Taliban Fighter Bodies Burned?

Videotapes are circulating the globe which show the burning of two bodies of alleged Taliban fighters. The US Army's Criminal Investigation Division is trying to determine if the soliders in the tape are American, as the reporter contends and the Washington Post reports. The Guardian reports that Major Matthew Mclaughlin, a spokesman for US Central Command in Florida, said: "It certainly appears to be what it purports to be." The tape was broadcast from Australia, a US ally. From USA Today:

Islam forbids cremation. Stephen Dupont, an Australian cameraman who shot the video, said the troops who burned the bodies were U.S. Army paratroopers he joined during combat missions. He said that other American soldiers used a loudspeaker later to goad Taliban members, calling them "cowardly dogs" and "lady boys" for not retrieving the bodies....

Dupont said the troops burning the bodies said they were doing so for hygienic reasons. Later, Dupont said, psychological operations troops gave the taunting statements over loudspeakers to anger and flush out other Taliban.

The Washington Post reports that:

Military officials identified the soldiers involved in the burning as members of the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The brigade has been in Afghanistan since March and has seen considerable combat in southern Afghanistan, where resistance from Taliban fighters remains significant.

The Financial Times puts this into the context of prior a military (figurative) black-eye: Separately, the Pentagon is challenging a court ruling ordering the military to release more of the photographs and videos of abuses committed at Abu Ghraib. See The War in Iraq, US and Coalition Troops in Iraq, Iraq War Resolution

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