Responsibility of Embedded Reporters Covering War :: RunningForums.com

megawill wrote:

My question is; is this something that should be reported to the public? For what purpose? Should the tape just have been turned over to the military command under the premise that the incident would be investigated and the soldier prosecuted?

Yes, so that the following frightening statements come to light. Courtesy of Yahoo news.

Quote:

"I would have shot the insurgent too. Two shots to the head," said Sergeant Nicholas Graham, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "You can't trust these people. He should not be investigated. He did nothing wrong."

Quote:

The military command launched an investigation after video footage showed a U.S. Marine shooting a wounded and unarmed man in a mosque in the city on Saturday.

Quote:

Sites 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. ... NBC said the Marine, who had reportedly been shot in the face himself the previous day, said immediately after the shooting: "Well, he's dead now."

And another view point from the blog at Froggy Ruminations:

Quote:

It’s 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.

elkid wrote:

Why is it important that those quotes come to light?

I doubt that most of the people in this country are able to accept the realities of war. If I was that Marine I'd of shot the s.o.b. dead too. And I would expect my son to do the same. That Marine most likely didn't know if that INSURGENT was still armed with a grenade or some other deadly weapon. He wasn't just some wounded guy laying there, he was the freakin' enemy. Minutes before he met his demise he was doing his best to take out every American soldier he possibly could.

robp wrote:

Why is it important that those quotes come to light?

I doubt that most of the people in this country are able to accept the realities of war.

I think you are right, but if "we" are to truly support a war we need to be informed about what we really are committing our troops to do. It is a lot easier to say "hell ya, lets invade that country" if you are then able to bury your head and ignore the ugly reality of what that means.

I don't know if what the soldier did was right or not, but I'm glad the images were seen and the topic is being discussed.

robp wrote:

Why is it important that those quotes come to light?

Quite simply, because Americans keep saying that we're fighting the savages, yet we act like savages ourselves. The government has gone out of its way to point out that terrorists do not value life. Statements like these from our own military show that we don't necessarily, either.

Yep. Dead on correct kiddo. We lob bombs from churches and behead innocent people on a daily basis.

Our military certainly isn't perfect, but to compare them (at any level) to the butchers in the Middle East is devoid of any rational thought.

elkid wrote:

I think it showed that he valued his own life and the lives of his fellow Marines.

elkid wrote:

I totally agree. It amazes me how people can't see how similar we all are.

phillycat wrote:

I totally agree. It amazes me how people can't see how similar we all are.

I don't see how in any shape, way or form that killing an insurgent, unarmed or not, is remotely similar to beheading innocent non-combatants.

robp wrote:

I don't see how in any shape, way or form that killing an insurgent, unarmed or not, is remotely similar to beheading innocent non-combatants.

First, let me state that I did not say that. I said that I think we are more alike than many of us believe. I could spend my time listing all of the senseless acts that American's have participated in over the many years....but why? From reading your posts, I wouldn't expect you to see it so I won't waste my breath (or typing fingers) trying to explain it. I have tried to do that on other topics with other people to no avail.

phillycat wrote:

I believe that when we all get to the point where there's no "them," "we" will be a lot better off, and there will be peace.

phillycat wrote:

Taken in the context of your reply to elkid's quote and to the subject matter at hand it sounded to me like you were comparing the two directly.

And you're right, there's probably not much sense in either of us trying to sway the other's POV.

Let it be investigated. We do not know the full story. I have full faith in the marines that they will investigate thoroughly.

I am just glad the terrorist do not attack civilians and they follow rules of engagement.

I guess that is why they attacked the pentagon with a plane load of civilians.

Show me that in the ROE.

rtpd113 wrote:

Do we know that the insurgent/wounded Iraqi was involved in the 9/11 attack?

Wicked Flea wrote:

Do we know that the insurgent/wounded Iraqi was involved in the 9/11 attack?

Does anybody care?

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