Just when I thought I was out-they pull me back in
virus: U. S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi
« on: 2004-11-15 23:02:17 »
U. S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi
Nov 15, 10:38 PM (ET)
By STEVEN R. HURST
(AP) In this image taken from pool video provided to the Associated Press by NBC News, a U. S. marine is... Full Image
NEW YORK (AP) - A U. S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting was under investigation.
The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines inside the mosque.
The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.
Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles.
The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from insurgents who have been battling U. S.-led occupation forces in Iraq with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months.
On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead.
The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but the report of the rifle could be heard.
The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp.
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.
Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow Marine shrugs.
Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.
The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the fourth man who was shown being shot.
A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division.
The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.
NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U. S. television pool that the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the Marines identity was hidden because "they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that."
In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of the video.
Nov 15, 10:38 PM (ET)
By STEVEN R. HURST
(AP) In this image taken from pool video provided to the Associated Press by NBC News, a U. S. marine is... Full Image
NEW YORK (AP) - A U. S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting was under investigation.
The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines inside the mosque.
The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.
Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles.
The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from insurgents who have been battling U. S.-led occupation forces in Iraq with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months.
On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead.
The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but the report of the rifle could be heard.
The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp.
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.
Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow Marine shrugs.
Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.
The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the fourth man who was shown being shot.
A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division.
The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.
NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U. S. television pool that the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the Marines identity was hidden because "they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that."
In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of the video.
> U. S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi > > Nov 15, 10:38 PM (ET) > > By STEVEN R. HURST > > (AP) In this image taken from pool video provided to the Associated > Press by NBC News, a U. S. marine is... Full Image > > NEW YORK (AP) - A U. S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and > apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent > stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures > broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting > was under investigation. > > The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites > of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners > in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines > inside the mosque. > > The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, > returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was > embedded with the unit. > > Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from > the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten > men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the > fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades > and AK-47 rifles. > > The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and > continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from > insurgents who have been battling U. S.-led occupation forces in Iraq > with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months. > > On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday > incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the > background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead. > > The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner > laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the > bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but > the report of the rifle could be heard. > > The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to > Associated Press Television News and other members of the network > pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly > the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes > limp. > > Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day > earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent. > > Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, > Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an > approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if > the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding > affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow > Marine shrugs. > > Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and > who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the > Marines on the Saturday visit. > > The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall > and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a > third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely > wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not > appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the > fourth man who was shown being shot. > > A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug > Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further > details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and > that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division. > > The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of > the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines > involved. > > NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U. S. television pool that > the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the > Marines identity was hidden because "they (the military authorities) > are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident > and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that." > > In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not > broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of > the video. > > > > Nov 15, 10:38 PM (ET) > > By STEVEN R. HURST > > (AP) In this image taken from pool video provided to the Associated > Press by NBC News, a U. S. marine is... Full Image > > NEW YORK (AP) - A U. S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and > apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent > stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures > broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting > was under investigation. > > The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites > of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners > in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines > inside the mosque. > > The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, > returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was > embedded with the unit. > > Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from > the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten > men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the > fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades > and AK-47 rifles. > > The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and > continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from > insurgents who have been battling U. S.-led occupation forces in Iraq > with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months. > > On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday > incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the > background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead. > > The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner > laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the > bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but > the report of the rifle could be heard. > > The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to > Associated Press Television News and other members of the network > pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly > the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes > limp. > > Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day > earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent. > > Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, > Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an > approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if > the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding > affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow > Marine shrugs. > > Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and > who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the > Marines on the Saturday visit. > > The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall > and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a > third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely > wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not > appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the > fourth man who was shown being shot. > > A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug > Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further > details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and > that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division. > > The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of > the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines > involved. > > NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U. S. television pool that > the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the > Marines identity was hidden because "they (the military authorities) > are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident > and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that." > > In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not > broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of > the video. > > --- > To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to > <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l> > --- To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>
Re: virus: U. S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi
« Reply #3 on: 2004-11-16 11:13:00 »
Killing is what war's all about. America looks good on TV for making a patsy out of some poor GI? No thanks.
What CNN doesn't cover is the hundreds of thousand of dead civilians.
