Halfway down the Danube

I'd think digging a hole to put them in would be both easier and more appropriate.

Just proves that once you start a war, nothing goes as planned and you're bound to start letting your standards slip. Soon you're killing civilians nilly willy.

These 'small' incidents makes you understand that under slightly different conditions US soldiers would have no problems behaving like the the armies of the former Yugoslavia did.

If US soldiers are ready to bomb cities and utilities (Serbia), attack civilians with phosphor bombs (Falluja), torture suspects (Abu Ghraib) and generally attack hostile villages when they're the attacking party - imagine the kind of atrocities if they really had a reason to hate their opponent, e.g. there were some kind of historical hatred or the enemy had recently massacred US civilians or taken US land...

In fact, I think the soldiers of most countries are capable of committing atrocities if they're stuffed with enough propaganda and have some real grievance.

I remember hearing about the incident when it happened. It didn't get a lot of mass-media coverage, but there was considerable outrage in the blogosphere.

In fact, I think the soldiers of most countries are capable of committing atrocities if they're stuffed with enough propaganda and have some real grievance.

Oh, absolutely. This is not about the single soldier committing a war crime. Every country, every army has assholes, weak characters, sadists, bullies, people who will follow any order, no matter how criminal it is.

I'm outraged about the official response to the problem.

I'm pissed at Rumsfeld for trying to exclude the CIA from the prohibition of torture -- this is signaling to the troops that under certain circumstances torture is morally excusable. (And that is just not so.)

I'm pissed at Bush for not standing up and saying "this is wrong - and we will stop this now".

We can see how this is a slippery slope and how the officials are gliding ever further down.

Also, the US are so exposed and carefully watched by every other nation -- why does the US have a moral right to torture and, say, Turkey doesn't? There is not a really good answer to that. In the end, it comes down to thinking you are better and more worthy than the others. A dangerous thought, that.

Anything for my country? Maybe I'm supersensitive in this respect because my country has learned that a nation cannot stand above moral standards. Humanity goes down the drain when hubris trumps decency. I really thought we have all learned this lesson.

Meanwhile ... Happy 1 December!;)) Have some fun! After all, it's a great place to really feel the holidays' spirit!;))

Claudia,
Thanks for a great answer. Of course, you're right, there is a huge difference between atrocities committed by individual soldiers (or a small unit) and atrocities planned and approved by the government itself.

Soldiers are only human beings and can get carried away in the heat of battle, over killed comrades or just plain propaganda. Government, on the other hand, shouldn't.

Much of the US reaction to 9/11 certainly gives the impression of a government acting more on feeling than on rational thinking. The prison camps and torture (enhanced interrogation, or whatever the euphemism is) are certainly an example of this.

Funnily enough, there's no mention of this:

Later footage shows two US soldiers reading from a notebook messages which they said had already been broadcast to villagers.

"Attention Taleban you are cowardly dogs," the message reads. "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing West and burnt.

"You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be."