Posted on 02/23/2005 9:28:43 PM PST by freespirited
It was a striking -- some said chilling -- moment in the battle for Iraq, captured on videotape: a wounded, un-armed Iraqi, shot to death by a U.S. Marine.
CBS News has learned that military investigators conclude there is not enough evidence to formally charge that Marine.
As CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports, it happened during the bloody fight for Fallujah last fall. The Marines were engaged in bitter house-to-house combat with dug-in enemy fighters.
When Marines ran into a mosque seeking the source of insurgent fire, they found several Iraqis wrapped in blankets.
One Marine thought he saw one of them move.
Marine: "He's F***ing faking he's dead."
Second Marine: "And he's breathing."
Marine: "He's faking he's f***ing dead!"
Navy investigators have concluded what happened next may have been justified in the heat of battle.
In a moment too graphic to show, one of the Americans fired.
"He's dead now."
The insurgents, it turned out, were unarmed -- but investigators say the Iraqi the Marine thought he saw moving could have been going for a weapon. At the very least, Navy legal experts believe the situation is ambiguous enough that no prosecutor could get a conviction.
The original video added to popular anger over the Fallujah crackdown. Many Iraqis felt Fallujah's unarmed civilians bore the brunt of the U.S. campaign.
Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the battle, and months later, much of the city is still without power or water. Many Fallujans live in makeshift refugee camps far from their homes.
When news breaks that the Marine will not be prosecuted, it will not go over well here.
It's now up to Marine commanders to decide what, if any internal action to take against the Marine. And investigators are still conducting ballistics tests to determine how the other insurgents in the mosque were killed.
AMEN!
This sentence implies that the dead guy was a civilian, which he was not. Must have been inadvertantly worded poorly by the journalist.
Since when has the Foreign Mob had a place at the Table of Military Justice. I'm sorry this will not go down well but I have faith in the examination conducted by the Military and support their decision. Sounds like she might prefer a bad version of the UN World Court to try these incidents.
If they charged that Marine, that would be the least of their concerns. You just can't second guess a man in that situation and you damn sure don't want them second guessing themselves.
No, what is too graphic to show is a terrorist cutting off someone's head!
"He's dead now."
Good!
Rotten MSM!
it will not go over well here.
well guess what terrorist scum, missing twin towers,
damaged pentagon, plane down in Pa., and beheadings don't go over too well here.
I bet it does, the Iraqui's understand what kind of people we are fighting over there.
Exactly! I don't understand why there should be such a problem there. We have not blown the country up and look at all of our people who have been killed by terrorists who have pretended to be innocent! I am so sick of these MSM liberal reporters and their biased slants on stories!
Thank God!
What the MSM is forcing some of our guys to go through is just infuriating.
I hate PC.
"..a wounded, un-armed Iraqi, shot to death by a U.S. Marine."
Did anyone confirm this insurgent was even still alive when he was shot?
I think that would be something that would have to be confirmed before murder charges could even be considered. I have never heard they confirmed he was actually killed by the Marine`s gunshot.
I am glad to hear they dropped the charges against this guy.
yeah,...you bet AMEN
You meant to say:
Must have been inadvertantly worded by a poor journalist.
Nothing inadvertant about it. CBS knows how to slant a story. It comes as second nature to them. The fact that this guy is NOT GUILTY is just a technicality to the editors at CBS, who had him dead-bang guilty, tried, and hanged in their own stories. The Marine was guilty because he was an American with a gun, serving under a Republican President. It had nothing to do with the terrorist he killed, who had in turn been murdering Iraqies and Americans alike.
"CBS: All the news fit to skew; Biased, Anti-American jounalism at it's best". Rather and his bunch are traitors.
SFS
"And investigators are still conducting ballistics tests to determine how the other insurgents in the mosque were killed."
What do you think this means ???? They are still trying to get someone I guess.
I hate it, too.
I too. I absolutely dispise PC. It is a cancer on reason and Liberty. I have contempt for those who feel good about PC. They don't realize it is an important element of totalitarian rule. Even now, Bush needs to speak about Iran in PC terms. what B.S. Liberty needs a Warrior class to protect its existence. True Justice would demand we announce a time and date that we would go into Iran and Syria to topple those dictatorships. If we don't solve the problem of Iran and Syria with violence, then we will pay a bigger price in the future. The PC people of the world can shove it where the sun don't shine.
Did it even matter? My understanding is that they were investigating a report that the mosque had been reoccupied.
That was not a secure area.
Yay!!! so glad to hear this .
Give him a medal instead! The guy deserves it just for all the bs he's had to take over the matter.
YEAH,...sure hope ol' Bill Burkett gets to ruin Dan's exit
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