U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) today released the following statement in response to the revelation that a U.S. Marine stationed in Iraq created and posted on the internet a highly inappropriate and insensitive song called "hadji girl," which glorifies the killing of Iraqi civilians:

"I am disturbed by the revelation that a U.S. Marine, who must be held to our nation's highest standards of behavior, is responsible for creating and posting a song on the internet that glorifies the killing of Iraqi civilians.  As a Member of Congress I have always supported our troops, but insensitive actions such as this only serve to diminish our nation's standing abroad and can only be to the detriment of American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, it has been clear to me that in order to win the War on Terror we must not only pursue military options, but we must also actively seek to win the hearts and minds of the Arab and Muslim world.  Sadly, the actions of a few individuals have hurt those efforts and the Pentagon must now rectify the situation by conducting a full and thorough investigation of this incident."

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