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BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21 - A marine who appears to shoot and kill an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner in an NBC News video was not aware that the incident was being recorded, and moments later approached the cameraman with seemingly remorseful words - "I didn't know, sir, I didn't know" - according to the first public description of the events by the cameraman, Kevin Sites, since his brief and somewhat ambiguous initial report. No weapons were visible inside the Falluja mosque where the shooting took place, on Nov. 13, and the wounded Iraqi made no sudden or threatening moves...

Only a few have seen the footage shot the day before -- providing irrefutable evidence that the mosque was a well-defended arms depot. And fewer still have viewed the very next sequence after "the shooting," which shows two Marines pointing their weapons at another combatant lying motionless. Suddenly, one of the Marines jumps back as the terrorist stretches out his hand, motioning that he is alive. Neither Marine opens fire. According to the Marines, a Navy medical corpsman was then summoned to treat the two wounded prisoners. In his original written report, Sites, the correspondent who videotaped the shooting, doesn't...

Once again the blogger world has stepped up to the plate to do job the mainstream media is supposed to do - but seldom bothers anymore. While U.S. and Arab media went-pedal-to-the-metal with the NBC video of a Marine in Fallujah committing the "atrocity" of defending himself and his platoon against a wounded terrorist, PowerlineBlog.com has helped put the incident in perspective, by publishing a letter from a brother Marine who describes just what our guys are up against. The moving account is beginning to make the rounds on talk radio, with WABC host Mark Levin sharing it with his...

<p>A Marine shot an unarmed insurgent in a Fallujah mosque on Saturday. We know this because we saw it. The digital video footage of the shooting—recorded by NBC reporter Kevin Sites, who was embedded with the Marines—is running nearly continuously on cable news channels worldwide. We heard it, too. A Marine says: "He's fucking faking he's dead. He's faking he's fucking dead." The Marine comes into view with his rifle shouldered. There is a rifle shot. An Iraqi leaning against a wall slumps, leaving a blood stain behind. According to CNN, another Marine says, "Well, he's dead now."</p>

In the space between the fog of war (lethal confusion, peril and instant reflexes) and the edited news break (carefully scripted and produced filler between Viagra commercials), a young Marine hangs out to dry.      Maybe I should say he hangs crucified, although that particular metaphor these days isn't just politically incorrect, it's radioactive. Then again, nothing to follow in this space is anything but more of the same. What I'm getting at, in this land of free speech and home of brave Marines, is my unequivocal belief that Marine X committed no "war crimes" in that fortified Fallujah...

Kevin Sites, the NBC cameraman who shot video of the controversial shooting of a Fallujah insurgent by a U.S. Marine, is an anti-war activist whose photographs of Iraqi prisoners are featured on at least one anti-war website. Sites was embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in Fallujah when he shot the video of the Marine shooting an injured enemy fighter in a mosque. From the dialogue on the footage, it appeared the Marines were unsure if the insurgent was dead or faking death. Some fighters in Iraq have feigned death only to pull out a weapon or blow...

Good Morning Everybody. > > The following is an email from my son regarding the NBC report (with > embedded reporter Kevin Sites), concerning the Marine who is being > investigated for "murdering" the insurgent in Fallaja. I will be sending his > mail to every news program's email I can find. I find it sickening that this > Kevin Sites is even allowed to be embedded with our Marines, as this isn't > the first report I've heard from him that took on a decidely unfriendly > tone. My son also gave me permission to release it to anyone...

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...

HUMAN rights groups said today the killing by a US marine of a wounded Iraqi could amount to a war crime and showed the need for US forces to be better trained about the laws of war. "If it is what it appears to be, then obviously it would be a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. It would probably be a war crime," said Joe Stork, Washington director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International echoed calls by the top UN human rights official, Louise Arbour, for an investigation of suspected abuses...

Kevin Sites, NBC Reporter Who Photographed Marine Shooting, An Active War Correspondent POSTED: 10:39 am EST November 17, 2004 NEW YORK -- Video of a U.S. Marine shooting a wounded man in Fallujah was captured by an Internet Age journalist who often reports and photographs war stories, then posts his impressions on his own weblog. Kevin Sites, a freelancer who works part time for NBC News, was being kept under wraps by the network Tuesday as the investigation into the shooting continued. The youthful, long-haired Sites has worked for NBC, CNN and ABC News and has covered war zones in...

