least seven people had been killed in protests resulting from the incident.

"I don't think the president should apologize for something that was clearly inadvertent," Santorum told NBC's David Gregory. "I think you highlight it when you apologize for it. You make it sound like something you should apologize for. There was no act that needed an apology."

"I think the response needs to be apologized for by [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai and the Afghan people of attacking and killing our men and women in uniform and overreacting to this inadvertent mistake. That is the real crime here, not what our soldiers did."