(Image Source: CNN)

BY AUSTIN ALONZO 

ANCHOR CHRSITINA HARTMAN

One day after video of US Marines appearing to urinate on enemy corpses surfaced, the US military opens a criminal investigation into the incident and identifies two of the soldiers in the video.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed numerous Pentagon officials and formally denounced the content of the video on Thursday.

“It is absolutely inconsistent with American values, with the standards of behavior that we expect from our military personnel...”

The video comes at a poor time in US - Afghan relations. The US plans to withdraw troops by 2014 and is ready to open peace talks with the Taliban.  But this video will likely put any diplomatic progress in jeopardy. The Guardian had Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s reaction.

“This act by American soldiers is completely inhumane and condemnable in the strongest possible terms. We expressly ask the US government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.”

As for the Taliban, media have heard conflicting stories. BBC quotes one spokesman who promises attacks in retaliation, and another says...

“The video ‘is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage.’”

Many observers wonder what impact the video will have on the war effort. Al Jazeera spoke with Mark Kimmet, a military spokesman during the Iraq War and 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal, on how the abuse harms America’s effectiveness overseas.

“They are our colleagues, those people who stand side by side with us, fight side by side with us are going to ask the question, is this what America is really all about?” 

And the New York Times is reporting the video is already causing an outrage in Afghanistan and had reactions from the streets of Kabul.

“The Taliban sometimes commit such harsh acts but it was enough just to kill them and not to degrade or humiliate their dead bodies,” said Jawad, a university student in Kabul.”

A former member of the Afghan Parliament told the Times...

“The images confirmed to him that America was against Islam, and called the Taliban’s fight ‘legitimate.’ The Americans ‘will never be friends with us and never bring peace,’ he said. ‘They have peed on our holy Koran, and now they have peed on the bodies of our Muslims.’”

The Pentagon will not release the names of the soldiers involved until the investigation is complete.