had been “addressed” concerning the issue.
In a statement, the Marine Corps said, “Those involved acknowledged that the symbol could be misinterpreted and is not in keeping with our Marine Corps ethos and values.”
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, sent a letter Thursday to Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, calling for the photos to be removed from the Internet and for everyone involved in the incident to be court-martialed.
“We’ve seen everything, but this literally astonishes us,” said the group’s president, Michael Weinstein. “This is a felony; this is absolutely horrible in the worst degree.”
Marine officials said those involved were not Nazi sympathizers.
Col. John Guthrie with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s office of inspector general said his office became aware of the photograph in November and received confirmation from a commanding officer in Afghanistan that the personnel were part of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion out of Camp Pendleton.
Guthrie said in a statement that the use of “SS runes” was “not acceptable.”
“Some Scout Snipers have unfortunately used the ‘SS runes’ in the past as a symbol for their elite organization and not intended for racial connotations or discrimination,” he wrote.