Perry: Urinating Marines are ‘Just Kids’

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told CNN Sunday that the Marines who were filmed urinating on Afghan corpses were just kids being kids and the White House has gone “over the top”  in its criticism. “When you're 18 or 19, you do dumb things. These kids made a mistake, there's not any doubt about it,” the Republican presidential hopeful said. He went on to note that other famous military figures acted the same way in a war environment: “[Winston] Churchill did the same thing.”  

Although the Marines should be “appropriately punished” Perry criticized “the idea that this administration would go after these young people for a criminal act.” The governor went on to note that what he finds “really disturbing” is the “over-the-top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military.”

For his part, Republican Sen. John McCain did not object to the way the issue has been handled. “A full and complete investigation is entirely appropriate,” he said. No one has been charged in the case but an investigation is being carried out and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has called the incident “utterly deplorable.”