Posted on 11/16/2004 6:17:45 PM PST by kattracks
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a Fallujah mosque by a U.S. Marine angered Sunni Muslims in Iraq (news - web sites) on Tuesday and raised questions about the protection of insurgents once they are out of action.International legal experts said the Marine may have acted in self-defense because of a danger that a wounded combatant might try to blow up a hidden weapon; a key issue was whether the injured man was a prisoner at the time.
The shooting happened Saturday, one day after the Marine, who has not been identified, was wounded in the face and after another man in his unit was killed by the booby-trapped body of an insurgent.
However, the incident could cause major political problems for the government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his U.S. backers at a time when Iraqi authorities are seeking to contain a backlash among Sunnis to the invasion of the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
American and Iraqi authorities tried to prevent rage from spreading among Sunnis, many of whom watched dramatic footage of the shooting that aired throughout the day on Al-Jazeera television, a Qatar-based satellite station.
"Look at this old man who was slain by them," said Ahmed Khalil, 40, as he watched the video in his Baghdad shop. "Was he a fighter? Was anybody who was killed inside this mosque a fighter? Where are their weapons? I don't know what to say."
It was unclear to what extent other Iraqis, particularly the majority Shiite Muslims, cared about the shooting.
Maysoun Hirmiz, 36, a Christian merchant in Baghdad, said she was not satisfied by an announcement by the U.S. military that it had removed the Marine from the battlefield and will investigate whether he acted in self defense.
"They will say or do the same thing they did with the soldiers who committed the abuses against Iraqis detainees in Abu Ghraib prison, and they are still free, enjoying their lives while they destroyed other peoples' lives," Hirmiz said.
The central figures who allegedly carried out the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates at the notorious prison west of Baghdad are currently on trial, facing trial or have already been sentenced.
The Abu Ghraib scandal, which erupted last spring when photos of the abuse became public, generated a worldwide wave of revulsion that raised questions about the treatment of Muslim prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and elsewhere as part of the Bush administration's war on terror.
The shooting in the Fallujah mosque became public Monday with the airing of the footage taken Saturday by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC News. In his report, Sites said the man who was killed didn't appear to be armed or threatening in any way, with no weapons visible in the mosque.
In a statement Tuesday, the 1st Marine Division said it launched its investigation "to determine whether the Marine acted in self-defense, violated military law or failed to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict."
It was unclear from the statement whether the incident was reported through the chain of command Saturday or only when the pool footage became generally available two days later.
Sites said three other insurgents wounded Friday in the mosque were also shot again Saturday by the Marines.
International legal experts said protection of injured combatants once they are out of action is a basic rule in warfare but that the Marine shown in the video may have acted in self-defense.
Charles Heyman, a British infantry veteran and senior defense analyst with Jane's Consultancy Group in London, defended the Marine, saying soldiers are taught that the enemy "is at his most dangerous when he is severely injured."
Other experts contacted by The Associated Press were careful to avoid a public judgment because of the dangerous and uncertain situation in Fallujah, where U.S. troops were still fighting insurgents.
"It's clearly recognized that people in combat situations are under enormous strain," international Red Cross spokesman Florian Westphal said in Geneva. "Obviously, we were not on the spot so we cannot judge the precise circumstances of what was being shown here."
Westphal said the Geneva Conventions are clear: Protection of wounded combatants once they are out of action is an absolute requirement.
However, the status of the wounded man was unclear. A different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing 10 men and wounding five, according to Sites. He said Marines treated the wounded and left them.
The same five men were in the mosque Saturday when Marines from another unit arrived. Westphal said he couldn't say for sure from NBC's account whether the man was a prisoner.
Heyman said there is a danger that a wounded enemy may try to detonate a hidden firearm or a grenade, and if the man made the slightest move "in my estimation they would be justified in shooting him."
However, legal distinctions are unlikely to carry much weight among many Iraqis, especially Sunnis already angry over the Fallujah offensive. Allawi said he ordered the assault after Fallujah's leaders refused to hand over Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters.
