Fallujah Marine in Trouble for Pulling a Kerry / freerepublicmention

newsmax.com ^ | Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004 9:19 a.m. EST

[InvisibleChurch]

Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004 9:19 a.m. EST Fallujah Marine in Trouble for Pulling a Kerry

The television press was awash Monday night with video of a U.S. Marine entering a Fallujah terrorist nest filled with dead snipers, who moments earlier were shooting at his unit.

Upon discovering that one of the snipers is still breathing, the Marine shouts a warning to his buddies, the screen goes dark and a gunshot his heard - suggesting the Marine finished off the wounded terrorist.

Iraq war critics are already salivating at the prospects of another Abu Ghraib-like military fiasco. Not so fast, say the folks at FreeRepublic.com, who point out that John Kerry got a Silver Star with Combat V [for valor] for committing the same sort of "atrocity."

In fact, the Feb. 1969 incident was considered by Kerry supporters to be his finest hour.

Patrolling the Bay Hap River, Kerry and his crew discovered they were about to be ambushed by a Vietcong soldier who had just popped up at the shoreline with a loaded rocket launcher in his hands. With the VC about to fire, Kerry crewmate Thomas Bellodeau shot and wounded the attacker, saving the entire boat.

Only then did Kerry leap to the shore to chase the wounded enemy down - finishing him off behind a hootch.

When critics suggested that Kerry actions that day were something less than heroic, they were hooted down by the press.

Certainly the as yet unnamed Marine in Fallujah deserves, if not the Silver Star, the same slack the press cut Kerry.

[texan75010]

Sites is toast. He will not see his next birthday if he sets foot in Iraq. I don't care how much he backed off his story. What's done is done and payback is a mother.

[PajamaTruthMafia]

MSNBC has now shown yet another version of the report. In this one, Mickleshevsky (sp) does the report. He uses an edited portion of Sites Imus statement where he says, "Throughout this offensive I have seen the military act as a discipline and professional force... it was a confusing situation... Only the soldier knows his intent.."

[Peach]

Didn't Kerry shoot someone in the back in Vietnam? A vietnamese guy who'd already been shot by another crewmate and started to get away.

[dinok]

"My dad said this is ludicrous. In Korea they took no prisoners, or very few."

It was no different in World War II. Our guys killed German prisoners often. Germans were used to killing prisoners and wounded so our guys paid them the same compliment.

But there was no NBC or BBC fighting for the rights of captured Nazis then.

[hershey]

This Marine had been shot in the face earlier in the day, too.

[freakboy]

Those in the MSM are having orgasms over this.

[texasbluff]

E-Mail

President George W. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov

[Allegra]

This whole thing makes me sick. These media scumbags have no idea what it's like for these guys on the front line doing their job and doing it well.

They had been tricked by their own kindness by terrorists pretending to surrender and then killing the Marines as they approached.

In a Fallujah situation, the "take no prisoners" stance should apply and the whiny liberals need to just back off.

[eagleraven]

I read Falluja story and I have to say our military needs our support more than ever. For those of us who don't know what it is like to be a target 24/7. I would have probably done the same thing too. Just makes me so mad that media spent years trying to defeat President Bush in every way with bad reporting. Now, the media is going after our soldier? Our Marine! I can't imagine the intense fear, anger and God knows what else our soldiers are going thur day in and out. I'd say, give this Marine some slack. Thank God he's still alive. He deserves a star! Not this media BS. Quit calling them insurgents, they're terrorist! This Marine did OK. Don't forget about this one prisoner from Guamtomato, remember? Thanks to the STUPID Media's bad reporting. They helped free this one prisoner? Guess where he's at today? Back in Iraq, killing off our soldiers!! I made my point.

[Wooly]

Not only did Kerry get a medal for the same thing, the democrats made a movie about it and showed it during their convention.

[Wooly]

If this Marine ends up facing charges, lets flood the Defense Department with demands that John Kerry incident in Vietnam be re-opened and reviewed for criminal intent.

[Airborne1986]

In the end, it is going to work out O.K. for this Marine. Whatever might be said about this incident in the media, worst case is that he is judged at a Court-Martial by his own. 5 or more fellow Marines with at least one-third enlisted representation. Most of those panel members will have served in Iraq. They will hear high praise from the Marine's buddies, Commander and probably the medic that treated the Marine's head wound. They will hear about the treacherous tactics of the terrorists. The Marine will be found not-guilty and returned to his buddies after less than an hour of deliberations.

A very similar incident occurred in Panama in 1989. An NCO (82d Airborne, I believe) shot multiple prisoners under much more ambiguous circumstances. He was brought back to Fort Bragg, tried, and promptly acquitted. The same day he pinned-on First Sergeant rank - his flag having been lifted.

My experience is that military personnel are very, very reluctant to convict in cases involving line-of-duty judgment calls. What goes through everyone's mind is: "But for the grace of God go I ...."

[ZULU]

I'm as ticked off as hell over this.

"Embedded newsmen" don't belong in the front lines. You can't fight a war with a Monday monring quarterback looking over your shoulder.

If there is ANY question of a doubt as to a possible threat from an enemy soldier - you should waste him. Soldiers aren't cops and a war isn't a drug arrest.

This entire episode and the way it is being handled will jeopardize our men in the field. Their primary concerns should be protecting themselves and destroying the enemy - not how any actions of theirs on the battlefield are perceived by a degenerate liberal pacifistic media.

[MizSterious]

I saw the Fox reporter--and thought, God bless you, sir, for telling the other side of this story. I only wish he had also mentioned the boobytrapped "bodies" and "wounded" the troops have already encountered. I think this Marine probably did the right thing, and might very well have saved all in the building. Including the sorry excuse for an imbed reporter.

[katana]

This kind of thing and goes on in every war.

I once met and had a long conversation with an old Belgian gentleman who served as an interpreter during WWII. Around the end of the war he and a major he was working with drove up to a small concentration camp where the guards had all lined up to surrender. The major and this guy got out of their jeep and the major said "who's the commander here?" The interpreter shouted out "wer ist der Commandant?". A German officer stepped forward, clicked his heels and saluted, whereupon the major pulled out his .45 and shot the guy right between the eyes. Never reported, never a complaint, and according to the fellow I spoke with not an uncommon occurrence.

[Enterprise]

Good ol' FreeRepublic. Old Media conveniently "forgets" these things when they go after Republicans.

[SheLion]

Ping

[aliquis]

I still don't understand, why bother taking prisoners - is this a new thing, or something? You take prisoners when they surrender, not when they can't fight because they are incapacitated. And, above all, why allow media into combat situations where they endanger the troops by traipsing around the dead bodies, and report on something they can never understand?

[Se7eN]

The Marine should get a Silver Star with the Combat W(for Whoopass).