Making Enemies in Afghanistan

In combat there are rules, called "rules of engagement" that establish when it is legit to shoot. Some such rules simply provide that when a person is running they are ipso facto a bad guy. When I fought in Vietnam we operated, often, under such a rule. That may be what is at work in this case, where two Afghans were cut down--one killed instantly, and the other wounded only to receive a coup de grace. The New York Times > Reuters > News > US Military Says Investigating Killings of Afghans and should these cases be dismissed as though the killers were just a few bad apples, a companion pieces, also in the Times, underlines that the mistreatment and murder of prisoners is a systemic problem. True, the military justice system is punishing some of the perpetrators, but the punishments tend to be light relative to the severity of the crime, if there are punishments at all.