SAS ace defends trooper (“Every soldier has a right to defend himself")

thesun.co.uk ^ | 11/17/04 | MARTIN PHILLIPS

[notkerry]

A WOUNDED US soldier seen on TV shooting dead an Iraqi prisoner was defended last night by SAS hero Andy McNab.

The US marine — shot in the cheek earlier — machine-gunned the man in the head as he lay bleeding in a mosque in Fallujah.

The soldier feared the Iraqi was pretending to be dead to draw him into a trap.

Just before the killing, a fellow GI yells: “He’s f***ing faking he’s dead!”

Walking away ... victim is obscured by fellow captive after burst of gunfire

The marine faces a murder probe.

But McNab — who has stared death in the face — said: “It’s easy for people sitting comfortably in their armchairs in front of the TV to take the moral high ground.

“They are not there in Fallujah, in that killing environment.

“We don’t know what is going through that marine’s head. The Iraqi could have been hiding a weapon or explosives.

Grisly ... the shot prisoner - on the left - lies dead in Fallujah mosque

“Troops are fighting an enemy that doesn’t stick to any rules.

“The insurgents use mosques to launch attacks. They come out under cover of a white flag, then attack the Americans. They plant booby-trap bombs on dead bodies.

“Every soldier has a right to defend himself, and if that is a grey area — then so be it.”

[notkerry]

PHOTOS AT WEB LINK

[DB]

The soldier's only real mistake was doing it on camera.

Let that be a lesson for the Pentagon.

[tjwmason]

The Sun has made a big thing of supporting "our boys", it's good to see that they also support "Americans' boys".

[OwnershipSociety]

Plus he should have been aiming at the cameraman.

Hey, accidents happen!

[OwnershipSociety]

Good article! We can't let these pieces of sh*t Leftist media types railroad this kid!

Where do we send the money for his defense fund?

[Adder]

"machine-gunned"???????

I thought there was one shot.

[El Oviedo]

I understand NBC is the culprit. What should we do to get even. I don't these guys at all.

[BellStar]

Let us circle the wagons back home around these marines.
Damn the media that is doing this in your letters to the editor.
Call the talk shows wright/fax (not email) your elected officials
and dear God do it now.

[alloysteel]

Easy for someone like Chris Matthews to judge this as being overly responsive to the situation. But getting shot hurts, as well as being very possibly deadly, and is something any soldier would prefer to avoid, especially while bearing a very recent wound himself. Individuals engaged in a fire fight get shot, that is a given with the situation.

John Kerry got a Silver Star for something far less heroic and meaningful, chasing down and killing a fleeing wounded (out of uniform) combatant who had dropped his weapon. This young Marine inside the mosque was in at least as much danger as Kerry was that day along the river bank.

[MinuteGal]

I believe your comment on Kerry is why the lefties, liberals and anit-Americans won't be calling for this Marine's blood.

Leni

[Diogenesis]

All terrorist murders that follow are DUE TO Brokaw, NBC, and their French and GE owners.

Boycott EVERY NBC Sponsor.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

The MSM gets their jollies off by showing on screen deaths such as this.
Years ago, (1965) I think it was CBS had a TV teaser for their news program in which you would actually get to see a marine killed in action in Viet Nam!
They are dispicable.

[ruiner]

Don't let facts get in the way of a good story!

[BellStar]

Boycott EVERY NBC. Don't for any reason turn it on if you have cable because it gets counted as yours is an NBC household.

[Jambe]

So what's the plan to rotate this NBC pool reporter (crew) out of Iraq?

That guy has got to believe he's wearing a huge target everywhere he walks!

[RedEyeJack]

No Sir!

This was combat and, as the SAS soldiers says, it is a place filled with emotions that most modern human never will experience. This combat is especially intense since the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)used by the enemy do not conform to the law of land warfare and ours do. Because of the way the terrorist fight our young men (and now women in some circumstances) will always be "pushing the edge of the envelope" regarding our TTPs in order to protect themselves and, most of all, their comrades. The lives of all the terrorist in Falluja are not worth the life of one of those Marines or soldiers fighting there. As a rule we will not "murder" anyone but under the circumstances we will kill anyone who presents a perceived threat... including wounded terrorists who are seeking martyrdom.

[Route101]

This marine is only one of the thousands WE sent over there to take the war to the enemy....To take him out of the picture and hang him for performing his duties under extreme stress is an outrage!!!...After all the beheading videos of many people of many nations, I am a little sick and unsympathetic......

[Route101]

I'm glad I wasn't there....the whole room would have had dead terrorists........

[mowowie]

The MSM is an enemy to our soldiers as much as the terrorists. Why are we embedding the enemy with the troops?