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November 17, 2004
The Video
If you're not sure what the title refers to you didn't follow the news yesterday.
NBC pool reporter Kevin Sites was following some U.S. Marines into a mosque in Fallujah earlier this week. Insurgents regularly hide in mosques and use them as fortified positions from which they shoot at our troops. The previous day a different marine unit had come under fire from this very mosque. A marine saw a wounded insurgent laying on the floor and shot him. The NBC reporter caught the incident on tape, and it has since been broadcast by most media outlets. Al Jazeera is reportdly playing the tape over and over in an inflammatory manner.
Media Reaction
To their credit, most American newspaper outlets seem to be treating the incident fairly, with balanced stories. At the time of this writing (Wed AM) the story was not even mentioned on the CNN home page. I haven't seen much broadcast TV lately, so my investigation was only into the Internet and print media.
Even the New York Times quoted a human rights activist saying something favorable to the Marines:
"Obviously, the shooting of an incapacitated detainee is a fundamental violation of the Law of Armed Conflict," said James D. Ross, senior legal adviser to Human Rights Watch. "But if someone feigns being incapacitated or killed, and then uses that to trick someone and shoot them, that's a war crime, and might justify the shooting."From what I've seen on the video, a reasonable interpretation is that the Marine thought that the insurgent (or terrorist) was faking it. And most articles in the American media that I've seen mention instances of booby-trapped bodies and even insurgents wearing explosive-filled vests in case they come close to our troops. See here, here, here, and here for examples.
Broadcast TV al Jazeera has been reportedly showing the video almost nonstop, in a manner sure to inflame the Muslim world. Their English-language site is a bitmore balanced, though barely, just enough to fool the unwary. Their Europe and North American site leads with an article highlighting the comments of Louise Arbor, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who takes a predictably one-sided view of abuses in Fallujah.
"Human Rights" groups are outraged! at least accordiing to Al Jazeera, who eagerly reported their denunciations. I was watching Hannity and Colmes last night and human rights attorney Michael Gross was quick in his rush to judgement. Although he didn't say so directly, he left no room for doubt that in his opinion the marine was obviously guilty.
History and More History
The stories of legion of Iraqi soldiers violating the most basic rules of war: using mosques as military strongpoints and weapons storage depots, hiding behind women and children, hiding their weapons until the last moment, pretending to surrender and then opening fire, and booby-trapping their wounded and dead.
These tactics are not new to our history. World War II is filled with tales of the Japanese booby-trapping their dead and wounded. Vietnam...would take me too long to write about.
The British paper The Guardian, of all places, has a must-read piece written by a veteran of the Falklands War. He talks about "clearing the ground", that is, securing an area that has been taken:
The main purpose is to gather intelligence - paperwork, maps, radios. When you know that there have very recently been people in that area trying to kill you, do you go up to a body and start to rummage through pockets without knowing for sure that the guy isn't actually still alive and about to stick a 10-inch knife in you? So where there are bodies, you don't go near them. Not until you have put two bullets into each, fired usually from a range of several yards. Then one soldier holds back to provide cover while the other runs up, and first lies on top of the body to immobilise it and make it difficult for the enemy to use a firearm if he's lying doggo. Next the soldier rolls the body over towards his partner so that the covering man can check for any sign of a booby-trap. The idea of this is that, if there is an explosive device, the body itself will afford the first soldier some protection, while the other soldier will be out of range.In short, our troops have every right to be distrustful of the insurgent terrorists. They have a split second to react to someone they think is playing dead. You get no second chances.
Muslim/Arab Reaction
Most Arabs or Muslims I saw interviewed were typically hypocritical. Here's one
“Look at this old man who was slain by them,” said Ahmed Khalil, 40, as he watched the video in his Baghdad shop. “Was he a fighter? Was anybody who was killed inside this mosque a fighter? Where are their weapons? I don’t know what to say.A few more
"I am not a jihadist, I am just a normal Muslim but such scenes are pushing me to Jihad," said Dubai-based engineer Abdallah. "We don't expect this from the representative of democracy in the world."
"This is one of the things we saw on TV. God knows how many crimes they have committed which we have not seen," he added.
To be fair, the same story quoted a Saudi as saying something more reasonable
"If I was in the U.S. soldier's place I would have killed all the insurgents because they are mercenaries," said Saudi Zaher al-Saleh, a 32-year-old teacher. "They have turned the mosques into battlefields and they're killing civilians."Unfortunately such sentiments do not seen characterisic of Muslim reaction.
Back to the Geneva Convention
The left in general, and anti-war crowd in particular, is always talking about the "Geneva Convention." A few months I posted on this subject as it related to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. What the conventions actually say, as opposed to what some people seem to think that they say, is relevant in light of the current brouhaha.
The convention can be found here. Read it and learn it. Most leftist anti-war types will spout off about "Geneva Conventions" without knowing anything about them. I've more than one liberal in their place armed with this knowledge.
Wrechard has a typically insightful piece on this at Belmont Club.
Confidence is High
We can be confident in our military to investigate the matter thoroughly and fairly. We can and will police our own. There are other incidents in which troops have been arrested and charged. We did so with the Abu Graib scandal. We did so in Vietnam with My Lai. And we certainly don't need the "help" of the International Criminal Court.
What does it all Mean?
No matter what the facts, there are those who will treat this as Abu Graib II. They will use this to bash the United States military and by extension all of our efforts in Iraq. You don't need me to relate their predictably hateful attacks. As usual, they ignore or downplay the horrendous abuses of the terrorist insurgency, yet any perceived mistake on our part, or the part of a single soldier, and we are condemned without mercy. And let me state again that in my opinion the soldier was in the right.
We don't know all of the facts yet. But I'm certainly going to give our troops the benefit of the doubt. These Iraqi/Arab/Muslim insurgents/terrorists play dirty. Our troops have a right to be super-suspicious. Until I learn something conclusive otherwise, I'm on the side of the Marine.
Update
Oliver North has a good editorial on this incident. Yes, I know, Ollie sees Marines as his kids, and sometimes it's as if they can do no wrong. That does not, however, make the facts he presents less valid. He makes the following points
- On at least two different occasions insurgent terrorists fired at Marines from the mosque
- The insurgent terrorists stored a large amount of munitions in the mosque
- After the Marine shot the wounded/playing dead insurgent terrorist, the Marines held the rest at gunpoint until medics could be summoned
- The insurgent terrorists have a record of booby-trapping bodies and of using white flags to lure our forces into ambushes.
Here's an email from a young Marine in Fallujah that puts the incident in perspective. Be sure to read it.
Update III
Powerline reports on what Baghdad residents think of the shooting: "Good Riddance!"
Posted by Tom at November 17, 2004 9:56 AM
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