Avionker,
Thank you for your balanced view. The NYT article pretty much says it all, as you point out, and you are absolutely correct in your statement about beating up anyone for their views - far from changing the man's mindset, these guys have simply given him reason to think badly of Fijians. We don't even know if he was racist, but if he wasn't, he may be now!
In any event, six soldiers do not have the right to inflict violence on one just because they don't like his views. As BEgs remarked, rather disproportionate.
SASless is quite right, given that none of us were there, they will have their day in court an then perthsaint can stop worrying about the speculation.
BTW, I think it's more a case of perthsaint having the hissy fit, not SASless. Just my opinion.