The US is so busy killing people in Iraq, we've fogotten that it's not our country, we had no business invading it, and more Iraqi's died because of our bombs and sanctions over the last 10 years than Saddam, as bad as he was, would have kiled if he had ruled for 100 years.
By sheer body count, we're 10 times worse than Saddam.
-----Original Message----- From: Walter Watts <wlwatts@cox.net> Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:02:17 To:undisclosed-recipients: ; Subject: virus: U. S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi
U. S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi
Nov 15, 10:38 PM (ET)
By STEVEN R. HURST
(AP) In this image taken from pool video provided to the Associated Press by NBC News, a U. S. marine is... Full Image
NEW YORK (AP) - A U. S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting was under investigation.
The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines inside the mosque.
The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.
Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles.
The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from insurgents who have been battling U. S.-led occupation forces in Iraq with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months.
On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead.
The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but the report of the rifle could be heard.
The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp.
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.
Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow Marine shrugs.
Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.
The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the fourth man who was shown being shot.
A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division.
The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.
NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U. S. television pool that the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the Marines identity was hidden because "they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that."
In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of the video.
Nov 15, 10:38 PM (ET)
By STEVEN R. HURST
(AP) In this image taken from pool video provided to the Associated Press by NBC News, a U. S. marine is... Full Image
NEW YORK (AP) - A U. S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting was under investigation.
The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines inside the mosque.
The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.
Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles.
The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from insurgents who have been battling U. S.-led occupation forces in Iraq with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months.
On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead.
The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but the report of the rifle could be heard.
The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp.
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.
Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow Marine shrugs.
Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.
The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the fourth man who was shown being shot.
A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division.
The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.
NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U. S. television pool that the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the Marines identity was hidden because "they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that."
In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of the video.
The television press was awash Monday night with video of a U.S. Marine entering a Fallujah terrorist nest filled with dead snipers who, moments earlier, had been shooting at his unit.
Upon discovering that one of the snipers is still breathing, the Marine shouts a warning to his buddies, the screen goes dark and a gunshot is heard - suggesting that the Marine finished off the wounded terrorist.
Iraq war critics are already salivating at the prospects of another Abu Ghraib-like military fiasco.
Not so fast, say the folks at FreeRepublic.com, who point out that John Kerry got a Silver Star with Combat V [for valor] for committing the same sort of "atrocity."
In fact, the February 1969 incident was considered by Kerry supporters to be his finest hour.
Patrolling the Bay Hap River, Kerry and his crew discovered they were about to be ambushed by a Viet Cong soldier who had just popped up at the shoreline with a loaded rocket launcher in his hands. With the VC about to fire, Kerry crew mate Thomas Bellodeau shot and wounded the attacker, saving the entire boat.
Only then did Kerry leap to the shore to chase the wounded enemy down - finishing him off behind a hootch.
When critics suggested that Kerry's actions that day were something less than heroic, they were hooted down by the press.
Certainly the as-yet-unnamed Marine in Fallujah deserves, if not the Silver Star, the same slack the press cut Kerry.
The US military has announced it is looking into whether an American marine in Falluja shot dead a severely wounded Iraqi insurgent at point-blank range.
Television footage shows US soldiers entering a building as injured prisoners lie on the floor.
The soldier, who has not been identified, has been removed from the field and faces possible charges.
Hmm. From a later story on the shooting, it seems obvious that the soldier in question considered the "insurgent" an active threat.
He said a marine noticed one prisoner was still breathing.
A marine can be heard saying on the pool footage provided to Reuters Television: "He's f***ing faking he's dead."
"The marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man's head," Sites said.
Assuming that the Marine in question is charged with breaking the rules of war that Amnesty International complains about later on in the second story, and not some other violation, I suspect he'll walk.
According to those rules, It is prohibited to kill or wound an enemy who is surrendering or who is hors de combat.
There's nothing to suggest that the enemy combatant had previously surrendered, and "hors de combat" is basically a judgment call. If there's reason to suspect he was faking, then the safest thing to do is shoot him some more--especially given the fact that the enemy in Falluja has demonstrated that they are perfectly happy faking a surrender in order to kill Americans.
"In one incident, some Iraqis are reported to have come out of a building waving a white flag. When a Marine approached this group, insurgents opened fire on the Marines from different directions."
