Hi 120 and CPT Holzbach,
I wouldn't say it was "barbaric", but I would say it's crude - it is about the same level of sophistication as burning Mickey Mouse in effigy, and about as effective as that would be on American troops. Part of the problem is that while pork is "unclean", the concept of ritual pollution requires intent on the part of the individual. Furthermore, many of the proscriptions in Islam are relaxed in certain specified situations, travel, jihad, etc. (check out al-Ghazali's Revivification of the Religious Sciences with an imam, notably the book on travel.)
Their relatives wouldn't be "in hell"; their bodies would have been desecrated, but that wouldn't affect their souls. Probably the closest analogy for a Christian would be to find that one or two of the people in your patrol had been killed and had inverted crosses carved into their foreheads. Their reactions would probably be the same as yours would be - a bit of fear and a lot of hatred and anger.
Marc
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