US Marines demote sergeant who urinated on Taliban body

A Marine sergeant who was videotaped urinating on dead Taliban insurgents, an incident that stoked ire last year toward US forces in Afghanistan, has been reduced to the rank of corporal after pleading guilty, the Marine Corps said on Thursday.

Sergeant Robert Richards was the last of eight Marines to be punished in connection with the incident, which took place on July 27, 2011, during a counterinsurgency operation in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The videotape showed four Marines wearing camouflage combat uniforms urinating on three corpses as one of the Marines joked, "Have a nice day buddy." (Reuters)