I have to respectfully suggest that you're getting one part mixed up, though.
It sounds like they are storming/clearing, not just entering a just-secured bldg.
Sites has made it clear that he was outside with the lieutenant while the Marines went into the room again on Saturday and shot the wounded (what I referred to as "the room-clearing assault"). You can see this at the beginning of the video I have--where there are shots coming from inside the building while the camera is outside. Then, he said a Marine reported they had shot people inside. The lieutenant asked if they were armed, and he shrugged.
Then, the lieutenant and Sites went inside the mosque...and that's when the Marine saw one moving and shot him--just after Sites tells the lieutenant the situation. Note that from the Marine's POV, this man was not an EPW, but an active combatant who might have been playing a trick. To Sites, however, this is an already surrendered, wounded detainee.
But I don't think that an important point is getting across... by the point of the video where the Marine shoots the wounded guy, the Marines have already shot four wounded captives! ...unless there's more to the story that comes out in the investigation. I think that one piece of info that we haven't heard is confirmation whether there was, indeed, hostile fire coming from this room on Saturday, or if it was just reported that there were some insurgents in there. This is key.
So, the person who edited the tape for NBC had an agenda, no?
Heck, does that surprise you?! While the video shows what it shows, that doesn't mean the network didn't try to make it worse! Just because they aren't ABC or CBS doesn't mean they're honest... ;-)
As for what Sites knew and when he knew it and where he was -- we need the complete details.
I strongly agree with this, as I've said. We can't clear the Marine or anyone until we know more about what happened. That makes my point clearly, thanks.
Conveniently, he was able to advance that agenda and "prove" that it conditions the troops on the ground to kill innocent wounded . . .
That could be one interpretation, but I would offer a different one... "The dirty tactics employed by our enemies have made the job more dangerous and have increased confusion, leading to incidents where even with our best intentions, misunderstandings will occur. Therefore, it's imperative that the insurgents understand that they are cutting their own throats, so to speak."
Note that before he went into his current silence, Sites made a statement supporting the professionalism and the behavior of our troops.
Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful response.
The tape Hannity played, however, showed a lot more tension and uncertainty than your chronology allows for.
I have wasted an hour trying to get it to play from Hannity.com
Drat, just as I expected. I don't know the filetype, but Windows Media player hops in to open it, and then gives an error, can't find proxy server. Went through everything, and nothing even HAS a proxy server. I wonder if that is the correct program, but I have been all over Windows and can't find how to make a default program for media files GO AWAY.
Sheesh, just as I feared, I wasted an hour and am NOWHERE!!
I agree what happened before should be investigated. I am sure the Marine Corps will thoroughly look into it -- just wonder what we will hear/see of it. E.g. the complete timeline!!
In the mean time, I would sure like to see a transcript of the tape on Hannity.com, since I can't even get it to play. :(
P.S. On one thread I got a video to pop open under Real Player. I did nothing, it just opened itself that way when I clicked on it.
BUT:
That version is NOT as long as the one Hannity had.