Given the behavior of the enemy, even the slightest supposition that a certain situation is unsafe on the part of a Marine should warrant whatever action he decides to take in order to exit the area unharmed.
The Marine battalion stormed an unidentified mosque Saturday in southern Fallujah after taking casualties from heavy sniper fire and attacks with rocket-propelled grenades. Ten insurgents were killed and five others were wounded in the mosque and an adjacent building.
The Marines displayed a cache of rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles that they said the men were holding. They said the arms were conclusive evidence that insurgents had been using mosques as fighting positions in Fallujah, which they said made the use of force appropriate.
When the Marines left to advance farther south, the five wounded Iraqis, none of whose injuries appeared to be life-threatening, were left behind in the mosque for other Marines to evacuate for treatment. The other Marines arrived:
Sites saw the five wounded men left behind on Friday still in the mosque. Four of them had been shot again, apparently by members of the squad that entered the mosque moments earlier. One appeared to be dead, and the three others were severely wounded. The fifth man was lying under a blanket, apparently not having been shot a second time.
One of the Marines noticed that one of the severely wounded men was still breathing. He did not appear to be armed, Sites said.
The Marine could be heard insisting: "He's f---ing faking he's dead - he's faking he's f---ing dead." Sites then watched as the Marine raised his rifle and fired into the man's head from point-blank range.
"Well, he's dead now," another Marine said.
When told that the man he shot was a wounded prisoner, the Marine, who himself had been shot in the face the day before but had already returned to duty, told Sites: "I didn't know, sir. I didn't know."
Combat does things to people. Pressure, stress, the high emotion of watching your friends get killed and wounded, of being shot at yourself - they're all a recipe for occasional problems. During World War II, there were many stories of GIs killing prisoners. It happens. The military frowns on it, and I'm sure the Marine involved is in a world of trouble; as Jason Van Steenwyck points out, the Marine is probably looking at a murder rap.
But what it boils down to is that it's something that is a symptom of the stress of combat, something individuals and small groups do in the heat and pain and pressure of battle.
Not as a matter of national policy.
I would ordinarily feel silly pointing that last out. It's not rocket science. But a number of leftyblogs, not being themselves rocket scientists, are trying to create an Abu Ghraib-like scandal out of this - and pin it on the Administration:
Kevin Sites, while showing captures of the photos of the murder: "Let's watch Bush win Iraqi hearts and minds!"
Matthew Gross entitled his piece "Culture of Life", and said "Someday, not too far away, we'll tell the kiddies how the U.S. was once looked up to around the world, as a beacon of moral virtue. And you know what? They won't friggin' believe us."
Get a grip, people. It's not an administration policy, and it's not a sign that America is in decline. It's an alleged murder, with (it is likely) extenuating circumstances, none of which will help the Marine much if he's found guilty. It's a symptom of what a rotten thing war is.
Which leads us to the conundrum; we're fighting people who saw hostages heads off, and are lionized for it throughout the radical Moslem world. They're people who'd think nothing of killing prisoners - in fact, that's what started the whole situation in Fallujah.
Our laws, and "international law", forbid the killing of prisoners. That's a good thing. Our enemies will look at the prosecution of the wounded Marine who did the shooting, and laugh at our weakness.
Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. -- EZEKIEL 9:5
What would I do?
In a mosque.
In Fallujah.
With the battle still ringing in my ears.
With my face still stinging from yesterday's wound when that booby-trapped body of a dead enemy fighter blew up, killing one of my fellow Marines.
When the body by the wall in that rubble-strewn room moved.
What would I do?
How many million times in the long annals of war has the blurred moment in some small corner of a battlefield brought death -- death faster than thought, faster than the swiftest moral reflection?
Death to innocents. Death to the helpless, the wounded.
And to the treacherous.
The times are past counting. Most probably remain hidden, known only to the surviving participants - the awful secrets of combat, when men fight to the death and a terrible pragmatism chokes off restraint and even feeling.
Some are cold murders.
But many are simply moments. Moments beyond morality, beyond any kind of civilized measurement, beyond the ken of those of us who have not been caught in the bloody maelstrom of battle.
But this thing in Fallujah was not hidden.
Little is hidden in this watched war, this most watched of wars.
The embedded camera pries and spies.
It sees all.
And tells nothing.
"Shooting in Iraq Mosque Angers Muslims," reads the headline to an Associated Press account of the incident. It informs us of the "dramatic footage of the shooting that aired through the day on Al-Jazeera."
