Marine shoots unarmed terrorist in Fallujah...
Anyone who watches the news has seen this video.
My position is simple:
Playing dead is NOT surrendering.
My preliminary analysis is also simple:
Justified. Give him a medal. Of course, I reserve the right to revise my opinion once the full results of the military investigation, currently underway, is released to the public. But given only the information presented in the video, I can see no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of this Marine.
Now, some have criticized journalist Kevin Sites for releasing this video, while others have defended his decision. Me? I think the video is morally neutral. It's a black and white picture. It can be colored in by the anti-war crowd to represent the worst of America's military actions abroad... and can be colored in by those of us who have been in combat as a testiment to the brave young men who are forced by the enemy to make quick, life and death decisions to protect themselves and their comrades.
In the end, though, I think Kevin Sites (who is a blogger by the way, and his blog suggests longtime experience as an imbedded reporter at war) has fulfilled his journalistic duty to release this footage without commentary. This is as it should be. But the cynic in me thinks he did so predicting that others would color in his video with the anti-war message he wanted all along.
Hat tip: Bill, Jeff, Powerline, Glenn
My position is simple:
Playing dead is NOT surrendering.
My preliminary analysis is also simple:
Justified. Give him a medal. Of course, I reserve the right to revise my opinion once the full results of the military investigation, currently underway, is released to the public. But given only the information presented in the video, I can see no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of this Marine.
Now, some have criticized journalist Kevin Sites for releasing this video, while others have defended his decision. Me? I think the video is morally neutral. It's a black and white picture. It can be colored in by the anti-war crowd to represent the worst of America's military actions abroad... and can be colored in by those of us who have been in combat as a testiment to the brave young men who are forced by the enemy to make quick, life and death decisions to protect themselves and their comrades.
In the end, though, I think Kevin Sites (who is a blogger by the way, and his blog suggests longtime experience as an imbedded reporter at war) has fulfilled his journalistic duty to release this footage without commentary. This is as it should be. But the cynic in me thinks he did so predicting that others would color in his video with the anti-war message he wanted all along.
Hat tip: Bill, Jeff, Powerline, Glenn