I guess I will give this my 2 cents worth.
First of all, the young man of this subject was a Marine, belonging to the
US Marine Corps, not a soldier in the US Army.
Second of all, we, who are sitting in our warm comfortable environments,
eating hot food, sleeping on sheets and with a very high likelihood that we
shall see the sun go down today and see the sun come up tomorrow, do not
have a right to judge this young man's behavior who may not see the sun go
down or see it come up.
City fighting is the worse kind of fighting there is in armed combat,
everything, absolutely everything, is based upon split second decision
making.
I saw the video, the Marine did what he had been doing to survive up to that
moment, making split second life decisions, nothing more, nothing less.
So pardon me if I offend anyone, but unless you are willing to join up, do
the training, endure the hardships, to put yourself in that Marine's boots
that day and the days leading up to that day, SIT DOWN and SHUT UP.
Debate all you want to about whether the US should be in Iraq, but leave
this honorable young Marine out of it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Erik Vistica [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 1:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Veterans Day or Armistice Day
What was the soldier's perception? It starts there. It matters not if
the enemy is wounded if his intent is still to kill you, that is, he is
still an enemy combatant, *not* a wounded prisoner. One news report said
the Iraqi's hands were under a blanket and that they were moving.
How is the soldier to make this determination about intent without
losing his life for showing mercy to an enemy that has proven his tactic
is to kill you for showing mercy?
Did the wounded Iraqi do *anything* to indicate that he was not a threat?
Christian Lheureux wrote:
> Brice, in theory, and in a perfect world, you would be perfectly right.
But you forget one thing : the whole world has now seen the footage of an
obviously defenceless man killed by a US soldier. Even if it's later proved
that the GI was trying to defend himself or whatever legitimate motive, the
damage has been done : the act has been seen on TV the world over. That's
the bad news.
>
> In other words, the claim that the US Army is trying to be humane is, at
best, moot and, at worst, a pure farce. This is the very bad news.
>
> Clearly, we're not dealing with fact. We're dealing with perception.
That's what the whole media game is all about. Perception.
>
> Christian Lheureux
> Directeur BU Infrastructure / Manager of IT Infrastructure BU
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>>-----Message d'origine-----
>>De : HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] De la part
>>de Brice Yokem
>>Envoyé : mercredi 17 novembre 2004 17:42
>>À : [log in to unmask]
>>Objet : Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Veterans Day or Armistice Day
>>
>>Bottom line : stress is an explanation, not an excuse.
>>
>>----------------------
>>
>>OK, my objection, to your objection, is the appearance of giving
>>equal condemnation to both acts, when clearly the allied armed
>>forces are making an attempt to play by rules which the opposition
>>is not even making a pretence of abiding. So the USA and friends
>>should be congratulated for trying to be humane in the face of
>>a throroughly ruthless enemy.
>>
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