We in America have seen the "footage," too, although the actual shooting has been excised. We have seen the footage again and again.
So the terrible instant, the blurred moment, for some young Marine, has been transformed into an endless instant replay for the meticulous judgment of all those of us who might consider ourselves even-tempered, schooled in civil ways and sure of our moral compass, our inherent tenderness.
We are spared the footage of an innocent Iraqi woman who did nothing but good for her country being blindfolded and shot in the back of the head. We are spared the carefully planned and staged decapitations in blood filled rooms by masked terrorist cowards.
But we must see, over and over, this watched moment.
And each time the grim scene runs, that moment -- the gritty, chaotic moment of decision or instinct or reflex -- recedes more rapidly from reality, from the only truth to the thing, a truth somewhere inside one young Marine, at the razor edge of his own life in the midst of battle.
Its a safety issue pure and simple. After assaulting through a target, put a security round in everybody's head. Sorry al-Reuters, there's no paddy wagon rolling around Fallujah picking up "prisoners" and offering them a hot cup a joe, falafel, and a blanket. There's no time to dick around in the target, you clear the space, dump the chumps, and moveon.org. Are Corpsman expected to treat wounded terrorists? Negative. Hey libs, worried about the defense budget? Well, it would be waste, fraud, and abuse for a Corpsman to spend one man minute or a battle dressing on a terrorist, its much cheaper to just spend the $.02 on a 5.56mm FMJ.
By the way, terrorists who chop off civilian's heads are not prisoners, they are carcasses.
UPDATE: Let me be very clear about this issue. I have looked around the web, and many people get this concept, but there are some stragglers.
Here is your situation Marine. You just took fire from unlawful combatants shooting from a religious building attempting to use the sanctuary status of their position as protection. But you're in Fallujah now, and the Marine Corps has decided that they're not playing that game this time. That was Najaf. So you set the mosque on fire and you hose down the terrorists with small arms, launch some AT-4s (Rockets), some 40MM grenades into the building and things quiet down. So you run over there, and find some tangos wounded and pretending to be dead. You are aware that suicide martyrdom is like really popular with these kind of idiots, and like taking some Marines with them would be really cool. So you can either risk your life and your fireteam's lives by having them cover you while you bend down and search a guy that you think is pretending to be dead for some reason. Also, you don't know who or what is in the next room, and you're already speaking english to each other and its loud because your hearing is poor from shooting people for several days. So you know that there are many other rooms to enter, and that if anyone is still alive in those rooms, they know that Americans are in the mosque. Meanwhile (3 seconds later), you still have this terrorist that was just shooting at you from a mosque playing possum. What do you do?
You double tap his head, and you go to the next room, that's what.
What about the Geneva Conventions and all that Law of Land Warfare stuff? What about it. Without even addressing the issues at hand you first thought should be, "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6."
Bear in mind that this is a perpetual mindset that is reinforced by experiences gained on a minute by minute basis. Secondly, you are fighting an unlawful combatant in a Sanctuary which is a double No No on his part. Third, tactically you are in no position to take "prisoners" because there are more rooms to search and clear, and the behavior of said terrorist indicates that he is up to no good. No good in Fallujah is a very large place and the low end of no good and the high end of no good are fundamentally the same... Marines get hurt or die. So there is no compelling reason for you to do anything but double tap this idiot and get on with the mission.
If you are a veteran then everything I have just written is self evident, if you are not a veteran than at least try to put yourself in the situation. Remember, in Fallujah there is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only now. Right NOW. Have you ever lived in NOW for a week? It is not easy, and if you have never lived in NOW for longer than it takes to finish the big roller coaster at Six Flags, then shut your hole about putting Marines in jail for war crimes. Be advised, I am not talking to my readers, but if this post gets linked up, I want regular folks to get this message loud and clear. Froggy OUT.
The MSM and other TV/Radio outlets have been putting Colonels and other officers on their programs to "defend" the Marine who is being accused of war crimes by the left. By and large I wouldn't expect much in the way of solace coming from these military talking heads. Why? They are officers. With the exception of the SEAL Teams and perhaps other SOF units, officers and enlisted are trained separately. Officers are trained to be aware of their own accountability and liability for the actions of the enlisted in their command. Enlisted are trained to shoot people and blow stuff up. Enlisted people are taught by senior enlisted people, many with combat experience from other conflicts, to put security rounds into tangos after assaulting through a target. Officers are not. So don't listen to what you hear from former officers on TV, because it's not an officer's job to shoot people, it's his job to direct those in his command and to get direction from those who command him.