But Sunni militants saw the invasion of the city 40 miles west of Baghdad as a plot by the Americans and the Shiites, such as Allawi, against religious Sunnis — an allegation both governments deny.
"The troops not only violated our mosques with their sins and their boots but they stepped on our brothers' blood," said Khalil, the shop owner. "They are criminals and mercenaries. I feel guilty standing here and not doing anything."
At a news conference Tuesday, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib, himself a Sunni, said that although "killing a wounded person is rejected by us," Fallujah militants were "killers and criminals" who committed brutal acts.
That meant little to Hameed Farhan, 51, who works for the Transportation Ministry in Baghdad.
"I did not see it because there was no electricity at home, but my wife was at her parents and she described it for me," Farhan said. "She was crying. Tears welled up in my eyes. I wanted to scream."
___
Associated Press reporters Omar Sinan in Baghdad and Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva contributed to this report.
SHOOTING UNARMED BRITON MARRIED TO IRAQI OUTRAGES ALL
Angry, are they? Well, in all fairness, we should invite them to a conference to air their concerns... then kill them.
Gee--I wonder how long it took to find someone who give a care about the one who was dispatched to his 76 virgins.
shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man
I have seen the video. Did I miss a tattoo or something that identified the man as a muslim?
Let's see
woman driving cars?... Noooo
writers asking tough questions about islam?....Nope
Western society?...Nada
Beating woman senseless in the name of family order?
AHA.. there is something that does not anger a Muslim!
Mission accomplished. Terrorist neutralized.
The media wants to make this war look like a failure.
We kicked ass, lost some good soldiers in the process.
Did the photographer roll footage of American troops "buying it"? Hell no...... his sympathys are for the muslim terrorist murderers who kill women and children and cut off the heads of hostages.
I say ......take no prisoners. A threat is a threat.
I'm not defending Sites, but there was a post earlier where he stated that the Marines he's been with have behaved very professionally and with great restraint, and that this particular situation was very confusing.
Excuse me .. MUSLIMS KILLING 3000 AMERICANS ANGERS ME!
Our Marine just hastened the terrorists meeting of his 72 virgins. He did him a favor.
And Muslims murdering 2,000,000 Christians in the Sudan angers me.
The most likely reason the Iraqi was pretending to be dead - especially if he had been lying there since the previous day and should have by then been more than ready for some help - was that he wanted to entice the Marines to come closer.
And what would be the most likely reason for that?
Now there's one helluva double standard for ya.
Where was the outrage when these ass***** were mutilating and stringing up the bodies of Americans, cutting off heads and storing weapons and shooting at us out of these same mosques! Tell these crybabies to go F*** themselves.
There, I feel better now. Well, truthfully, I won't feel better until all our boys are safe and each one of these so called "insugents" have been sent to visit Satan, aka Allah.
The fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a Fallujah mosque by a U.S. Marine angered Sunni Muslims in Iraq (news - web sites) on Tuesday and raised questions about the protection of insurgents once they are out of action.
One down and another 3000 to go, then we will be even for 9/11.
I believe the guy that was shot could not legally be called a lawful combatant under the Geneva Convention, nor could be be considered a Prisoner of War.
Live by the sword and die by the sword.
Ragheads are really asking for it.
They are going to get more than they bargained for.
If we can bomb hundreds of thousands of German civilians into smithereens and nuke japs, annihlating a race of uluating subhuman beasts seems more of a public service to the human race than anything else.
Islamonazis living on borrowed time.
And so is the leftist media.
Oh the poor Muslim street. Get real press "embeds".The terrorists are already attacking police stations in other cities.Please desist from defending these animals because of Geneva convention "rules". The terrorists have already decided not to honor civilized measures.They use civilization as a shield.They therefore waive the rules as the rules must be reciprocal. The only people in Fallujah the time of the fighting were terrorists who would stop at nothing to disembowel an American soldier.(They just beheaded a saintly aid worker).The fact that the media wants the US to lose and our soldiers to appear as inhumane is the real story.
Maybe they shoot stop boobie trapping their wounden then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.