Marine Claims Offensive Iraq Photo Was Doctored

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APRIL 19--A soldier has told Marine officials that an offensive photo of him in Iraq has been doctored, leading his commanders to ask Navy criminal investigators to examine the authenticity of the picture, which has been widely circulated on the Internet.

The image being examined purportedly shows Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux Jr. posing for a photo with two Iraqi children while holding a sign claiming that he had killed one boy's father and "knocked up" the child's sister.

Boudreaux, a 24-year-old Marine reservist whose New Orleans-based infantry unit was deployed in Iraq from last May to September, has told superiors that the snapshot "has been altered from the original," according to a statement released this afternoon by Marine Forces Reserve officials. As a result, Boudreaux's superiors are "retaining the assistance of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service" to "conduct a thorough and complete investigation" of the questioned image, a copy of which you'll find here.

In the picture--which came to the attention of military brass last month--Boudreaux and two unwitting boys are seen smiling and flashing the thumbs-up sign for the cameraman, who has not been identified. It is unclear how--or why--the photo got into circulation, or who might have Photoshopped the image. (2 pages)