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No Court-Martial In Iraq Mosque Shooting (NBC Cameraman Kevin Sites Videotape Case)
Yahoo! News/AP ^ | May 4, 2005 | Seth Hettena

Posted on 05/04/2005 8:53:51 PM PDT by MisterRepublican

SAN DIEGO - A Marine corporal who was videotaped shooting an apparently injured and unarmed Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque last year will not face a court-martial, the Marine Corps announced Wednesday.

A review of the evidence showed the Marine's actions were "consistent with the established rules of engagement and the law of armed conflict," Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, said in a statement.

The corporal was not identified in the two-page statement issued by Camp Pendleton, the headquarters of the expeditionary force north of San Diego.

In sworn statements, the corporal said he shot three insurgents in self-defense in the mosque Nov. 13, believing they posed a threat to him and his fellow Marines, the statement said. Autopsy results showed that all three died of multiple wounds from gunshots fired from the corporal's M-16.

One of the shootings was recorded by Kevin Sites, an NBC cameraman embedded with the Marines, and the dramatic footage prompted outrage among Iraqis and an immediate investigation by the Marine Corps.

In the video, as the cameraman moved into the mosque, a Marine in the background could be heard shouting obscenities and yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead. The Marine then raised his rifle toward an Iraqi lying on the floor of the mosque and shot him.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: courtmartial; iraq; kevinsites; marine
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To: baseballmom
This Marine did his duty. Period.

He sure did. I hope now he can live with the honor he earned and his ghosts are quelled.

Semper Fi to that Marine

21 posted on 05/04/2005 9:26:27 PM PDT by Michael Barnes
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To: MisterRepublican

This is excellent news!


22 posted on 05/04/2005 9:30:06 PM PDT by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth")
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To: MisterRepublican

Sites should be tried for siding with the enemy.


23 posted on 05/04/2005 9:43:16 PM PDT by citizencon
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To: MisterRepublican
Great News for all of our service men and women - everywhere.

Last I heard of the jerk Kevin Sites he was chasing the Tsunami victims for photos. May he get washed out to sea!

24 posted on 05/04/2005 9:44:36 PM PDT by B-Cause
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To: Marine_Uncle

Imagine this scenario - the Marine calls attention to all that one of them is playing dead but he does not shoot. A bomb is detonated and kills Sites. The msm would be screaming for the whole platoon to be court-martialed. I hope this young Marine somehow knows the majority of the country was behind him. We "get it".


25 posted on 05/04/2005 9:56:02 PM PDT by daybreakcoming
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To: MisterRepublican

Hope they return this Marine to his unit ASAP.


26 posted on 05/04/2005 10:01:10 PM PDT by Eagles6 (Dig deeper, more ammo.)
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To: MisterRepublican


God bless this brave young man.


27 posted on 05/04/2005 11:07:24 PM PDT by Private_Sector_Does_It_Better (The UN did such a fine job with "Oil for Food" in Iraq, let's let them run the whole country!)
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To: sheik yerbouty

Yahoo! News indeed! BTW, I about spit red wine through my nose when I read "Allahu Fubar." I'll make sure to borrow that one.


28 posted on 05/04/2005 11:08:24 PM PDT by lil varmint
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To: MisterRepublican
and the dramatic footage prompted outrage among Iraqis BATHISTS!....

....and an immediate investigation by the Marine Corps. (yawn)

29 posted on 05/04/2005 11:36:07 PM PDT by ARepublicanForAllReasons (Don't worry. My suit is triple-flameproof)
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To: lil varmint

Hope you didn't ruin your keyboard!
"What is best in life?" To crush the jihadists, to drive their collaborators before you, and to hear the lamentations of their mullahs!


30 posted on 05/05/2005 12:02:21 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty
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To: MisterRepublican

Outstanding News!!!

Put the media hacks on the first thing smokin' out of Bagdhad and let those who are trained to prosecute the war and take it to the enemy DO JUST THAT!

Wishing that young Marine and his family a long and prosperous life.

Jack.


31 posted on 05/05/2005 12:43:00 AM PDT by Jack Deth (Knight Errant and Disemboweler of the WFTD Thread)
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To: sheik yerbouty

between this outcome and the declared mistrial of lyndie...
gotta say I have a small grin forming on my face...

some days, things DO go our way.


32 posted on 05/05/2005 12:47:32 AM PDT by Robert_Paulson2 (The Chinese and Saudis are our friends and allies!)
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To: MisterRepublican

Wonderful news!!


33 posted on 05/05/2005 1:12:47 AM PDT by GloriaJane (http://music.download.com/gloriajane)
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To: MisterRepublican
Justice was done concerning the Marine, and justice was also done to the rat bas-turds who were lying on the floor with the possibility that they had explosives on their person. Mr. Sites must indeed be crushed that his piece of footage didn't turn the American People against the military, and certainly didn't improve the obvious liberal bias by all forms of journalism.
34 posted on 05/05/2005 6:00:59 AM PDT by conservativecorner
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To: MisterRepublican

As the grunts like to say, "war is hell, actual combat is a MFer.


35 posted on 05/05/2005 6:36:56 AM PDT by Americanexpat (A strong democracy through citizen oversight.)
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To: daybreakcoming

"Imagine this scenario - the Marine calls attention to all that one of them is playing dead but he does not shoot. A bomb is detonated and kills Sites. The msm would be screaming for the whole platoon to be court-martialed. I hope this young Marine somehow knows the majority of the country was behind him. We "get it".

My sentiments exactly. And Sites sold his stuff to anti-war groups. It must be very difficult for our military in combat zones, to trust any embedded reporter or otherwise. Sites screwed himself. The tape should not have gone anywhere but into a trash barrel burning stuff. At least Sites will never get another assingment to cover any of our military in action. However I can see him getting assignments with Al Jazzera news, filming brave warriors running around in safe areas pretending to fire mortars and their AK47's at the oppresors of Islam. Damn slime ball.


36 posted on 05/05/2005 8:23:58 AM PDT by Marine_Uncle
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To: citizencon
Sites should be tried for siding with the enemy.

For filming events as they happened? Doubtful. He was doing his job as a reporter.

I remember the fevered outcry on FR over this case. Seems kind of silly, in retrospect.

37 posted on 05/05/2005 8:34:57 AM PDT by Modernman ("Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde)
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To: MisterRepublican

As predicted.


38 posted on 05/05/2005 9:48:52 AM PDT by xone
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To: Stonedog

This is wonderful news!


39 posted on 05/05/2005 2:32:21 PM PDT by meema
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