America’s old wounds from the war against a country that didn’t attack it are refusing to heal.  A website that usually specializes in Hollywood gossip got its hands on graphic photos of US troops in Iraq posing next to and burning dead bodies, allegedly those of insurgents.

In happened during the First Battle of Fallujah during 2004, one of the most punishing campaigns for both sides.  TMZ leaked 9 of 41 photos that appear to show US Marines in various desecrations – pouring gasoline and then burning the dead bodies, mugging beside corpses, rifling through the pockets of the dead.  TMZ notes the graphic nature of the photos, implying that the other 32 are even worse.

“We are aware of photos appearing on TMZ.com that depict individuals in US Marine uniforms burning what appear to be human remains,” Navy Commander Bill Speaks said in an official statement.  “The actions depicted in these photos are not what we expect from our service members, nor do they represent the honorable and professional service of the more than 2.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The Pentagon says it is investigating, and since there is no statute of limitations on these sorts of crimes, former soldiers in civilian life might be held responsible.  But let’s be honest here.  America has seen many troops put on trial for crimes against Iraqi, and which one is serving the toughest sentence?  The former Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning), the whistleblower who leaked secret information to Wikileaks, exposing American involvement in torture centers in Iraq, an unauthorized war in Yemen, and the “collateral murder” of thousands of Iraqi citizens.

Fallujah, a city in Iraq’s western Anbar Province, is a hellhole.  The Americans left the city littered with depleted uranium, the residual garbage of war that’s believed by many to be responsible for a massive swath of birth defects and disease among children and adults.

In recent weeks, Sunni insurgents have rebelled against the Shi’a government in Baghdad, although that seems to have quieted down.  Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki has so far declined to send in troops to assault the city, although the government has recaptured a suburb.