Tape showing US soldiers killing an unarmed and wounded Iraqi

[St Leo]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
Correct me if I'm off but WEREN'T ALL CIVILIANS AND NONCOMBATANTS TOLD TO GET THE HECK OUT?

WARNING: IF YOU ARE STILL IN MILWAUKEE TOMORROW, YOU MAY BE KILLED.

There. Now I can go on my armed rampage with a clear conscience. Anyone I kill now will have been asking for it.

[Pekka]

My point is, these things happens all the time. Everyone does them. But it's still not acceptable for individual to take liberties to execute in situation like this, if the situation is what has been described. These things continue happening, but it's the duty of army to take action when a person gets caught doing it. I'm sure individual soldier does not have a right to do this. I have also been in service and read the geneva convention. I do not recollect this kind of interpretation being legal one. Of course it's not the fault of the army, but it is the fault of the individual, and that individual should be punished for it, by the army. If not, then we're setting a pretext, where we can shoot anyone and just say afterwards 'he was a spie'. Or 'i thought he was a spie'. Now if this interpretation woudl be legal, then every country also has right to do it, and against US citizens also.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
This would never happen in a Tom Clancy novel

[Patroklos]

I have also been in service and read the geneva convention. I do not recollect this kind of interpretation being legal one

It is not legal, but I am not shedding any tears because he was obviously an insurgent and obviously in civilian clothes.

Yeah, needs to be stopped, not losing and sleep over THIS particular case.

[Patroklos]

This would never happen in a Tom Clancy novel

Read "Red Dawn Rising" and skip to the part about the Russians raping the girl in Iceland. Tell me what happens when they are obviously unarmed and prisoners. Then tell me if you feel bad and want something legal to happen because of it.

[Pekka]

Yeah well, I kind of agree, I won't be losing any sleep either.. I'm sure it's kind of inconsistent to a person that gets punished for it, beacuse it's happening all over on both sides, but I think it's a good rule of thumb, that if you get caught, then you will be also punished.....

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by Felch


Terrorists are still human beings. Are they exempt from being judged by the same morals that we apply to the marines?

The point is that there's a double standard. If you think the double standard is fair because America should lead by example then you're unrealistic. The guys who are actually putting their lives on the line can't meet your fantastic standards. And the insurgents, who seem to go out of their way to commit war crimes (IIRC murder, pretending to be civilians, and I think booby trapping dead bodies are all against the GC) are given a free pass because that's the European notion of fair.

Nobody here knows what happened there, nobody there even really knows what happened. But we can be sure that the military takes significant measures to instill discipline, and will maintain that by punishing people for crimes. The noble savages will probably not make any effort to match the Americans in this regard.

to make a long story short, we cannot influence the behavior of terrorists, but we can influence our own. So while it would be nice asking terrorists to please be fair this is unrealistic as they won't do.
That doesn't mean that we need to play their game. Because that's not how we win. Or you in this example. You can only win by playing fair.

Btw, it was you who created this enemy. You told us and everyone who doesn't want to hear, that terrorists are rude and bad and don't care about innocents and what not. And now you complain, that they live up to your expectation.

What do you want?

[RGBVideo]

at all the idiots who think that this is a big deal.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by VJ
at all the idiots who think that this is a big deal.

If killing unarmed enemies is not a big deal, then I suppose you don't think the beheadings of American and English civilians is a big deal, either?

[RGBVideo]

In war, people die.

Did this come as a surprise to you?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by VJ
In war, people die.

Did this come as a surprise to you?

You apologists for atrocities lack an imagination. Can you at least come up with something new?

[Patroklos]

If killing unarmed enemies

There is nothing wrong with killing unarmed enemies. Ever hear about the element of suprise? Killing unarmed prisoners (which by definition are no longer the enemy) is where things get shady.

I saw no prisoners in that video.

[Arrian]

The AP writeup certainly claims they were prisoners.

-Arrian

[GePap]

Originally posted by Patroklos


There is nothing wrong with killing unarmed enemies. Ever hear about the element of suprise? Killing unarmed prisoners (which by definition are no longer the enemy) is where things get shady.

I saw no prisoners in that video.

These men had previously been wounded, cared for by a previous Marine unit, and left to be picked up.

What do you call that?

[Cruddy]

I can recall at least one incident in the Falklands War where a Brit Army medic fired several rounds into a wounded prisoner's head.

After a large group of prisoners had been captured (Goose Green I believe) the only building large enough to house them was a large wool drying shed.

Right outside the shed there's a huge stack of ammo - mortar rounds, shells, grenades - with the rain pouring down on them.

Eventually the prisoenrs (quite contrary to the rules of war) were told to move the munitions - as it was in their own safety interests they agreed.

One mortar round or grenade detonated, leaving a wounded Argentinian soldier with no legs and his burning guts hanging out for all to see - but he was alive.

That medic did the only thing he could do to ease that soldier's suffering.

War crime? Sometimes death on the wounded is a mercy.

I really cannot comment on the Falluja film because I haven't seen it.

But I want to make it clear that this sort of awfulness is NOT confined purely to American tactics or behaviour.