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HAHAHAHA. Another great ping!

But Dreger also testified under questioning from the prosecutor, Capt. Nicholas Gannon, that he was disappointed in Winnick's decision to shoot rather than call for help.

"I would have preferred he call the (quick reaction force) as it didn't appear to be an immediate threat," he said.

Hey, Capt. Dreger, Sgt Winnick's radio communication's guy testified yesterday that the radio wasn't working. Easy for you to say it wasn't an immediate threat since you weren't watching this little scenario play out.

More reporting from Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, Accused of manslaughter, Marine says he's eager to return to Iraq Snipped from the article:

......."A cursory investigation after the shooting discovered no bomb and no weapons either on the four men or in their truck. The truck disappeared a day after the June 17, 2007, incident, before Marines could conduct a more thorough search, a point Winnick's defense attorneys have stressed.

Winnick killed one man from several hundred yards away with a rifle shot. Then, as Marines rushed toward the truck, he killed another with a close-in blast from a shotgun as the man was crawling toward a cellphone".......

But Capt. Oliver Dreger, an intelligence officer whose assignment was to oversee Winnick and other snipers, said he believed Winnick acted too quickly and without sufficient information to conclude that the men were showing "hostile intent."

"I wasn't pleased with the judgment exercised by Sgt. Winnick," said Dreger, who order Winnick relieved of duty the day after the incident.

Dreger said that a Marine has to be "pretty damn sure" before firing at a target and has to realize "that decision will be scrutinized by outsiders."

But under tough questioning by Winnick's attorney, Gary Myers, Dreger conceded that there is a subjective element to determining "hostile intent" and "positive identification," phrases contained in the official rules of engagement.

Myers suggested that Dreger, who was questioned as part of the investigation into the 2005 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, was thinking of his own career by immediately relieving Winnick.

"The first thing you did and your battalion commander did was to get as far away from these Marines as possible," Myers said, an accusation Dreger denied.".......

This may be a tough call. The reality is this Marine did not know what was in the truck. But then one could say, these guys really where insurgents or some element of the resistance that simply where making dry runs as to what they may have been contemplating to do in the future, and or seeing how the Marines would react to first Iraqi on the road then a truck pulling up etc.. It is a tough call.