Sad images of a dying American soldier and the useless war in Afghanistan...

It is a deeply disturbing image which depicts the grim reality of war - a fatally wounded US soldier lies slumped in the mud as fellow marines desperately try to save him as his young life ebbs away.

But the release of the picture by a news agency in the U.S., which went against the wishes of the victim's family, has sparked a furious debate which has divided a nation.

The grim photograph shows Lance Corporal Joshua 'Bernie' Bernard, 21, shortly after he was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade during a Taliban ambush of his squad last month in Dahaneh, Afghanistan.

It shows Bernard, 21, of New Portland, Maine, lying mortally wounded with one leg blown off and another badly mangled as his colleagues try in vain to save him. More + images...

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