Opinion

The real tale of the tapes

Four Marines fighting in Afghanistan have been videotaped while apparently urinating on the bloody corpses of some Taliban terrorists they’d just dispatched.

A Taliban spokesman called the scene “barbaric,” which is rich coming from the medieval Islamist fanatics given to — among other things — slicing off the noses and ears of young women who attempt to flee brutal arranged marriages.

For our part, we’re withholding judgment. There have been too many such seemingly shocking episodes that, upon investigation, turn out to be less than that.

The high-profile case of Marine Lt. Ilario Pantano — accused of murdering Iraqis, but exonerated late last year — certainly illustrates the point.

But maybe they did do it. Marine Corps Commandant James Amos says he’ll get to the bottom of it all.

Still, as wartime atrocities go, this is pretty mild stuff. My Lai, for sure, it ain’t.

And, again, the Taliban sure ain’t — excuse the metaphor — choirboys.

Maybe somebody should ask Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl about it.

Oh, wait: The Islamists beheaded him — on videotape.

Perspective, folks. Perspective.