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."
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Associated Press reporters Omar Sinan in Baghdad and Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva contributed to this report.
I wonder if he even bothered to look...
WARNING!! GRAPHIC.
They aren't "out of action" when , altho wounded, they can still pull the pin on a grenade and kill those who are trying to help them.
No person on earth is proving themselves to be more 2 faced
than a MUSLIM. We need to put this Pandora back into it's box, the sooner the better, and lock the latch.
Michael Gross on Hannity and Colmes wants this Marine prosecuted. I think Michael Gross should be shipped out in the morning. Let him fight these wonderful human beings.
No Enemy Captives are to Be Held before their Army is Vanquished One of the strategic rules introduced by Islam is that no attention should be paid to capturing the enemy on the battlefield before vanquishing them altogether in a way that they will be subdued. Should the Muslims focus on holding the enemy soldiers in captivity, before achieving a concise victory over them, the enemy might think of launching another war against the Muslims in the future. Allah the Almighty blamed His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) following the Battle of Badr for being concerned during the battle, with capturing enemies before subduing the whole army of the enemy. Allah the Almighty says in this regard: “It is not fitting for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he has thoroughly subdued the land. You look for the temporal goods of this world; but Allah looks to the Hereafter: And Allah is Exalted in Might, Wise.” (Al-Anfal: 67). In this verse, "temporal goods of this world" refers to the ransom the Muslims expected to take in return for setting the enemy captives free. Here, Allah the Almighty objects that the Muslims seek to have captives before vanquishing the enemy and subduing it altogether. It is important to note that blame in this verse, is for taking captives before subduing the enemy altogether, not for taking the ransom instead of killing them as is usually mentioned in the biographies written about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).Now excuse me but I always feel the need for a shower after visiting that site.
Taking little school children hostage and then blowing them up and shooting them in the back angers me.
Blowing up buses and pizza parlors and Passover services full of mothers and toddlers angers me.
The sun coming up in the morning angers Muslims.
Screw the Moos.
If Muslims are "angry," it's because one of you couldn't wait to slip the film to Al-Jazeera so you could embarrass the Marines and the United States. If it was "justice" that reporter wanted, there were ways to get it without smugly spraying the film all over the world's televisions before he even showed it to the Marine JAG. |
Does shooting a female CARE volunteer in the head anger them?"
Does using a mosque for an ammo dump bother them?
Does chopping up and disemboweling a female kidnap victim bother them?
Did the screaming from the slaughter houses bother them?
So, it's alright by allah, to use a mosque to shoot at our soldiers and store their weapons? Didn't it loose it's sacred status then?
"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."
Do you feel lucky punk? Go ahead, make my day.
Seriously though, I marvel every day at the sacrifices our troops are making. I can't even imagine the conditions they are living in and dealing with. All I know is I couldn't do it.
Or the several dozen executed Iraqi Police...Keep all the press out until the house is "straightened out" then they can come in and report. Take these terrorist mongols off the world stage, since the "free press" does not care to be a "fair press".
"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."
We will be sending this guy to paradise soon.
Oh, I see. Those were Muslim "services" being held in the Mosques, not beheadings, disembowelings and executions. Those were "prayers" rather than cries of "Jihad!". And the masks and weapons are religious garments, much like priestly robes and rosaries. Okay. I get it now.
He was not a prisoner. The Mosque had been reclaimed by the terrorists after th first group left the prisoners there. This group of Marines had just reclaimed it and entered the building hot.
If the clown that took these pics knew the guy was a former prisoner, then he should have used his mouth, not his camera.
Col. McGinnis told it like it is and the faking, then attacking or booby traps that also get our soldiers killed...Sean asked Gross if we could hear more than one side of the story as the media has convicted already..
Michael Ware also, thank heavens and finally ,presented a more balanced report on this on CNN this evening.
I was endangering my TV by turning it on during the first media pontificating.
confusing=fog of war
***If only Kevin Sites instead of Ernie Pyle could have covered WW2/sarcasm***
I will assume you are refering to when Ernie Pyle stood up in a foxhole and got nailed by a jap sniper.
Personally I am glad that the Marine wasted the guy. There are so many unknowns when a situation arises such as the Marine faced. The irony of this whole thing is that if the Muslin insurgent was playing possum to attract our Marines closer to detonate a grenade or other explosive devise, the scumbag reporter would have gotten it as well. Some gratitude for you.
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Mr. Reid, you people in the press are digging your own grave with this stuff. We are all up-to-here with the obvious anti-Americanism shown by you "journalists."