Marines rally around buddy

[Sparrowhawk]

Without the Marines at his side....

He was lucky once, maybe while we are advancing, we turn and sort of loose him among the enemy....

[Sparrowhawk]

Don't know how accurate it is, but its possible, I know that the Marine was wounded in the face the day before and another Marine from his unit, killed when a bobby trap body went off, and killed him.

---

This is one story of many that people normally don't hear, and one that everyone does.

This is just one most don't hear:
A young Marine and his cover man cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with Ak-47's and RPG's. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insurgent can be heard saying, "Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!" He is badly wounded, lying in a pool of his own blood.

The Marine and his cover man slowly walk toward the injured man, scanning to make sure no enemies come from behind. In a split second, the pressure in the room greatly exceeds that of the outside, and
the concussion seems to be felt before the blast is heard. Marines outside rush to the room, and look in horror as the dust gradually settles. The result is a room filled with the barely recogniz able remains of the deceased, caused by an insurgent setting off several pounds of explosives.

The Marines' remains are gathered by teary eyed comrades, brothers in arms, and shipped home in a box. The families can only mourn over a casket and a picture of their loved one, a life cut short by someone who hid behind a white flag. But no one hears these stories, except those who have lived to carry remains of a friend, and the families who loved the dead. No one hears this, so no one cares.

This is the story everyone hears:


A young Marine and his fire team cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with AK-47's and RPG's. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insugent can be heard saying, "Mister,mister!

Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!" He is badly wounded.Suddenly, he pulls from under his bloody clothes a grenade, without the pin. The explosion rocks the room, killing one Marine, wounding the others. The young Marine catches shrapnel in the face.

The next day, same Marine, same type of situation, a different story. The young Marine and his cover man enter a room with two wounded insurgents. One lies on the floor in puddle of blood, another against the wall. A reporter and his camera survey the wreckage inside, and in the background can be heard the voice of a Marine, "He's moving, he's moving!"

The pop of a rifle is heard, and the insurgent against the wall is now dead.

Minutes, hours later, the scene is aired on national television, and the Marine is being held for commiting a war crime. Unlawful killing.

[Sgted]

'Supporting the troops'?
Thomas Sowell

November 18, 2004

During the recent election campaign, it has been a liberal mantra that they "support the troops" while opposing the war in Iraq. Just what does supporting the troops mean -- other than just a throwaway line to escape the political consequences of a long history of being anti-military?

It certainly does not mean making the slightest effort to understand the pressures and dangers of combat, so as to avoid the obscenity of sitting in peace and comfort while second-guessing at leisure some life-and-death decisions that had to be made in a split second by men 10,000 miles away.

The latest example is the now widely-publicized incident in which an American Marine in Iraq shot and killed a wounded terrorist in Fallujah. Chris Matthews on Hardball spoke of "what may be the illegal killing of a wounded, unarmed insurgent" -- the politically correct media term for a terrorist -- and asked: "Is there ever a justification for shooting an unarmed enemy?"

The unreality of this question is breath-taking, both logically and historically. How do you know that someone is unarmed, when finding out can cost you your life? A hand grenade is easily concealed and can kill you just as dead as if you were shot by a machine gun or hit by a nuclear missile.

American troops in Iraq have already been killed by booby-trapped bodies. During World War II, wounded Japanese soldiers sometimes waited for an American medical corpsman to come over to help them and then exploded a hand grenade, killing them both.

Assuming that somehow you are certain that an enemy is unarmed, perhaps because you have already searched him or disarmed him, is it ever justified to kill him anyway? That question was answered more than half a century ago, when German troops wearing American uniforms and speaking English infiltrated American lines during the Battle of the Bulge.

Those German troops, when captured, were lined up against a wall and shot dead. And nobody wrung his hands about it.

The rules of war, the Geneva Convention, do not protect soldiers who are not wearing their own country's uniforms. To get the protection of rules, you have to play by the rules.

Terrorists are not enemy soldiers covered by the rules of war. Nor should they be. They observe no rules.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations can all talk about "the Geneva Convention." But that agreement on the rules of war has never applied to combatants not wearing the uniform of any country that is a party to the Geneva Convention.

Terrorists wear no uniform and show no mercy, as they have repeatedly demonstrated by beheading innocent civilians, including women.

Why any such terrorists should be captured alive in the first place is a real question. Maybe they have information that could be useful. But every terrorist our troops try to capture alive increases the risk of death for American combat troops.

Their information better be damned important for that.

It is more than enough to ask a man to put his life on the line for his country, without needlessly increasing those risks by trying to be nobler than thou or playing to the international gallery. The very fact that this Marine in Fallujah has been taken out of combat and is under investigation can only have an inhibiting effect on other troops.

The inhibitions under which American troops have already had to fight have needlessly jeopardized their safety while we tiptoe around the delicate sensibilities of the media, European critics and "the Arab street."

The Times of London refers to a Marine "killing an unarmed man in cold blood." If that was his purpose he could have opened fire when he entered the room, instead of waiting until he saw an Iraqi terrorist faking being dead -- for what purpose the Marine had no way of knowing.

We cannot fight wars to please The Times of London or the other nay-sayers and nit-pickers who have been against us from the beginning. There is no point trying to appease people who are not going to be appeased anyway. And to do so at an increased risk to American lives would be criminal.

[taylor492]

Well ive seen the video and in my opinion the marine fired a warning shot and the iraqi dropped dead from fright...




seriously though its hard to tell exactly what happened from the video

[Walter]

This Marine was doing what any other sane person, not just a Marine, would do under the same conditions. Why was there not a big stink when those bodies were hanging from the bridge? Have the insurgents join NATO and ***** to them. They have no right to say anything.

Smeper

PS Just MHO...

