As if there was not enough controversy around the American troops in Iraq regarding the Haditha incident, a song composed and sang by a US marine ignites further intense debates. Cpl Joshua Belile, aged 23, wrote and played a song that makes reference to Iraqi civilian deaths, a highly delicate issue that has already created much dispute, the BBC informs.


As far as he was concerned, Cpl Belile defended himself by stating the song has nothing to do with the Iraqi deaths in Haditha last November, as it had been interpreted: "It's a song that I made up and it was nothing more than something supposed to be funny, based off a catchy line of a movie".

The film he is referring to is a popular puppet show called Team America that is mocking the US war against terrorism, which is reflected in the chorus of the song "Hadji Girl". It tells the story of an American soldier who falls in love with an Iraqi girl, while being stationed with his mates in Iraq. In overall, the common point of both the movie and the song is the fact that they are both satirizing the language barrier between the allied forces speaking English, and the Arab-speaking troops, highlighted by the phrase "durka durka Muhammad jihad" which represents Arabic language in general.

In an interview with newspaper "Jacksonville Daily News", Cpl Belile declared that his song, which appeared on the popular YouTube video site, was written long before the Haditha incident and was strictly a fictional story, never meant to cause any offence: "I apologize for any feelings that may have been hurt in the Muslim community", he added, an apology that was accepted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Marine Corps labeled the song as "inappropriate" and is currently conducting an investigation into it.