I have also seen a lot in the way of explaining this Marine's actions by taking into account the fact that he was wounded the day before, that he was tired, he was caught up in the "fog of war", and similar excuses for his actions. He doesn't need any excuses in my book. While all of those factors were in play, they aren't germane to the subject at hand.
Combatants generally fake death for a reason. The reason is not important. That there is a reason is important. If Kevin Sites wasn't there with his camera, those Marines probably would have double tapped everybody in the room. Site's presence clearly attenuated the natural response of the Marines in that situation. Which makes the shooting of the one tango all the more justifiable in my estimation. Marines know that they have to be on their best behavior when the press is around, because chances are they were explicitly warned by their unit commander. The fact of the matter is that this Marine acted with RESTRAINT and only shot the one hostile who was acting in a suspicious manner. Kevin Sites certainly owes his life to this and many other Marines he was straphanging with last week. I glad he was able to offer them his gratitude in such a compelling way.
This is one story of many that people normally don't hear, and one that everyone does.
This is one most don't hear:
A young Marine and his cover man cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with Ak-47's and RPG's. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insurgent can be heard saying, "Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!" He is badly wounded, lying in a pool of his own blood. The Marine and his cover man slowly walk toward the injured man, scanning to make sure no enemies come from behind. In a split second, the pressure in the room greatly exceeds that of the outside, and the concussion seems to be felt before the blast is heard. Marines outside rush to the room, and look in horror as the dust gradually settles. The result is a room filled with the barely recognizable remains of the deceased, caused by an insurgent setting off several pounds of explosives.
The Marines' remains are gathered by teary eyed comrades, brothers in arms, and shipped home in a box. The families can only mourn over a casket and a picture of their loved one, a life cut short by someone who hid behind a white flag.
But no one hears these stories, except those who have lived to carry remains of a friend, and the families who loved the dead. No one hears this, so no one cares.
This is the story everyone hears:
A young Marine and his fire team cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with AK-47's and RPG's. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insugent can be heard saying, "Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!" He is badly wounded. Suddenly, he pulls from under his bloody clothes a grenade, without the pin. The explosion rocks the room, killing one Marine, wounding the others. The young Marine catches shrapnel in the face.
The next day, same Marine, same type of situation, a different story. The young Marine and his cover man enter a room with two wounded insurgents. One lies on the floor in puddle of blood, another against the wall. A reporter and his camera survey the wreckage inside, and in the background can be heard the voice of a Marine, "He's moving, he's moving!"
The pop of a rifle is heard, and the insurgent against the wall is now dead. Minutes, hours later, the scene is aired on national television, and the Marine is being held for commiting a war crime. Unlawful killing.
And now, another Marine has the possibility of being burned at the stake for protecting the life of his brethren. His family now wrings their hands in grief, tears streaming down their face. Brother, should I have been in your boots, I too would have done the same.
For those of you who don't know, we Marines, Band of Brothers, Jarheads, Leathernecks, etc., do not fight because we think it is right, or think it is wrong. We are here for the man to our left, and the man to our right. We choose to give our lives so that the man or woman next to us can go home and see their husbands, wives, children, friends and families.
For those of you who sit on your couches in front of your television, and choose to condemn this man's actions, I have but one thing to say to you. Get out of your recliner, lace up my boots, pick up a rifle, leave your family behind and join me. See what I've seen, walk where I have walked. To those of you who support us, my sincerest gratitude. You keep us alive.
I am a Marine currently doing his second tour in Iraq. These are my opinions and mine alone. They do not represent those of the Marine Corps or of the US military, or any other.
Simul rabidly froths, in an emotional spasm of venomous leftist self-and-America-loathing:
Killing is what war's all about. America looks good on TV for making a patsy out of some poor GI? No thanks.
What CNN doesn't cover is the hundreds of thousand of dead civilians.
The US is so busy killing people in Iraq, we've fogotten that it's not our country, we had no business invading it, and more Iraqi's died because of our bombs and sanctions over the last 10 years than Saddam, as bad as he was, would have kiled if he had ruled for 100 years.
