No Charges In Iraq Photo Flap

NOVEMBER 17--A military investigation has found "insufficient evidence" to charge a Marine in connection with an offensive photograph purporting to show the soldier posing with two Iraqi children, one of whom is holding a cardboard sign proclaiming that the soldier had killed his father and "knocked up" the child's sister. The photo, a copy of which you'll find below, was taken early last year, when Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux's New Orleans-based infantry unit was deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A months-long probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was stymied by the inability of investigators to obtain the original photo, which was apparently taken by a fellow reservist. Without the source photo, it could not be determined whether the image had later been manipulated, as Boudreaux claimed to his military superiors (the 24-year-old soldier contended that the sign actually contained a "totally benign" message, said Capt. Patrick Kerr, a Marine spokesman). Results of the NCIS probe were recently forwarded to Major General John J. McCarthy, who determined that there was "insufficient evidence" that Boudreaux was guilty of improper conduct, said Kerr. It remains unclear who supposedly manipulated the image or how that person knew Boudreaux. (1 page)