Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Let me first say that I don't know enough about the situation in the video to really form a conclusive opinion. It certainly looks pretty crappy, but there could very easily be more to the situation that would justify the actions taken.

That said, let me say that Iraq is in a very unique state of turmoil. They have a brand new police force, a recently freed population and three major cultural groups that are now living without the iron fist hovering over them.

I don't know what kind of justice system they had set up when the video was taken, but if this was still during, or soon after, the combat portion of the war, then soldiers unfortunately probably had to act like Judge Dredd: judge, jury and executioner. They were probably told to use their best judgement and to mete out justice whenever necessary to send a message and stop the looting. Soldiers are NOT police. And they do a terrible job of filling in as such...