Brain Fertilizer

First: I saw the clip shown on The Lehrer Report. Isn't it a shame that we need to know such information before we can evaluate someone's comment. I believe that I saw and heard a Marine shoot (and presumably kill) a person in Falujah, Iraq, a combat zone. The person was prone and appeared to be dead. Some other person stated that the prone person was breathing. The same person or someone else said that he was pretending to be dead. The Marine then shot him and stated: "He's dead now." I presume that he was then dead, if not before. Did I hear the bravado in the Marine's voice? Yes.
I was surprised that the discussion on Lehrer that followed was about the death, that it included three people brought in especially to discuss the piece and that someone had apparently raised an issue about the clip.
Now I know what is up.
Many have wondered what will happen in the "next" war when GI's in the foxhole have cell phones. Well, now we know. WHATEVER happened here, did anyone think that such things don't happen in war? There are those who think that a Marine should die before violating the civil rights of anyone, much less kill them. Those who think that should be left to the mercies of a terrorist bent on torture. People who have had to face war will instinctively side with the Marine. There are too many dead Marines already who tried to be too careful with dead bodies or wounded terrorists faking death. I'll say it: I side with him even if he thought the wounded Iraqui probably wasn't dangerous. Probably isn't good enough. This is war. Did the dead man know he was in a war zone? Yes. Did he have an opportunity to get out? Yes.
End of story.

notherbob:"Did the dead man know he was in a war zone? Yes. Did he have an opportunity to get out? Yes."

did he have the opportunity to get out of the war zone that is his country? was he to immigrate to canada?

or do you mean did he have the opportunity to get out of Fallujah? If you followed the way the evacuation of Fallujah occured you would know the US forces refused exit of all men of his age and forced them back to the city the last few weeks.

There are plenty of military men (I am one) who don't fault the marine per se in this case but who see the Falujah siege as essentially an attrocity.

You toss the term "terrorist." we don't know any such thing, we don't know the man was even one of the legal combatants that comprise the bulk of the Iraqi isnurgency! Our position is there were 2,000 to 3,000 insurgents in Fallujah last month. We allowed the evacuation of everyone but "military age men" who were all turned back. Population is 300,000. 70% had fled in past three months. Pentagon estimates before the attack were that 1,500 to 2,000 insurgents remained. this would mean you have somewhere between 50,000 to 5,000 NON INSYRGENT military age men! in any most military age men left in Fallujah are not insurgents by our own reconing. These men may have been terrorists, may have been legal combatants, or may have had never been either as far as we know and may have fled the fighting to the mosque.

"People who have had to face war will instinctively side with the Marine"
We may "instinctively side with the Marine, but we do not all side with the idiots who thought to make Iraq a lesson in transformation.

If you lived in Iraq my friend and hated Saddam, there is a very good chance that at this point you would hate American troops and take up arms. At this point we have killed someone in almost every family.

Wes,
You assume an awful lot about the state of mind of the terrorist.

Yes, terrorist. Somewhere between 60% and 80% of the terrorists fighting us in Fallujah are from outside Iraq. Terrorists from all over the Middle East are coming to Iraq for the chance to kill Americans.

Most of the civilians had fled the city long before the operation started because the terrorists had made their lives miserable, imposing Taliban-like restrictions on people, terrorizing them, raping women, stealing, beating men if they shaved their beard.

You've heard the saying: lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. Or "Birds of a feather flock together." The Chinese have something similar: "You get black if you stay around ink all the time..."
This group of terrorists had been firing on US Marines. Weapons were around the room. This one was feigning being dead...to pick up a weapon after the Marines moved on to attack them from the rear? Maybe. Probably. They are investigating it, though.
Are any of the terrorists investigating the murder of Mrs Hassan, a British ex-patriot? Or the Polish women who was in Iraq to help people? Or Nick Berg? If they did investigate, would any of the terrorists be charged with a crime?

Take another look at the saying about lying down with dogs, then consider the inhumanity of those you are so vociferously defending. You need a flea collar.

No, my friend, it is YOU who toss the terms “atrocity” and “idiots”.
Your statement about someone in almost every family being killed is not true. I don’t believe we have killed someone in almost every family who has traditionally resided in Falujah, much less Iraq.
It is good that you are commenting outside the liberal cocoon and I, for one, welcome such comments. One hint: outside the cocoon, ridiculous claims that are not supported by facts will be challenged. This is especially true if they attack our (you don’t mind being included in “our”, do you?) government or its policies. Attack away, but please try to stick to the facts.
One more tip: Iraq is not Vietnam. Outside the cocoon, people do not relate the two so you must state your assumptions or your points will not be understood.
I would be pleased to gain more understanding of the point of view of those who think we are on the wrong track in Iraq. Even though it is in the past, I hope we did learn something from Vietnam.
I know all the bad guys who wanted to apparently escaped Falujah. I don't know about the practice regarding military age men you cite. Would you be insulted if I said I doubt that it's true? Sorry.