Strictly for hygienic reasons:

DEFENSELINK: (excerpts, emp add)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2005 – The decision by U.S. soldiers to burn the bodies of two enemy Afghan fighters was an act of poor judgment, but not a violation of the laws of war, U.S. officials have determined.

Officials also determined that using the act to incite Taliban fighters by announcing it over psychological operations loudspeakers was a separate act. In all, four soldiers have received administrative punishment in the two incidents.

Coalition forces know the location as an area of enemy activity, officials said. A Sept. 30 engagement killed two enemy fighters, and local citizens had not retrieved the bodies 24 hours later. An officer on the ground decided it best to burn the bodies for hygienic reasons.

That's why they did it, for hygienic reasons, including the fact that they were deliberately burned while "facing west" and not Mecca. Killed those west-facing microbes, don't you know.


posted by Quiddity at 12/06/2005 02:29:00 AM