U.S. Marines winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan

Western (U.S. and European?) troops and Afghan security forces were accused of desecrating a Koran during a night raid. There was a protest in Garmsir, in southern Afghanistan and apparently local Taliban leaders whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and some say they started throwing rocks at troops. Troops opened fire, killing 8 or so civilians. [2:32]

Two days later Marines and Afghan troops fired on a protesting crowd of civilians in the same area, killing five.

The Taliban may be instigating these incidents, but the dead people are Afghans and we can assume U.S. troops aren't making a lot of friends. Our government has dropped them in a hostile place where they don't begin to know how to cope. So they do what they are trained to do: blow away the hostiles.

This war is nuts and will end badly.