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Marine Under Investigation in Shooting of Iraqi Soldier
Fort Worth(less) Startlegram ^ | 4/27/03 | AP Story

Posted on 04/27/2003 7:37:18 AM PDT by harpu

Military officials are investigating a Marine who says he shot an Iraqi soldier twice in the back of the head following a grenade attack on his comrades.

The Marine Forces Reserve announced the preliminary inquiry of Gunnery Sgt. Gus Covarrubias on Friday, the day the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran a story in which he described the killing.

Covarrubias, 38, of Las Vegas, said that during an intense battle in Baghdad on April 8, he pursued a member of the Iraqi Republican Guard who had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at his unit. Covarrubias said he received a concussion in the attack and several other Marines also were injured.

Covarrubias, a 20-year Marine veteran, said he found the soldier inside a nearby house with the grenade launcher by his side. Covarrubias said he ordered the man to stop and forced him to turn around.

"I went behind him and shot him in the back of the head. Twice," Covarrubias told the Review-Journal.

He said he also shot the man's partner, who tried to escape. He showed what he said were the men's ID cards.

"I'm not vindictive, and I might get in trouble for telling you this, but I take it very personally when you do that to my family," Covarrubias said. "The Marines are my family."

The Marine Forces Reserve said the preliminary inquiry by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service will determine whether Covarrubias "met the established rules of engagement and complied with the law of war," and whether a formal investigation is warranted.

Calls to Covarrubias' home and knocks at the door went unanswered.

Marine reservist Sgt. Michael Dunn, who fought alongside Covarrubias and was injured in the battle, said he stands by him "100 percent."

"If he wouldn't have done it, those guys probably would've come back and killed or severely injured other Marines," Dunn said. "He did the right thing."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: grenade; grenadeattack; guscovarrubias; irag; iraqifreedom; marines; republicanguard; rpg; usmc
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To: FloridaBoy; MEG33; Central_Floridian; Restorer
I agree with all of you that this needs to to be investigated.

The facts in the story could be wrong or incomplete (how often has THAT every happened in a newspaper article?).

But the facts as they are given seem to say that this Marine shot an enemy soldier who had surrendered.

Despite some (understandable) very high emotions in this situation, a U. S. fighting person is supposed to have more discipline than to execute an enemy POW. It's not easy to hold fire in a case like this -- no one said serving in the U. S. military was easy. We follow these rules for a reason.
41 posted on 04/27/2003 9:45:09 AM PDT by 68skylark
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To: Enterprise
I agree with you.
42 posted on 04/27/2003 9:45:57 AM PDT by 68skylark
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To: OldFriend
Does someone need to have personal experience of something to have an intelligent opinion about it? By that logic you can never criticize the President unless you have been a President (or Supreme Court Justice or Attorney General or BATF agent or...).
43 posted on 04/27/2003 10:16:04 AM PDT by Central_Floridian
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To: Central_Floridian
Your opinion is NOT logical or practical. In war, the enemy does all in his power to kill you.
44 posted on 04/27/2003 10:24:53 AM PDT by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: harpu
It's dangerous to fire RPGs at Marines.

We shouldn't do anything that would make it less dangerous!
45 posted on 04/27/2003 10:28:41 AM PDT by SBprone
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To: Restorer
Have you forgotten the brutal treatment of Jessica Lynch? Have you forgotten that some members of the maintenance company were murdered and their bodies displayed on Al Jazeera TV?

It's not a game, it's WAR........kill the enemy before he kills you.

46 posted on 04/27/2003 10:33:25 AM PDT by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: harpu
I'd have done the same thing. He did good.
47 posted on 04/27/2003 10:46:17 AM PDT by LibKill (MOAB, the greatest advance in Foreign Relations since the cat-o'-nine-tails!)
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To: Restorer
The second man, who was trying to escape, was probably a good kill.

If I surrenderred, and then saw another POW get shot in the head (twice!) I would get up and run, too.

