quoted from a news article in my local paper(The Ottawa Citizen, ottawa ON Canada)

"Two American soldiers in Baghdad face charges of dereliction of duty after they converted to Islam and married two Iraqi women in defiance of orders.
In the capital's summer heat, Sgt. Sean Blackwell and Cpl. Brett Dagen fell for two Iraqi translators.
But few have empathized with the romances that began when the Americans met the women in the hotel they were guarding.
The women are now in hiding after receiving death threats from those who consider them to be, quite literally, sleeping with the enemy.
The men got married while on foot patrol in August, conducting a hasty ceremony in full combat gear, M116 rifles in hand.
Sgt.Blackwell, 27, and Cpl. Dagen, 37, have been confined to the base while the incident is under investigation.
A spokesman for the 1st Armoured division said:" They disobeyed a direct order from their commanders not to get married. They also neglected their duty while on patrol. They're in serious trouble."
The plight of the women is no less grave. Joanne, 26 and her best friend Ahda 25, have been in hiding since the weddings, fearful that they will be targeted as collaborators.
The women have not seen their husbands since the day they tied the knot and it is unlikely they will meet again before the soldiers' deployment ends in eight months.
All the women have to console them are photographs of their wedding day and an Iraqi marriage certificate which, in accordance with Islamic practice, shows a payment of $1000 US by the grooms and a compensation pledge of $10,000 in case of divorce.

Yes, I know I should simply reference a web address to the above quoted news article, but the newspaper's website has a very poor search engine, so I quoted the whole article.

My reason for starting a thread is this: Why is the military punishing these men?
Such marriages can present a positive strategic advantage to the US's campaign to influence Iraqis' thinking. ---Because: marriage has always been an important way to reconcile enemies!
Examples are weddings between allied soldiers and "enemy" women in world war two, the Korean UN action 1950-54 and Vietnam."

So what do YOU think:
Should the american military be "throwing the book" at these soldiers?