Good news for a change! Marine cleared in videotaped shooting

I'm far from a bush fan but people are taking this as a springboard for their issues with the administration. I would love to see dirt on Bush's face but I wouldn't want it at the expense of people who have no say one way or the other in the situation they are put in, all they can do is do their duty and stay alive. A lot of people are relieve, at least I know I am, because it could have been very easy and favorable for them to use this kid as a scapegoat like the prisonner abuse, were you have be living under rock to think that the puppet masters behind that are the pawns going to court. Some Poster's Bias and hatred is going to forever taint their view of this and any similar incident they could use to throw mud at bush, there is enough there without having to reach at straws.

Would it still been "good news" if he was found guilty? I mean, isn't a fair process, an honest investigation by our military, more important than the outcome? If the man is innocent great. If he's guilty, he should be punished. Some of you sound like you could care less whether justice was done, just as long as the marine was exonerated.

Originally posted by curme
Would it still been "good news" if he was found guilty? I mean, isn't a fair process, an honest investigation by our military, more important than the outcome? If the man is innocent great. If he's guilty, he should be punished. Some of you sound like you could care less whether justice was done, just as long as the marine was exonerated.

If they found him guilty, then he should have been punished. My point on the "good news" comment is that this guy was tried and convicted by the media and world based on a video tape before any investigations. But after an investigation he was deemed not guilty. Thats great news.

If he's guilty, he should be punished

This is true. As we all know in this situation it is very hard to define if his act was jutifiable or not. I know this has been said before but im gonna say it again, we don't know if the Marine had good cause to believe the Iraqi man was booby trapped or not, had a weapon hidden or not (I know no weapons were found after but he did not know that). They have been known to booby trap the dead and especially the living (suicide bomber).

I think the Marine in this case should have not been charged, because lack of evidence and givin the history of many Iraqi insurgents...I would'nt take my chances with a booby trap...would you?

If the killing was undeniably out of hate or whatever...then yes the Man should be punished. But with the lack of evidence and all the possible threats of traps...Im glad the Marine is cleared of this.

Note: If your enemy has a gun on you and has reason to believe you might have a gun or be booby trapped...don't move, don't speak. It's the smart thing to do.

Originally posted by xmotex
Have you read the thread?
He is being praised as a hero.

Of course he is being praised as a hero. That's human nature, and irrelevant.

Did you comprehend my reply? An insurgent would not have ever faced a trial by his own people. That's much more important than his own people praising him as a hero.

Originally posted by Dr Love
Ohhhhhh Yey!!! That's great news skippy. I think I'll go outside and frolic.

I especially loved it when that guy's melon exploded. Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......


Peace out

[edit on 5-5-2005 by Dr Love]

Better his the Iraqi melon than the Marine's cabeza.

Originally posted by Da man

Better his the Iraqi melon than the Marine's cabeza.

Exactly.

The Marine did what he though he needed to do in the situation he was in to protect himself and his unit mates. If the insurgents didnt already set a president of boobie trapping bods and blowing themselves up, then things may have been different.

SBS Australia report

There is always more to a story than the majority ever see. 12 minute Dateline report featuring the first international interview with the journalist who captured the footage. Aired 20\04\05 on Australian TV.


[edit on 10-5-2005 by cargo]

Well, that report pretty much destroys the "he might have been playing dead" argument. Pure BS from the fanatical Right as usual. They knew who these guys were, they'd left them there the day before. They had already disarmed them, they knew they were no threat. It was simply an execution.

Good find Cargo.

Ive read that report by that cameraman and I still think the soldier did the right thing. Insurgants boobietrap bodies, fact. As long as that has happened, that Marine can shoot as many half dead ones as he wants as far as I am concerned.

Originally posted by cargo
SBS Australia report

There is always more to a story than the majority ever see. 12 minute Dateline report featuring the first international interview with the journalist who captured the footage. Aired 20\04\05 on Australian TV.

Here's an offline, higher quality, copy of that video:

www.journeyman.co.uk...
19MB

Well, some insurgents boobytrap bodies, sometimes.
That does not mean that every wounded Iraqi is a human IED.
As I said before, the military has procedurs to deal with this kind of thing, after all, we encountered the same thing in Vietnam.

hat Marine can shoot as many half dead ones as he wants as far as I am concerned.

Great. Adopt a blanket policy of shooting the wounded, how noble.

So if Americans do it, it's simply the cost of doing business, wheras if they do it, it's proof of the inherent barbarism of all Arabs and Muslims everywhere...

Great. Adopt a blanket policy of shooting the wounded, how noble

I said this before on a previous post, Ill say it again in short.

If you're a combatant...you're fair game and anything goes.

Yeah it sucks whenever one of our guys gets shot while he's wounded, but that's the nature of the beast. We treat them like they treat us and the other way around too. If you go in as an armed man expect no special treatment or favors.....both sides know the risk.

xmotex

if this would have happened without a precedent of insurgents rigging their injured and dead this marine would have been sacrificed like a lamb after being caught on tape shooting an injured combatant. The only reason he was able to get away with it is because any objective (not anti-us, and predetermine to anything regarding Iraq) person could have blame him for taking actions to protect his fellow troops and himself from what he believed to be threat. The whole point of this tread was about the surprise that he wasn't sacrificed to for a public relations move to and hostile and anti american crowd to begin with. If an insurgent shoots an injured american soldier shooting and fighting to his last breath, he would have died doing his job, just like that man died fighting for what ever he believed in and choose to put his life on the line for. You making a lot bigger issue of this than any one of this insurgent who dream of martyrdom would make. If you are fighting past injuries you will still be consider a threat and would be treated as such until you are neutralized regardless of the what side you are fighting for. If you make it a habit of rigging injured and dead bodies to blow it would be idiotic if not suicidal to not take precautions to a “suspect” injured combatant who you can’t be sure still a threat or not. I’ll go further than that you’ll be incompetent to not take extra care and a threat to the very gene pool and evolution. When in doubt the safety of your men and yourself comes first, that is his job. It’s the same reason we check suspect packages or abandon cars in critical areas, there is precedent of these items being used for remote bombs. It’s the way of war, you adapt to and counter enemy tactics and their modus operandi to not due so is just plain suicidal.


You obvious bring your bias to this incident. If American soldiers make it a habit to pull a grenades before captures or to rig a landmine to their fallen comrades, no sane rational/realistic person can utter a pip without sounding like a complete jack$$$ about the enemy adapting his tactics and taking precautions to such events. And besides in general Insurgents don’t make it a habit (I don’t even think there is a precedent) for looking after the injured civilians, Iraqi police and soldiers and US troops, and it does go in that order the amount of US troops they kill is negligible compare to the number of Iraqis they killed, at least we tried to go and help them once we are confident that they are no longer a threat. So if your so concern Muslim lives know that this one particular insurgent wont be around to bomb a mosque or slaughter a Iraqi police officer. And if we where to be using the tactics and values/morals that these insurgents which you have defending so passionately this war would have been over with a long time ago with our resources. The only reason we have so much casualties on our side is because of the risk we take to help the injured during battle and to limit as much as possible collateral damage, else we would have carpet bomb Iraq with MOABs and any other region where we “felt” Insurgents might come from.