Posted on 11/18/2004 1:19:03 AM PST by kattracks
BAGHDAD - A Marine who killed an unarmed wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque "will be dealt with," the U.S. ambassador in Iraq said yesterday, as the military said it was looking into other deaths at the scene of the shooting."No one can be happy" about the incident, Ambassador John Negroponte said, "but the important point is that the individual in question will be dealt with."
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office said he is "very concerned" about the killing, but backed the U.S. efforts. "Unlike others, the prime minister will await the outcome of the investigation before commenting any further," his office said.
The shooting was filmed Saturday by an NBC reporter embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. Military investigators also are looking to see whether other wounded insurgents were shot, said Maj. Francis Piccoli.
Two other men in the video appear to be suffering from what NBC called fresh and fatal gunshot wounds.
The footage, aired repeatedly on Arabic television, has sparked argument across the Arab world, with most saying it fuels anger against America. But some also blame insurgents for waging battle from mosques.
Despite the furor, Gen. Michael Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, defended placing journalists with troops.
At a House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, he rejected the claims of Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), who said, "We should not be providing the Al-Jazeera with the kind of propaganda that they've had."
Hagee said "embedded reporters have actually worked very well. They inform the American public about what these great young Americans are doing over there."
Richard Sisk with News Wire Reports
Originally published on November 18, 2004
Negroponte Comments on Fallujah Shooting - AP Video - Wed Nov 17,10:53 AM ET
Select the date of 11/16/04 and the video is 4th from the bottom.
http://www.petitiononline.com/as123/petition.html
At present stands at 15637 Total Signatures
"Arabs are cowards? wow, thats new to me!"
Ahem...as someone who spent a year dealing with these cowards...let me assure you that they are exactly that.
Cowardly is using ambulances...corpses and innocents to carry bombs to blow up your enemy.
Cowardly is hiding a 155mm artillery shell packed with plastic explosives under trash or under a dead animal and waiting until a convoy comes by and exploding it safely away from where the soldiers moght find you and kill you for your actions.
Lobbing mortars from the back of a donkey cart in the middle of the night at a bunch of soft sided tents then scurrying away like a roach is COWARDLY.
Don't try to morally equovicate what these cowardly insurgents are doing. And don't try to feed me or anyone else this BS about "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" either.
Fact of the matter is...90% of the insurgents in fallujah bugged out for safer areas when the Marines and Army showed up at the city limits. It takes a whole lot of guts to send out a taped message to those who stayed encouraging them to fight on while you're tucked safely away somewhere AWAY from the fighting. Very VERY brave of al-Zarquawi to do that don't ya think?
And speaking of cowardly...how chicken sh*t is it to kidnap innocent men and women and lop their heads off? Oh yeah! Brave Arabs indeed.
Your "Brave Arabs" BS and 35 cents wouldn't buy me a cup of coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts.
Hmmm...Polka Dots and Stripes comes on here and drops this BS on us and to no surprise, their sign up date is 01 Nov. 2004.
Should we call PD&S Moby or Troll?
Maybe what "we'll deal with Marine"...is actually code for "we'll take care of our own" a.k.a. "we're not gonna fry him for this" as a way to shield him from what the anti-U.S. folks would like to do to him.
I don't claim to speak for God, but in MY eyes, an American civilian is worth the entire Muslim population, if necessary for that American's protection and that of his rights.
Get this through your head...Americans are ALWAYS more valuable by orders of magnitude, at least to OTHER Americans.
I guess I have to say that not all human life is precious to me. My own countrymen come FIRST. If others can be saved or protected, fine. If not, absolutely no reason exists for Americans to die instead. None.
The fertilizer in Fallujah came there willingly, acted as savages willingly, and failed to leave when they could have. Screw 'em.
Anyone who echoes Bill Maher's praises of the terrorists' "bravery" is more than a Moby or troll.
Point is very well made.
In the first place, this might actually SAVE Marine lives, as now the remaining ambulatory fertilizer will think twice about pulling the same trick, and some not-yet-recruited-as-a-target Arabs might get the hint that we're not playing games here.
In the second place, combat OFTEN resembles murder. Those who have watched too many cop-and-courtroom dramas on TV will continue to have no clue. This Marine was under NO responsibilities to put his life and the lives of his team in jepaordy to preserve a Terr's life. What it RESEMBLED is completely irrelevant.
Third, those "thousands" of terrs "rising up" has been predicted from day one. Most are still no-shows, and those who ARE dumb enough to "rise up" are mostly already there.
And a good chunk of those are now feeding worms. More to come.
Don't panic - He may be dealt with by getting a medal!
