Misc. Ramblings

Reporter Kevin Sites has become well known recently due to the video he got of a US Marine shooting a man laying in a mosque in Iraq. I have not, until now, commented on this incident because finding the truth in wartime is a very difficult task.

This much I know: it is true, in this war and many others, that combatants have feigned death so as to either evade being killed or to lure his or her enemy closer so a killing blow could be delivered.

It is also true that, to put it plainly, the micro-objective in war is to kill your enemy before he can kill you.

But this objective is constrained by various international agreements that the US is a signatory to. In addition, the US military and federal government have rules and/or laws regarding the conduct of combatants and treatment of the enemy, wounded or not.

If we are to be a nation of laws rather than of men, if we are to behave as civilized people in an uncivilized world, we need to carefully investigate this incident and determine what is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Saying that no investigation should be done, without first knowing the truth of the situation is, to say the least, short sighted and, in the long run, just another nail in the coffin that is our "policy" in Iraq.

For one version of the truth, you can visit Mr. Site's own blog where he states what he says he saw and did here. Yet to be heard is the Marine that fired the shot nor the Iraqi survivor(s) mentioned in the post. But until all sides have been heard, I think it would be premature to comment further.