By sheer body count, we're 10 times worse than Saddam.
Joe, with calm, cool, coherent and collected logic, reason and historical evidence, answers:
Saddam killed 2 million people during his 22 year reign; he has killed more Muslims than any other single figure in recorded history. The US has not killed 100,000 Iraqi noncombatants, as the Lancet propagandized, but, according to more objective counts, far fewer than 10,000; this is 90,000 less than saddam killed in a typical year. Saddam allowed all those people to die for propaganda value, all the while building 50 palaces, fattening his military, pursuing WMD programs, and bribing UN officials and members of the French, Russian and Chinese governments with oil-for-food kickbacks from the 21.3 billion he skimmed from the program, the proceeds from which were SUPPOSED to go to the clothing, feeding, health and welfare of the Iraqi people. The blood is on Saddam's hands, and those of the French, the Russians, the Chinese, and certain UN officials, not upon the hands of the US.
One after another, with the cadence of choreographed mortar fire, disclosures about the phenomenally corrupt United Nations program known as Oil-for-Food--it ranks as one of the greatest financial crimes of all time--are exploding into the news.
With each troubling disclosure, last year's refusal of the UN Security Council to enforce its 17 resolutions against Iraq after the Persian Gulf war becomes more transparent. To prop up the regime that murdered his people by the hundreds of thousands, and to thwart UN sanctions, Saddam Hussein bribed officials and companies in influential nations worldwide. Given the vast payoffs he funneled to France, Russia and China--three countries with veto power at the Security Council--Hussein had nothing to fear from the UN's coalition of the bribed.
By the time a U.S. president finally confronted the UN with its failure to enforce its own repeated demands of Iraq, the fix evidently was in. As last month's report from Charles Duelfer, chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, made alarmingly clear, the sanctions in which opponents of the Iraq war had invested so much faith and hope were in truth collapsing. Hussein used money looted from Oil-for-Food to buy friends around the globe who could speed that collapse. Duelfer wrote that once Hussein undermined the sanctions, he intended to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction--and craft nuclear bombs. Fortunately, he was dethroned and defanged first.
In this week's burst of Oil-for-Food news:
- U.S. Senate investigators reported Monday that Hussein illegally pocketed some $21 billion during 13 years of sanctions--double prior estimates. Much of that came via Oil-for-Food, in which Iraq was allowed to sell some oil, supposedly under UN monitoring, and use the proceeds to buy food and medicine for its people.
Instead, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) accurately framed it, "That humanitarian program was corrupted and exploited ... for the most horrible and aggressive purpose" of funding Hussein's military. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who chairs a Senate panel aggressively investigating Oil-for-Food, said the huge fraud left a "dark stain" over the UN. While the UN averted its eyes, or worse, Hussein illegally smuggled oil, collected fat surcharges on permitted oil sales, bought rotting or substandard goods for his people, and even demanded kickbacks from foreign suppliers of those goods.
- As Iraqis died of malnutrition and disease, Hussein paid bribes to undermine sanctions and clear a path for spending on WMD. Mark Greenblatt, a counsel for the Senate panel, said Hussein tried "to gain influence throughout the world" for his campaign to end the sanctions. Greenblatt said Hussein "gave oil allocations to officials, journalists and even terrorists, who then sold their allocations to the traditional oil companies in return for a sizable commission." If some Hussein allies who criticized the sanctions as cruelties imposed on the dictator were gullible, others were purchased and paid for.
- Probers previously alleged that Benon Sevan, the sidekick of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who ran Oil-for-Food, secretly got lucrative rights to illicit oil from Hussein himself. On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that Sevan also blocked the UN's anti-corruption unit from investigating his program. The Post said Sevan, who denies wrongdoing, was "loath to antagonize key Security Council members, particularly Russia, which routinely opposed efforts to reform a multibillion-dollar program that served its political and economic interests." Translation: People like their bribes intact.
Hussein's hijacking of Oil-for-Food bought him a world of support--almost. Now, honorable governments need to demand accountability from the nations, companies and individuals that were complicit in his blood-caked crimes. The UN also must produce the records that will let probers unravel the corruption for which so many Iraqi innocents paid with their lives.
Even in history's rough draft, this scandal is contemptible. And for those who appeased Saddam Hussein, it will grow more embarrassing.
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