It is time to withdraw our soldiers from Afghanistan. The latest example of moral depravity exhibited by members of our armed forces shows the effects of prolonged war on our citizens. The US is at war with not so much an insurgency as an idea. An idea is not a form of concentrated power. It is a form of distributed power. You can’t take out a popular idea with a bomb or a 50 cal round. We are occupying a “country” which exists by default as a void between other countries. Afghanistan is a collection of districts occupied by a weak confederation of tribes who adhere to seventh century cosmology and religion. A coalition of like minded religious zealots are in the process of retaking the political void which is only weakly occupied by a corrupt, reluctant and treacherous Afghan government.
These latest instances of outrageous and indefensible behavior with Afghan corpses by US forces completely negates whatever moral high ground we once occupied. We have put our troops in a place and circumstance which is unwinnable. We have exposed good men and women to unspeakable horrors and memories. There are too many public dots to connect now that outline our own corruption in the execution of foreign policy in Afghanistan.
War inevitably corrupts its participants. Our own enthusiasm for war reflects poorly upon us and we must get a grip on this.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
Hi Gauss – like the new clean format. I have been in RSS mode, apologize in advance for missing it.
It was time for a change. Must be related to spring.
When posing with a kill elicits more outrage than the kill itself, it is time to reflect.
We train thousands of young men and women to kill other young men and women. This is regarded as normal.
Hunters pose with trophies. This is also regarded as normal.
Conflate the two and suddenly it is an abomination.
What do the dead wish? They wish they were not dead.
If our species survives this turbulent childhood, one sign of our maturation might be the absence of armies. But I am not holding my breath.
Well said. My train of thought didn’t get that far. We shouldn’t be surprised by this thing. We train our youth to kill. Without photos like the one in question, it’s all very abstract.