Investigation Yields Disciplinary Action, But No Charges

Four U.S. soldiers face disciplinary action for burning the bodies of two Taliban rebels, but they will not be charged with crimes because their actions were motivated by hygienic concerns, the military said Saturday.

The military started its inquiry into the incident last month after TV footage showed U.S. soldiers using the cremation to taunt other Islamic militants _ an act that sparked outrage in Afghanistan.

Islam bans cremation, and the video images were compared here to photographs of U.S. troops abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

So, let's recap. Islam bans cremation but has no problem with suicide bombing that results in the bomber turning themselves into liquified piles of goo splattered all over the landscape, and their largely Muslim victims into similarly ravaged corpses.

The US, after killing two Taliban who had been trying to kill US forces, had the dilemna of trying to dispose of the bodies that the locals didn't want to take because they were the enemy. The bodies couldn't be buried because the ground was frozen solid. So, the US forces cremated the bodies.

And this results in disciplinary action? I guess some US diplomat figured that to smooth things over with the locals, the disciplinary action had to be taken to placate the locals. That doesn't mean it was the right thing to do.