[d c taveapont]

Man your wayyy wayyy out side of the boundries.......your on the edge of saying KILL this sites guy......which is Wrong......get mad. rant...etc..but don't instigate murder.....i'm not sticking up for sites but geez ....calm down....

[outlaw3179]

Semper Fi Marines!

[hrscowboy]

Whoa here DC Tavepont this really surprises me that this came out of your mouth beings your a Vietnam Vet yourself. This B*****d has a proven track record of being against the war in iraq. He dont have a least bit of honor towards anyone fighting this war. bringing him home in a body bag aint any different than some of the friendlys that where brought home from nam in body bags. If i was the NCOIC of that squad he would have be taken to the CO or the head SNCO and told to keep sites away from my squad or he goes home on his back...

[Oggie]

This is my first post of what I would call an extremely emotional thread, I have tried to remain objective as to my view about all that has been said, I understand that although this young Marine was only doing what he had been trained to do, coupled with events of the previous fews days leading up to this situation, one must sit back and think about the particular stratagy of plowing through and leaving others to follow up to clean up. What I'm saying is that If certain people weren't in so much of a hurry to try and win this war in a matter of days, this situation would never have occured. When I trained in house to house combat tactics, the objectives was to clear rooms, then buildings followed by streets abd eventually Town/City always making it says to proceed to the next objective/target. So what happened? what about the previous unit who passed through, can we say that they didn't complete their mission thouroughly enough before moving on, therefore placing this Marine and his Brothers in such a vulnerable position just a few days earlier, resulting in one Marines Death and the Others Injured (Our Marine - who happens to be the subject of our discussions). The only crime commited here was allowing a journalist (with a very opionated view of the war) to be embeded with our Marines, this should never again be allowed to occur.

Semper Fi

[Phantom Blooper]

This is one story of many that people normally don't hear, and one
that everyone does.

This is just one most don't hear:

A young Marine and his cover man cautiously enter a room just recently
filled with insurgents armed with Ak-47's and RPG's. There are three
dead, another wailing in pain. The insurgent can be heard saying,
"Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!" He is badly wounded, lying
in a pool of his own blood. The Marine and his cover man slowly walk
toward the injured man, scanning to make sure no enemies come from
behind. In a split second, the pressure in the room greatly exceeds
that of the outside, and the concussion seems to be felt before the
blast is heard. Marines outside rush to the room, and look in horror
as the dust gradually settles. The result is a room filled with the
barely recognizable remains of the deceased, caused by an insurgent
setting off several pounds of explosives.
The Marines' remains are gathered by teary eyed comrades, brothers in
arms, and shipped home in a box. The families can only mourn over a
casket and! a picture of their loved one, a life cut short by someone
who hid behind a white flag. But no one hears these stories, except
those who have lived to carry remains of a friend, and the families
who loved the dead. No one hears this, so no one cares.

This is the story everyone hears:

A young Marine and his fire team cautiously enter a room just recently
filled with insurgents armed with AK-47's and RPG's. There are three
dead, another wailing in pain. The insurgent can be heard saying,
"Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!" He is badly wounded.
Suddenly, he pulls from under his bloody clothes a grenade, without
the pin. The explosion rocks the room, killing one Marine, wounding
the others. The young Marine catches shrapnel in the face. The next
day, same Marine, same type of situation, a different story. The young
Marine and his cover man enter a room with two wounded insurgents. One
lies on the floor in puddle of blood, another against the wall. A
reporter and his camera survey the wreckage inside, and in the
background can be heard the voice of a Marine, "He's moving, he's
moving!" The pop of a rifle is heard, and the insurgent against the
wall is now dead.

Minutes, hours later, the scene is aired on national television, and
the Marine is being held for committing a war crime. Unlawful killing.

And now, another Marine has the possibility of being burned at the
stake for protecting the life of his brethren. His family now wrings
their hands in grief, tears streaming down their face. Brother, should
I have been in your boots, I too would have done the same.

For those of you who don't know, we Marines, Band of Brothers,
Jarheads, Leathernecks, etc., do not fight because we think it is
right, or think it is wrong. We are here for the man to our left, and
the man to our right. We choose to give our lives so that the man or
woman next to us can go home and see their husbands, wives, children,
friends and families.

For those of you who sit on your couches in front of your television,
and choose to condemn this man's actions, I have but one thing to say
to you. Get out of you recliner, lace up my boots, pick up a rifle,
leave your family behind and join me. See what I've seen, walk where I
have walked. To those of you who support us, my sincerest gratitude.
You keep us alive.

I am a Marine currently doing his second tour in Iraq. These are my
opinions and mine alone. They do not represent those of the Marine
Corps or of the US military, or any other.

Sincerely,

LCPL Schmidt
USMC

[hrscowboy]

orahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lcpl schmidt i got your back brother you dont have any idea how much alot of us would love to be over there right by your side killin these damn ragheads, keep the faith my brother an semper fi

[Toby M]

L/Cpl. Schmidt, you are wrong about one thing, you stated it is "your opinion only..." I beg to differ because if you have had the opportunity to read these threads the past few days, you would see that your opinion is shared by a whole lot of people! I would dare say that fourty some thousand people can't be wrong (signed petition)!

[BC22]

Does anyone remember the German soldier in Saving Private Ryan, that they let go and he ended up getting picked back up by his army and killed one of the American soldiers? Similar situation?

[JIM PATTEN]

HELP THIS MARINE !!!!!

Go to www.PetitionOnline.com/as123/

and sign the petition to congress to suspend any punishment for this Marine who was just doing his best to stay alive and to protect those around him including that jerk with the camera.

[Namvet67]

Jim Patten...go the forum section under open squad bay and see the post by the drifter...US Marine Kills wounded insurgent. We have over 300,000 signatures already posted. Gary