GOP lawmaker cautions Panetta against harsh punishment for urinating Marines

A Republican House member and Marine veteran sent a letter
to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Wednesday urging caution against an
over-the-top punishment of the Marines who were videotaped allegedly urinating
on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) said the actions of the
Marines were wrong and that they should be disciplined, but he said they should not
face a punishment “for the purpose of making a statement to our partners in the
region.”

{mosads}“What is particularly concerning to me, as a Marine who
served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, is the reported potential legal focus of
the investigation and your promise that the Marines in question will be ‘held
accountable to the fullest extent,’ which would include prison time under
military law,” Hunter wrote.

Hunter’s comments echoed remarks last week from Texas Gov. Rick Perry — who on Thursday dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination — that the Marines in the
video were “kids,” and criminal punishment would be too harsh.

Panetta and other U.S. officials, as well as Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, denounced the video after it surfaced and went viral
last week. The Pentagon has launched an investigation and identified the four Marines
who were shown in the video.

Hunter, a retired Marine who served two tours in Iraq and
one in Afghanistan, said the realities of military combat can be difficult — if
not impossible — to explain. He wrote that “most people will never know what
our Marines endure unless they see it or experience it for themselves.”

“In the case of the video, we do not know the full extent of
the situation or the shared experiences of these Marines,” Hunter wrote. “We
owe it to these individuals and others, who put their lives on the line every
day, to take into account the extraordinary conditions and danger they face
when judging their actions, and put things into proper context.”