Because they were on the winning side?
"We are not and never will be 'morally equivilant' to these thugs."
If our soldiers are not equivalent to thugs --- and I believe they are not --- then it behooves them to refrain from behaving like thugs. Just warriors attack combatants, the enemy's warmaking assets, and military targets. Thugs attack civilians, or destroy whole districts indiscriminately.
Our soldiers have an ethic of honor. They have an ethic of destroying the enemy's ability to fight, and shielding the noncombatants, which they do even when it is costly to themselves. This pertains to a warrior's honor: and this is the reason why our troops deserve our support.
""Then why wasn't Curtis LeMay tried as a war criminal after WWII? Why wasn't Sherman tried as a war criminal after the Civil War?"
Because they were on the winning side?
"
There we go, Mrs. Don-o considers the USA a war criminal state.