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Disagree with your supposition.

By rules, regs and decency, we do not shoot wounded enemy combatants. Period.

If this young Marine did so, he was in violation of those rules and regs.... and a sense of decency. In addition, by doing so, he gives equality to those who would say it's alright to shoot wounded Americans.

Trying to now invent some story that he was a suicide bomber is foolish. No one would believe it. Heck, you don't believe it, do you? There are times when you don't leave a combat-capable wounded enemy combatant behind you. By all accounts, this was not one of them.

If this young Marine screwed up, then the 99.9% of Marines who do not kill the wounded are jeopardized and shamed by his actions.

There will be an Art 31 Investigation, and we will see where it goes.

We do not need any false jingoism about him being hung out to dry. He apparently screwed up. He got caught.

#101....And this is suppose to sound logical???????????????--Are you appointing yourself the voice of reason?

Surely you've been here long enough that you should know Freepers, for the most part, are for justice and getting all the facts out!

You are so quick to condemn this Marine....but I don't see you condemn the MSM who apparently was frothing at the mouth with this juicy tidbit they ran against proper channels to make sure the likes of Chrissy Mathews and others ....ie, CNN....have their tasty morsels for the dinner news.

You should know the Marines will give this proper attention and investigation......but how hard will that be now when every foaming at the mouth MSM pundit rakes it thoroughly though the mud!!!!!

That disgusts me....and it disgusts a LOT of other folks here too!!!!!!!!!!

ok lawyer.... where are your extenuating circumstances for a dude who had just seen a buddy killed by an "injured" terrorist and had been himself shot in the face the day before?
and do you think it is just peachy for the guy with the camcorder to pass the video to everyone in the world, if indeed it was a crime scene, instead of giving it to the military? And for him to tell the soldier after they had gone in to the mosque and killed the terrorist that these were terrorists who were wounded the day before?
Easy for you to sit on your butt and be a monday morning quarterback. My heart is with the marine.

By rules, regs and decency, we do not shoot wounded enemy combatants. Period

Understood.

We do not need any false jingoism about him being hung out to dry. He apparently screwed up. He got caught.

And I know you used the word apparently, but how about we wait for the investigation and any legal action, if it's required, before we go there?

"By rules, regs and decency, we do not shoot wounded enemy combatants. Period.

If this young Marine did so, he was in violation of those rules and regs.... and a sense of decency. In addition, by doing so, he gives equality to those who would say it's alright to shoot wounded Americans."

Wrong. In fact, I cannot begin to comprehend just how wrong you are. The FACT is that those rules are subject to certain conditions. Once certain conditions are satisfied, then it does indeed become illegal.

The other argument is of percieved threat. see my earlier posts.

"Trying to now invent some story that he was a suicide bomber is foolish. No one would believe it. Heck, you don't believe it, do you? There are times when you don't leave a combat-capable wounded enemy combatant behind you. By all accounts, this was not one of them."

Correct, speculation is foolish. But again, if the soldier felt threatened, (only he can make that determination), then UCMJ cannot touch him as he is without fault. The only thing that would have hurt him is if he shot the corpse repeatedly.

"There will be an Art 31 Investigation, and we will see where it goes.

We do not need any false jingoism about him being hung out to dry. He apparently screwed up. He got caught."

Actually, what we do not need, is more speculation and judgments against him. If he FELT threatened, then he "got caught" getting a clean kill.

Bottom line.

*before you flame me or call me a troll, or dismiss me as a newbie-- think carefully, I am Very familiar with this situation, as it happened to me in 2002.

Congratulations -- after reading two threads on this, i have finally found a lucid individual.

Nobody loves Marines more than me -- but the facts as we know them cannot be defended by a moral and civil society. The reason we don';t shoot people like this, is because we are superior morally and ethically.

Now -- we don't know all the facts -- and that is why the Marine Corp will conduct a fair and thorough investigation, where this Marine will get proper representation -- and he will be judged not by arm-chair bloggers, but by fellow Marines who know and understand the obligations of the Military.

For those on these threads who blindly and foolishly spout out that the terrorist got what he deserved, they understand little about the who we are, and how we conduct ourselves as a nation. No doubt that terrorist is scum -- and I sure didn't lose any sleep over his death -- but IF the facts show he was merely a wounded, unarmed individual -- no right thinking Marine can sanction this action.

While others blather on about the reporter and the media -- the truth is that an action like this hurts America and our cause because every action our soldiers take will be used against them by the media. Our soldiers are hurt, our world standing is hurt, our mission in Fullajah is hurt.

