Still Winning Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan

To quote the - of course - un-named pentagon official, "this doesn't look good."

The Army tells NBC News its Criminal Investigation Division is looking into an Australian broadcast report with video that allegedly shows U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan burning the bodies of two Taliban fighters, then using the incident to taunt Taliban forces.

[snip]

According to U.S. Army officials, if the bodies were burned and members of a psychological operations team then used the burnings to taunt the enemy with a broadcast message, that would be in violation of U.S. Army procedures and an apparent violation of military law.

[snip]

They say the burning of the bodies would be an apparent violation of the rules of warfare regarding the desecration of bodies.

Soldiers will only do these things if the command climate allows it. We'll hear all the usual excuses about "bad actors," which might have worked once. But the pattern has become too broad. This problem goes all the way to the top. To the Commander-in-Chief.