“Obviously, 18, 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often, and that’s what’s occurred here,” the Republican presidential candidate told Candy Crowley on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But, you know, when you’re in war, and history kind of backs up — there’s a picture of General Patton doing basically the same thing in the Rhine River. And although there’s not a picture, Churchill did the same thing on the Siegfried line.”…

U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions forbid the desecration of dead bodies. But Perry argued Sunday that the three Marines’ alleged actions did not amount to a crime.

“I mean, these kids made a mistake, there’s not any doubt about it,” he said. “They shouldn’t have done it. It’s bad. But to call it a criminal act, I think, is over the top.”