AP Photo/YouTube Reporting from the front lines: Images purportedly shot by U.S. servicemen in Iraq are popping up on video-sharing sites like YouTube.

YouTube.com and other video-sharing sites are flush with Iraq footage shot by U.S. servicemen on the front lines -- videos that are sometimes poignant but more often gruesome and profane.

Authenticity is difficult to verify at sites like YouTube. Because users post their own videos, the provenance of such incendiary images is impossible to determine. But they appear extremely realistic.

The most graphic show people blowing up, bloodied corpses and the aftereffects of suicide bombings, often with laconic commentary — "That had to hurt" — and accompanied by a driving rock, metal or rap soundtrack.

Others are videotaped at a distance and show crowds of figures being obliterated in a cloud of dust, or night-vision outlines of enemy fighters who have been shot and are writhing on the ground while someone intones, "Dude."

But even more striking than the carnage — at least to this civilian — is the apparent glee of those presenting it.

Typically, something gets blown up while American voices behind the camera cheer and curse wildly.

"Boom!" screams one unseen narrator over a video of an air bombardment shot in the green tint of night vision. An aggressive stream of profanity follows.

It's war as video game, war as sport. Some call these snippets "trophy videos," akin to hunters showing off their prey since, clearly, someone thought imagery of blowing people up was worth uploading and sharing with the wider public.

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LACK OF CONTEXT

One problem with interpreting the images is that they have no context, says Eric Schotz, executive producer of an upcoming documentary series called "My War Diary" for Discovery and the Military Channel that will use videos shot by servicemen and women.

"It's one thing to hear them say 'Holy Blank'," Schotz says, censoring himself. "It's another thing to say, 'What were you feeling? What's going on?'," he says. "No matter what video's rolling, they're not really talking about 'my feelings' at that point because you're in the moment."

The key for documentarians using raw videos is asking those behind the camera what happened before and after and why they were there, says fellow executive producer Lisa Bourgoujian.

"What you don't know is, this person survived several IED explosions and it's their last tour before they head out of Iraq," she says, referring to the improvised explosive devices that have killed hundreds of U.S. troops.

"If you don't provide context, then it's just a gratuitous clip," Schotz says.

That said, gratuitousness is everywhere, and is playing to appreciative audiences -- judging by the equally profane viewer feedback comments, which include remarks from boys who promise to enlist when they're old enough and continue the pummeling.

The Pentagon wants the worst videos off the Internet. It has banned "photographing or filming detainees or human casualties, as well as the possession, distribution, transfer, or posting, whether electronically or physically, of visual images depicting detainees or human casualties, except as required for official duties," the military said in e-mailed response to questions.

And it cuts both ways. Militant groups are notorious for releasing videos of captives being shot or beheaded, using the footage as an instrument of terror.

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'TAKE EM OUT'

Many of the Americans-in-Iraq videos don't show close-ups of casualties, just their outlines through weapon scopes, which highlights the high-tech nature of the conflict.

One video, seen in the reverse black-and-white of perhaps heat-sensing cameras, shows gunners picking off shadowy figures one by one. By the end, one figure can be seen writhing on the ground. "Roger, he's wounded," an American voice says. "Hit him."

Another video, shot from above, shows a large crowd of people on the ground -- maybe 20 or 30 -- whose identity we don't know. Iraqi insurgents? Presumably. "I've got numerous individuals on the road, you want me to take those out?" someone says. "Take 'em out," another responds.

Whoever they are, they're incinerated in a cloud of dust. "Impact," the voice says. It's quiet for a beat, and then someone comments, giddily, "Oh, dude."

Only the truly atrocious videos attract wider attention. One purports to show British troops beating Iraqi boys while a narrator screams in orgiastic pleasure. "Oh, yes. Oh, yes, you're going to get it. Naughty little boys."

After images were published in a London newspaper, the British military said it would investigate. Rights groups are calling for an independent probe.

Just as upsetting are small acts of cruelty -- one video shows a U.S. soldier playing keepaway with an Iraqi child's soccer ball by making him beg for it and then bouncing it off his head. Another shows Americans prompting an Iraqi man to read a long list of naughty words in English. "Beaver," he stutters in a heavy accent, as the Americans cackle with laughter. "Vagina."

All in all, they suggest a coarsening of American culture right here at home, such as in the casual -- and constant -- references to bombed Iraqis as "bitches" and frequent remarks about sodomy and bestiality.

The Pentagon, burned by public outcry over TV images of Vietnam, now tries to limit media coverage to reporters "embedded" with troops.

But there is no censoring the trophy videos.

We're all embedded now.

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Note: Many of these videos are too graphic or disturbing for asap to provide links. They can easily be found at YouTube.com.

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Stephanie Hoo is asap's business and technology writer.

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