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"In fact, if a prisoner is severely wounded or unconcious, then there's no need for him to indicate surrender to be considered hors de combat. Breathing is allowed...shooting for that is not justified."

What if he is breathing and possibly holding an IED, which is what happened the day before. This soldier saw one of his friend's get wasted while operating under the system you espouse. What would YOU have done under the same circumstances, if you were in that Marine's shoes? That's right, you would have shot the guy, as we all would have.

A firefight is an occurrance where a man has the rare chance to see what he is made of, and to see what he will do at the drop of a hat, when his life and the lives of his fellow soldiers are at stake. A firefight is no place for a soldier to contemplate "what-if's."

After watching a buddy die and being himself shot in the face, do you really think that a Marine would stop and wonder whether or not a target is breathing? That Marine was trained to eliminate ALL potential threat, and "potential" is the key word here.

Your naivete is stunning....

Uh, the guy who blew up with the IED the previous day was NOT a prisoner, from my understanding. It was a body that had not been in US hands, unlike this guy, who was a prisoner. I think the trigger-happy Marine did not hear the cameraman explaining what we hear them realizing at the end of the clip...that these were wounded prisoners captured by the US forces the previous day.

What would YOU have done under the same circumstances, if you were in that Marine's shoes? That's right, you would have shot the guy, as we all would have.

Uh, no. Not if these were wounded prisoners. There are also methods for dealing with prisoners who might have a grenade or IED... Hint: it's not "just shoot them"...

If you believe that the only mission of a Marine is to kill everything that could be a threat, then you are the one with naivete--and naivete of the type that encourages these unlawful combatants to continue their methods! Since they have no hope of defeating us militarily, they have to rely on pushing our troops to act thoughtlessly. If they can drop us to their level, it's a victory for them.

A modern combatant must think--and/or act on training--in ways that advance our political mission as well as military. Killing EVERYONE would be easy...we could just carpet bomb the city. But the 1st/1st/1st are in there to contuct a more precise mission.

and I hate that it has to be that way....but I want us to WIN this...on all levels.

On another note, I see that Reuters re-ordered their videos so the prisoner shooting is not on the front page.