How many Al Queda training and recruiting tapes will show this footage to young recruits? How many terrorist will be made? How do we win the public relations battle with Iraqi's on the ground when they see this type of video?

I hope the facts come out in this young Marine's favor. I really do. He was a brave Marine who came back from being wounded int he face the day before -- and undoubtedly he was on a hair trigger to defend himself and his unit -- but if he shot that unarmed man for merely breathing and being a terrorist -- he will face charges -- and that will be appropriate.

Wrong Bender,

In a time of war against terrorists, and in a sustained, on-going, highly stressful, combat environment, this incident does not merit any type of prosecution. By prosecuting a young Marine over a dubious incident will do more harm than good. It will give the enemy 'aid and comfort,' which will lead to more Americans dying in combat. The military better give this Marine the benefit of the doubt or face a more embolden enemy, and demoralize our forces by over the top scrutiny.

Since the enemy on many occasions have faked surrender and other under handed tactics, the United States military has the right not to give any quarters to the enemy, a tactic that I wish we would use more often.

We will see if the U.S. makes the right call in this case.

By rules, regs and decency, we do not shoot wounded enemy combatants. Period.

So our soldiers should let themselves be blown up by wounded terrorists who have wired themselves up with explosives and are ready to push the button? Seems to me the tactics your enemy is using dictate what you must do if you don't want to get killed.

"By rules, regs and decency, we do not shoot wounded enemy combatants. Period">
What rules are you talking about?
The rules in Iraq are, if a suicide bomber or someone who acts and behaves like a suicide bomber approaches you, you shoot and shoot to kill.
This rule was brought in after the initial liberation of Iraq, when terrorists kept getting close to our boys, and then exploding bombs strapped to their bodies and killing our men. #1, we had one psychotic terrorist only the day before, pretend to be dead, and then explode a grenade talking an heroic American soldier's life.
#2, this "wounded" piece of garbage, started moving when he was pretending to be dead.
If my pal had been blown up by exactly the same situation the previous day, of course I'd shoot the terrorist scum.
These people are animals.
The have been calmly torturing and brutally slicing off the heads of innocent Americans civilians for the past 12 months.
Our guy had no option but to take this scum out the moment there was the possibility of the guy exploding some hidden bomb. It may well have been either our American soldier or the terrorist.I'd back our American soldier any day over this slime.
Bottom line, the reporter does not know what the terrorist was carrying or trying to slyly explode. He just assumed the worst of our soldiers and was only too eager to trash our guys for his own personal glory. Now why does that remind me of Hanoi John Kerry?
GOOD RIDDANCE!

When the enemy is feigning death and fixing themselves
with suicide vests, taking half a dozen Marines with them
when they lure them in to "help", imagine. In a perfect
battle scenario, with soldiers in uniform lined up facing
each other in battle, things go more as planned. This is
a whole different scenario, unfortunately, where walking up
to a guy playing possum on the floor gets you and your
whole platoon blown up, it bears some consideration.

John Kerry went out of his way to do the same thing to a
wounded Vietnamese teenager in the back, and got a medal for
it. Will wonders never cease?

Excuse me, I was part of an elite Marine Corps unit and as a Hospital Corpsman we are to treat prisoners but in this case I would shot him too ii he endangering the lives of my MARINES. Remember the same 3/1 BLT had one casualty when he tried to tend to a one terrorist and exploded himself and a young marine. What do you think about that? Have you ever been in combat???????

There will be an Art 31 Investigation, and we will see where it goes.

We do not need any false jingoism about him being hung out to dry. He apparently screwed up. He got caught.

I disagree with you, sir. And like you, I have also been in combat.

I hope that the Marine Corps does a proper investigation, as is warranted. However:

I worry that the publicity of this will influence the USMC investigation to make it worse than simple justice would normally entail. Indeed, the rear-echelon types may be concerned about the PR aspects too much.

I worry that the Old Media have already tried and convicted this Marine. It is a lynching by the Old Media.

That is not justice by anyone's standards, yours or mine.

I disagree with you. Further I question if you have ever been is such a situation. This soldier was in the fray, not you, the reporter was biased, and has a history of bias. Example after example of enemy tactics have been drilled into these guys, the warfare books we have gotten our hands on for the taliban, the Al Zawquari groups and the Al Sadr groups clearly define this as a tactic. To question a soldier while on assignment or patrol is shortsighted unless you have first hand experience, or you were there in the group. Shame on you.