12,000 troops were all that was needed for Afghanistan. Maybe you missed the fact that they WON, and quite decisively. That country just had its first democratic elections in, well, ever. The warlords are mostly ineffectual nuisances now, and the Talibunnies are a laughingstock.
Here's a hint...don't listen to John Kerry's analysis of Afghanistan. The man's not qualified to speak on the strategies involved in showing up for work, let alone military tactics.
Thanks for pointing that out. I sure hope his statement has been taken out of context, or flatly misquoted. I'd hate to see a Marine railroaded for political reasons, at the expense of all our military personnel.
I appreciate your point of view, but that's essentially the Pontius Pilot response. I do not believe in selling people out to get along.
Terrorists are shoot on sight. I don't care if they guy was sitting on his front lawn in a chase lounge. If he was carrying on terrorism prior to that, he'd dead meat.
There are no rules of combat that relate the how you treat terrorists. This was a war zone. It was a mosque. The terrorist was carrying on operations from a religious facility.
Good ridance. This was NOT murder IMO.
I can only tell you what my reasoning is. I cannot say that my take on this is the gospel.
This individual was wounded while carrying out an act of agression against the armed forces of the United States. He was located in a mosque. A mosque is a place expressly forbidden by the Geneva Convention, to be used for hostile military acts. Acting outside the Geneva Convention rules of engagement, this person opened themselves up to 'come what may' in my opinion.
This person was not engaging in combat on behalf of any government. He was not wearing a uniform. He was not a freedom fighter. Iraqis are free to come and go as they please, as long as they don't carry out hostilities. In a few months this person could vote for his choice in an open election. That's not indicative of someone who is fighting for their freedom, or in defense of their own safety.
Do I think civilians could be open to injury if we so chose, because of a loophole in the GC? No. There are rules of conduct where it comes to civilians. If we were to attack a civilian without cause, we WOULD be the offending party and subject to oversight. Our own military would prosecute such an individual, and justifiably so. This simply wasn't that type of an event.
When individuals such as this person carry out their acts of agression, they are siding with the whole body of terrorists. This person is as guilty as those who are carrying out the kidnappings and beheadings. They are fighting on the same team.
I see this to be similar to an incident where five guys decide to rob a bank. During the crime one of the perps kills a guard or a teller. When this happens, all those involved in the crime can be tried for the murder which took place in the process, whether they pulled the trigger or not.
This guy that was executed, was even at that moment, treated far more humanely than those who have been tortured, mutiliated and beheaded. I haven't one speck of remorse for the dead terrorist. Not one.
If people want to be free from this type of justice, they should lay down their arms, turn in their munitions and conform to peaceful behavior. Otherwise, I hope our guys mow down every one of them.
If "dealing with it" means prosecution and having this on our TV screens for months, then I wouldn't be happy about that.
While what you said sounds real nice, that isn't true at all. What the ICC may or may not be today, is not indicative or insurance against it morphing into anything it so chooses.
If the ICC decides that our nation committed a war crime by entering Iraq without being attacked, it could move. If the ICC decided that our churches in the U.S. were gulity of crimes against humanity because they preach against homosexuality, it could move. If the ICC deemed it a crime against humanity because we outlawed partial birth abortion, it could move.
The ICC is the 800 pound gorilla that some try to defend as a nice calm gray hairy creature. Well, I don't. The ICC is another non-representive body that is seeking to usurp nation state's borders to go morauding where ever and whenever it desires.
I agree that the ICC is very much in limbo. Even when it settles down, it can dictate it's own course at will. Nobody can vote to abolish it. Nobody can vote to alter it's course. Nobody can vote to remove one member, sensure them or basicily do anything that can realisticly modify the court's actions.
We are at it's mercy. Why is that such a hard concept for folks to understand? If they do disagree, I at the very minimum would like them to tell me what method there is to keep it under control. This will be a good exercise for them, because there isn't any.
The envoy should be pushing for rewarding that soldier, by giving him medals and honors, as a way of "dealing" with him.
Any other way of "dealing" with that soldier is unacceptable.
I will not be happy with the MSM or that envoy or the government either if they keep on harping about this incident or try to punish this solider.
Meanwhile, in the real world...
You need to get out more.
Contrary to what some peoples "feelings" are about anything happening in Iraq, the war is ongoing, and Fallugah is a mop up campaign against the enemy.
BTW, who are the "most people" you refer too?
They are not the "most people" I know.
Like I said, you need to get out more.
Negraponte ain't the SECDEF! Stae Dept, stay the hell out of it. We would have been done with Fallujah 6 months ago if it wasn't for your hand wringing.
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