48 posted on 04/27/2003 10:47:55 AM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: OldFriend
How east to surrender after you've tried to kill American soldiers. What did he say......oops, sorry?

Sorta like the Apache pilots who were taken POW? "Oops, sorry we got shot down"

49 posted on 04/27/2003 10:50:47 AM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: Enterprise
Assuming this is a true account of the incident, he talked himself into a trial.

Did they find the bodies? Any corroborating evidence? Unless authorities can find corroborating evidence, a bare admission or confession to the killings will not sustain a conviction.

50 posted on 04/27/2003 10:51:48 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: harpu
This Marine appears to have killed an enemy that had achieved the status of "prisoner under control"...and compounded the violation, by telling about it...

Not good....

I always stressed disinterest in prisoners.

Semper Fi
51 posted on 04/27/2003 11:06:53 AM PDT by river rat (War works......It brings Peace... Give war a chance to destroy Jihadists...)
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To: Restorer
Problem is, that we are the only ones on planet earth who are honoring the rules of engagement. THat makes our troops sitting ducks for those who hide behind women and children or train their children to kill on command.

THis Marine had just recieved a concussion in an attack that injured his brothers in arms, and at the time he killed these two enemies, he probably didn't know if his friends were dead or alive.

I second the post that said: Give him a medal.
52 posted on 04/27/2003 11:12:00 AM PDT by F.J. Mitchell (Let the enemy remember that he bleeds too-nuf sed.)
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To: Restorer; OldFriend
Kill and maim an American, say oops sorry I surrender and that's okay with you during combat.....OldFriend

Just curious. Do you apply this same criteria to Americans attempting to surrender after losing a firefight?.....Restorer

The Germans at Malmédy did.

If that Marine did execute an Iraqi soldier he had just captured, his best defense now is to shut up about the incident, claim that he never said anything to the reporter and stick to his story.

If he admits in a U.S. court-martial what the reporter claims he admited, he will be found guilty of a war crime. During Gulf War II, the U.S. repeatedly stressed that any Iraqis found guilty of ordering the execution of American POW's would be treated as war crimminals. The U.S. Armed Forces is not going to tolerate a U.S. soldier, airman or Marine going about bragging that he executed an enemy POW and got away with it.

53 posted on 04/27/2003 11:48:26 AM PDT by Polybius
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To: kellynla
Do you think shooting Saddam Hussein in the back as he fled is the same as shooting an Iraqi PFC (or whatever they call them in the Iraqi army) if he had surrendered and was cooperating? I certainly don't.
54 posted on 04/27/2003 11:51:10 AM PDT by Central_Floridian
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To: Mister Baredog
Amen to that amen.
55 posted on 04/27/2003 11:53:23 AM PDT by rightofrush (Not only Rush, but Buchanan as well.)
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To: cardinal4
Amen to that! No matter how guilty of any crime, I think Americans should be tried by Americans, not by a the ICC or anything like them.

56 posted on 04/27/2003 11:55:07 AM PDT by Central_Floridian
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To: OldFriend
So is it okay to kill or maim them AFTER they have surrendered?
57 posted on 04/27/2003 11:57:52 AM PDT by Central_Floridian
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To: OldFriend
That is a good example of why I believe what I do concerning this situation. If we kill or otherwise harm compliant POWs then we cannot justly complain when our enemies do the same thing.
58 posted on 04/27/2003 12:01:52 PM PDT by Central_Floridian
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To: steplock
Small point, but this hardly seems to be a case of "political correctness" in the commonly understood sense of the term. Furthermore, if the facts of this case are as presented here, then calling a court-martial is both legally and politically correct.
59 posted on 04/27/2003 12:06:48 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Central_Floridian
After you join the Marines and put in some combat then we will care what you think? In the mean time stick to playing with your computer in central florida.
60 posted on 04/27/2003 12:14:11 PM PDT by kellynla ( "C" 1/5 1st Mar Div '69 & '70 An Hoa, Viet Nam Semper Fi)
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