As the war continued to take its toll, parents in Live Oak and Gilroy learned this week that their only sons had been killed in Iraq. Marine Lance Cpl. Jeramy Ailes, 22, of Gilroy was killed Monday in Al-Fallujah by small arms fire.``They had finished mopping up in Fallujah and they went back to double-check on some insurgents. From what we gathered, somebody playing possum jumped up and shot him,'' said his father, Joel Ailes, who learned of his death Monday evening. ``It's extremely hard.''

The Old Media does not understand why it cannot reach it's "audience" - they are continuously amazed at their falling numbers, and they do not understand why they are losing credibility and followers at an alarming rate. But in the story of Kevin Sites, the reporter who filmed - and condemned - a Marine shooting an insurgent in a Mosque, we find the answers illustrated vividly. It is a cautionary tale of writers and reporters whose only "audience" is themselves... In Kevin Sites' Blog, we find accounts of war, stories of Marines at rest, and the subtle undercurrent of identification...

What happens when you send an anti-war activist to Iraq with our Marines? You get an ordinary wartime incident blown out of proportion and presented in such a way that a good soldier ends up accused of war crimes. One of our fighting men has come "under investigation" for shooting a terrorist who was pretending to be dead in a mosque. of course, the media is spinning this as a "shooting of a wounded, unarmed Iraqi". Fact is that this was a terrorist playing dead, hoping one of our troops would get close enough to kill, or hoping to escape...

To: U.S. Congress Friday November 12 2004 U.S.Marines were fired upon by snipers and insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades from a mosque and an adjacent building. The Marines returned fire with tank shells and machine guns. They eventually stormed the mosque, killing 10 insurgents and wounding five others, and showing a cache of rifles and grenades for journalists. The Marines told the pool reporter that the wounded insurgents would be left behind for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment. But Saturday, another squad of Marines found that the mosque had been reoccupied by insurgents and...

A WOUNDED US soldier seen on TV shooting dead an Iraqi prisoner was defended last night by SAS hero Andy McNab. The US marine — shot in the cheek earlier — machine-gunned the man in the head as he lay bleeding in a mosque in Fallujah. The soldier feared the Iraqi was pretending to be dead to draw him into a trap. Just before the killing, a fellow GI yells: “He’s f***ing faking he’s dead!” Walking away ... victim is obscured by fellow captive after burst of gunfire The marine faces a murder probe. But McNab — who has stared...

WASHINGTON -- The Marine who shot and apparently killed a wounded Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Fallujah on Saturday has been removed from the battlefield for questioning, and U.S. commanders in Iraq said they were bracing for a wave of outrage in the Middle East after the airing of the videotaped shooting. Senior military officials and human rights advocates, including those often critical of the armed services, cautioned that the graphic videotape of the shooting, taken by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC News, left many questions unanswered and underscored the confusion of urban warfare. Agents from the Naval...

I'm wondering if a FReeper with some experience in the arena would like to set up a fund for the Marine who shot that wounded terrorist in the mosque. I get the feeling he is going to be railroaded and will need some help. Whether it be for lawyer's fees, support for his family, or simply just to show him that there are real Americans who support him, I'd like to contribute to such a fund. Suggestions?

War and the media: That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." Millions of Americans have reacted to this video taken in Fallujah (search) where a young Marine shot a wounded insurgent inside a mosque. That Marine is now under investigation. But he is innocent, and that will be proven. Let's take it step by step. Last night, I had to make a decision whether to show you that video or not. I chose to do it and then provide context. In that way, you could decide about the controversy. You may remember I did not show the...

Please Freep this Poll http://www.texasinsider.org/Categories.aspx?CategoryID=19&txs=b1 Yes (27.1 %) 36 votes No (72.9 %) 97 votes Total Votes: 133

Was not the reporter under the duty to hand over this tape to military authorities,under the rules of imbeds? If that's the case then strong measures should be taken against Sites. Also has Sites been removed from that Marine unit,because at this point i"m sure his presence is a distraction to the Marines and therefore endangers their lives. Sites has to be removed from that unit at the very least.