It is interesting that people are getting riled up about this latest “incident”, particularly after the treatment John Kerry got because  of his winter solder  hearings.  Those hearing conducted by VVAW produced  testimony of  atrocities in Vietnam. Kerry was pilloried for other testimony. An Army Chief of staff  study ,declassified in 2005, confirms hundreds of cases of atrocities, from rapes to mass killings,  committed by American soldiers in Vietnam.  Just like our society that produces prisons full of criminals, an Army drawn from that same population  will produce  criminals. Take person with the propensity for criminal activity, give them a weapon,  send them to a combat zone three or four times where they have to kill to survive and we have created a recipe for war crimes.    Sherman was right when he said “ War is hell.”      

I assume that all armies have the same kind of population to draw from .   All armies have similar problems: i.e.  Atrocities.  Our American public does not expect our army to  exhibit such behavior but considering the violent  nature of our society, it should not be a surprise. We have  the highest incarceration rate in the world and 10% are in for murder.   

Yes the other side committed atrocities but tha does to excuse any of them.  

Mar 12, 2012 -- 11:20PM, teilhard wrote:

And MOST Combat Soldiers tend to be Young Men, who have little Real Life Mature Experience, and too MUCH Testosterone ... NOT a Good Combination ...

This "Wacko soldier" (your words) is 38 years old and has been in the military for quite a while.  Is this 38 year old's testosterone level the reason he went after women and children instead of men?  Now that's an example of a manly man (/NOT).  Maybe they should run a blood test before letting men into the military.

I DID read you post.  You are the one who said those who commit atrocities as soldiers do it partly because they have too much testosterone.   Hence, my suggestion that they be screened first by simple blood test.   For the safety of the families that are going to get conquered via military occupation.

Mar 12, 2012 -- 2:20PM, Tpaine wrote:

What is going on with our military in Afghanistan? To begin with Marines video themselves urinating on dead Afghans. Link 1

Then a picture of a group of Marine snipers posing in front of an American flag and a banner with the emblem of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) surfaced. Link 2

Following that, American troops "accidentally" burned copies of the Qur'an at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul. Link 3

Finally (for now) on Sunday a U.S. Army sergeant went house to house in three villages in Panjwai district, a rural region outside Kandahar shooting people who were sleeping there killing sixteen, mostly women and children. Link 4

Are they too ignorant to realize that such actions will only incite more violence against Americans and NATO who are in that country? Don't they realize that such things will only increase the support for the Taliban? The only policy that makes sense at this point is to get out of Afghanistan not in 2014 or 2013, but now.

Oh dear.

These soldiers apparently do not know that these escapades are doing much more harm than good.

IMO, we (the U.S.) were right to go into Afghanistan in the wake of 9-11. But the result of images such as these is that the quoted poster above wants to get the US out of Afghanistan NOW, even before a graceful exit can be done.

These images encourage the US citizenry to push their Congressmen and indeed their President to retreat. It's bad for morale, nevermind it being immoral.