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.

[snowsislander]

I don't think that "Former Senator Strom Thurmond - apparently believes, along with Trent Lott, that America should have been a segregated society. Still, he served." fairly reflects Senator Thurmond's very distinguished military service.

To quote the USO:

Senator Strom Thurmond was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1924, and was first elected to the South Carolina Senate in 1933. After one term, Senator Thurmond was elected to serve as a South Carolina Circuit Judge, where he served until volunteering for the Army during World War II. Thurmond fought in five battles, including the Normandy Invasion, and received 18 decorations, medals, and awards, including the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Legion of Merit With Oak Leaf Cluster. Senator Thurmond ultimately attained the rank of Major General in 1959.

Here's a picture of Senator Thurmond at the wheel of a German vehicle that he captured at Normandy, where he had glided in with the 82nd Airborne:

Source: CNN

[Melinda in TN]

I had to give O'Reilly a lot of credit the other night when he flayed some puke on his show for saying the Marine should be investigated and possibly charged for war crimes. O'Reilly ripped him good over it.

[Cvengr]

Additionally, it should be remembered that during the opening salvos in Fallujah, insurgents openly surrenedered under white flag, and as interpretters exposed themselves to conduct an orderly surrender, the same insurgents pulled out weapons and opened fire on the interpretter under white flag conditions.

One consequence of voiding the social contract of surrender also voids any right to treatment as a prisoner until unmistakably dead.

Another good reason to respect the rules of war prior to entering any fray. There is going to be a winner and a loser. The intent of the battle is to change the will of the opponent or die in the process. If the enemy doesn't change his will, even upon loss, death is still a viable option.

A more sinister enemy, which the Al Quada have already manifest at Gitmo, is one who will physically surrender, comply with prisoner status, and then persevere in waging war after released, never respecting legitimate authority, except to advance his own criminal agenda.

Such a sinister person is only worthy death. Those who associate with such badly moraled people also share the same burden of that judgment as a group.

IMHO, the Marine may have taken him prisoner out of mercy and grace, but the deceased may have only meritted death.

[azhenfud]

Re: that pic, I never have figured out how a single tire on the front of a bulldozer could steer the darned thing.

[B4Ranch]

I din't write the list but in the future I'll delete Stroms name from it.

XBob, I don't think I've ever seen a similar list of the Dims.

[Enchante]

It was the Malmedy massacre in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. The SS lined up 100 or so US prisoners (mainly truck drivers and support personnel) in a field and machine-gunned them. A couple of them survived by playing dead and then running off into the woods at the first opportunity (that's how we learned about the massacre rather quickly, while the battle was still raging). Yes, it charged up all other US troops against the SS and probably resulted in a lot of SS failing to survive the war since no one wanted to take them prisoner.