NBC Says Marine Shot Dead Wounded Iraqi Prisoner

Rooters via Yahho!News ^ | November 15, 2004

[Kaslin]

LONDON (Reuters) - A television pool report by U.S. network NBC said on Monday that a U.S. Marine had shot dead an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Falluja.

The Iraqi was one of five wounded prisoners left in the mosque after Marines had fought their way in on Friday and Saturday. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon (news - web sites) on the report.

U.S. forces launched an offensive one week ago on Falluja, and have gained overall control of the formerly rebel-held city, although scattered resistance remains.

The pool report by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the mosque had been used by insurgents to attack U.S. forces, who stormed it and an adjacent building, killing 10 militants and wounding the five.

Sites said the wounded had been left in the mosque for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment. No reason was given why that had not happened.

A second group of Marines entered the mosque on Saturday after reports it had been reoccupied. Footage from the embedded television crew showed the five still in the mosque, although several appeared to be already close to death, Sites said.

He said one Marine noticed one of the prisoners was still breathing.

A Marine can be heard saying on the pool footage provided to Reuters Television: "He's fucking faking he's dead. He faking he's fucking dead."

"The Marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man's head. The pictures are too graphic for us to broadcast," Sites said. No images of the shooting were shown in the footage provided to Reuters.

The report said the Marine, who had returned to duty after being shot in the face a day earlier, had been removed from the field and was being questioned by the U.S. military.

Sites said the shot prisoner "did not appear to be armed or threatening in any way."

[fooman]

? -

[rang1995]

so?

[Max Combined]

"And he should be VERY carefull around a dagerous enemy.... "

He could get killed somehow.

[fooman]

AMen

[Pointblank]

Thank you!

[elizabetty]

I agree. Also, "playing dead' is much different than having your hands in the air or a white flag saying "I surrender" (and even then should be treated with extreme caution). If he was playing dead his intentions were most likely not good. It is a common tactic of these terrorists to fake being injured and then ambushing the soldiers who come to help them.

[Santana]

I agree. A 24 year old Marine from my town of Plymouth, WI was shot and killed by the insurgents in Iraq on Friday. I would have rather it was the "innocent" Iraqi who was dead right now.

[Time is now]

"We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the *Iraqi's* that we've got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!"

General George S. Patton

[AMDG&BVMH]

What if the body had been boobytrapped?

[xone]

'There ARE rules of warfare- our soldiers and marines are highly trained in following them.'

Set aside the argument re: whether the 'insurgents' are lawful combatants entitled to Geneva's protection. When your side engages in 'perfidious conduct' ie fake surrenders, misusing protected symbols, faking protected status etc; your side loses the protection inherent in those symbols/status. If the enemy has faked death/wounds and used that advantage to attack, this Marine is not going to be prosecuted. Especially if they had been briefed about these types of occurences.

[Natural Law]

After what I have experienced and seen I have no faith in the system. There is an old cliche that says there are only two kinds of combat soldiers; the quick and the dead.

I was taught in Army Leadership School that in a combat situation any decision made with more that 75% of the data available is hesitation. In combat a moments hesitation can get you and your buddies killed. The last thing we need is to ask out troops to have to go into combat with a squad level JAG.

[fooman]

LEt these self righteous aholes fend for themselves. I am sure their new allies, the iraqis 'freedom fighters' will take good care of them...

[ChildofReagan]

Who gives a crap, he's dead. Give the boy a medal and send him on.

[MyDogAteMyBallot]

"FNC want
this to be another ABU. I don't trust them anymore."

I was suprised by the tone of the FN story, too. Wasn't that Greg Kelly reporting? I believe he's a former marine and did good reporting as an embedded in Iraq in 2003.

[Texas Deb]

True. The terrorists couldn't ask for a better propoganda machine than our own media.

[Gator113]

They need to get the media the h*ll out of there. Period!!

Certainly, our Troops are going to screw up from time to time and within the Military ranks, there exists a process for dealing with such things.

The media has no business frying a Troop in public and putting a cloud over ALL of our Troops during a time of war.

Frankly, I hope this reporter gets fraged!

[FreedomCalls]

"All this Geneva Convention Bull$hit ..."

Go read the applicable Geneva Convention on wounded soldiers on the battlefield. It says specifically (Article 13) that it only applies to certain categories of combatants. These guys are excluded. See my post 153.

[Santana]

I agree. He should have FIRST shot the reporter, then the Iraqi and any others he could see.

[finnman69]

http://www.kevinsites.net

this guys has some great coverage on his website although a report of his I heard on MSNBC was very negative.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Nonetheless, "the system" is what hired them. He who pays the piper calls the tune.