Raoul P Sheridan
11-16-2004, 01:53 PM
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p>Recently there have been quite a few stories in the news about the Marines in Fallujah. There was the great picture of the battle hardened Marine on the cover of the New York Post, and a few follow ups to that story. <o:p></o:p>
But the most recent story is that of a young Marine shooting a wounded insurgent. So far I have not heard a major hubbub about it in the press, but I am sure that it is only a matter of time. <o:p></o:p>
Here are my problems with this story. <o:p></o:p>
First of all this young Marine has been involved in the worst fighting since the start of the Iraqi campaign, in fact there are reports that the young man himself was shot in the face on the day preceding the incident (obviously it would have been a grazing more then anything else), also that one of the men in his platoon had been killed very recently by one of these wounded maniacs who decided to strap a bomb to himself in order to kill the American that came to investigate him. <o:p></o:p>
What is a human parasite, ahem... I mean reporter, doing in that building when this was taking place anyway? When is the military going to learn that allowing civilian reporters into a war zone, with all of the post <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region> anti war sentiments that prevail in the press, is an inherently bad idea? Too many careers have been lost, and lives shattered to allow this kind of “embedding” to continue in my opinion. <o:p></o:p>
In the early forties American men risked their lives and died by the thousands in the <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Pacific</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Islands</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. And young good hearted Americans learned the hard way that helping a wounded Japanese soldier was a death sentence. These poor soldiers would go to help the enemy wounded only to find them with a grenade in their hand a moment before then met their maker. After several of their buddies died they were forced to do something which was entirely against their nature, and kill the enemy wounded to ensure their own survival. <o:p></o:p>
If this young Marine and the others involved in the shooting of this insurgent/terrorist are subjected to courts martial because of this, then we have quite a bit of litigating to do considering that all of the members of “The Greatest Generation” who ever found himself shooting enemy wounded should also be tried. <o:p></o:p>
The fact is that this Marine should not be punished or even investigated. It is not murder in that sort of environment. It is prudence. There is a precedent for this kind of action in the fighting of the Pacific. <o:p></o:p>
Lets also not forget that these wounded were previously engaged in a heavy firefight with other Marine units, and were interested only in killing our American soldiers. I would personally prefer that our fighting men not take chances, because at the end of the day I would prefer that thousands of terrorists die, then just one of our Soldiers or Marines. <o:p></o:p>
I am interested to hear what other people think abotu this, </o:p>
But the most recent story is that of a young Marine shooting a wounded insurgent. So far I have not heard a major hubbub about it in the press, but I am sure that it is only a matter of time. <o:p></o:p>
Here are my problems with this story. <o:p></o:p>
First of all this young Marine has been involved in the worst fighting since the start of the Iraqi campaign, in fact there are reports that the young man himself was shot in the face on the day preceding the incident (obviously it would have been a grazing more then anything else), also that one of the men in his platoon had been killed very recently by one of these wounded maniacs who decided to strap a bomb to himself in order to kill the American that came to investigate him. <o:p></o:p>
What is a human parasite, ahem... I mean reporter, doing in that building when this was taking place anyway? When is the military going to learn that allowing civilian reporters into a war zone, with all of the post <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region> anti war sentiments that prevail in the press, is an inherently bad idea? Too many careers have been lost, and lives shattered to allow this kind of “embedding” to continue in my opinion. <o:p></o:p>
In the early forties American men risked their lives and died by the thousands in the <st1:place><st1:PlaceName>Pacific</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType>Islands</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. And young good hearted Americans learned the hard way that helping a wounded Japanese soldier was a death sentence. These poor soldiers would go to help the enemy wounded only to find them with a grenade in their hand a moment before then met their maker. After several of their buddies died they were forced to do something which was entirely against their nature, and kill the enemy wounded to ensure their own survival. <o:p></o:p>
If this young Marine and the others involved in the shooting of this insurgent/terrorist are subjected to courts martial because of this, then we have quite a bit of litigating to do considering that all of the members of “The Greatest Generation” who ever found himself shooting enemy wounded should also be tried. <o:p></o:p>
The fact is that this Marine should not be punished or even investigated. It is not murder in that sort of environment. It is prudence. There is a precedent for this kind of action in the fighting of the Pacific. <o:p></o:p>
Lets also not forget that these wounded were previously engaged in a heavy firefight with other Marine units, and were interested only in killing our American soldiers. I would personally prefer that our fighting men not take chances, because at the end of the day I would prefer that thousands of terrorists die, then just one of our Soldiers or Marines. <o:p></o:p>
I am interested to hear what other people think abotu this, </o:p>