US Troops Pose with Dead Insurgents

One of the big stories yesterday as the Los Angeles Times publishing of photographs that showed our troops posing with bodies of dead insurgents in Afghanistan. As usual, and rightly so, the Pentagon condemned the actions of the US troops who took these photos. On the NPR show Hear and Now, Bing West, a military analyst, has some interesting things to say about the “individual breakdowns” of behavior in the field especially with so many troops on the ground. He went on to say the difference between this war and other wars we have fought is that it is the digital age and everything is transmitted around the world in a blink of an eye. West also said that our troops are probably better behaved in battle that American troops in earlier wars. Obviously this is not an excuse, but it is an interesting take on what happens when we are at war.