Sick of the liberal media

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1117/p01s02-woiq.html

One of the Iraqis most effective way of fighting is pretending to be dead or injured. When American troops walk by (assuming they're dead) they open fire. There have even been cases where the dead were booby-trapped, setting off bombs when marines attempted to move them. Well a marine spotted someone who was originally thought dead reaching into his coat, and of course shot them. Of course the wonderful liberal media blew this completely out of proportion.
Well, do you think he should have shot him? Any opinions/comments appreciated.
Peace,
~Matt

 

I actually agree with you. I'm tired of people making excuses for those "insurgents" I've said time and time again on these forums just why they are just plain terrorists, and people still feel the need to paint them as freedom fighting heros. It drives me crazy because freedom fighting heros would not be using the tactics these "men" are using, such as hiding behind civilians, women, children...setting off car bombs in crowded civilian areas, and such....and then of course there's the ones that keep kidnapping and beheading completely innocent people.

Ugh...it's just pissing me off...and then after all that explaining (knowing full well I know what I'm talking about, having information from people who've been there), I get called a warmongerer and such, when I never have supported this war. People are crazy.

I don't like people getting killed anymore than the next person, but I honestly think exactly what you do about this marine. If it comes out different in the end, so be it, I was wrong, but as for now, I think he honestly thought the guy was faking...and hell, he could very well have been for all WE know.

 

Shooting an injured enemy who is clearly unarmed is against policy and the specifications of the Geneva Convention.

Look, we are supposedly there -- according to Bush -- to "liberate" the Iraqi people. How does this kind of shit make us any better than the people who were responsible for such crimes under Saddam's rule?

As far as the liberal media is concerned, I find it awfully suspicious that there was a journalist right there to catch the whole thing on tape. And of course the Pentagon actually allowed this footage to be released, too. Of course this only works to the government's benefit as it enrages the Islamic world -- hence the insurgency -- even more. This is exactly what the neocons want.

Since the US no longer has any real reason to invade Iran, following their compliance with the UN, the US' biggest hope is that the insurgency grows in Iraq, which will keep the war going and going. As long as there is war, the war hawks will continue to profit from weapons contracts.

 

You won't ever hear that on CNN though.

 

Chickenshit.

 

I disagree with a couple of premises in the above paragraphs. While incident is currently under investigation, it doesn't, at this point, seem the soldier ramdonly executed a civilian from a crowd. The video tape clearly indicates the circumstances were a more warlike, hence extremely dangerous, situation. Insurgents have been known to appear dead, waiting to ambush approaching soldiers coming in for a closer inspection. Its an old trick, but it works.
I don't have all of the information the regulations embedded journalists must abide by or what the Pentagon themselves must follow, but at this juncture it is at least possible the Pentagon neither knew of or could prevent the release of the tape. The soldier in question has been pulled from the front lines and relieved of duty. Pending the outcome of the investagation, he possibly could be court marshalled. The Abu Graib hearings do indicate the military takes a harsh view, of at the least for the frontline soldiers, serious breach of military code of conduct.

I don't believe it is the aim of Pres. Bush to enrage Islamic world. The royal family in Saudi Arabia does not have a firm grip on power. The source of the Royal Family's authority is they are the protectorate of the Ka'ab in Mecca. That authority has been challenged by fundalmentalist Islamic schools which have inspired Osama Bin Laden. Many of these schools are based inside Saudi Arabia. A dirty little secret is Saudi Arabia has been paying off for many years, including Osama Bin Laden, terrorist groups not to conduct terrorist activities inside Saudi Arabia.
Pakastan is on shakier ground. They have no religious authority on which to base their power structure. There have been several assassination attempts against Pres. Mustaff (I think that's his name). The Talaban was lauched from Pakastan, and reports indicate Al Quaida recently had a training camp outside of Islamabad (the capitol).

Iran has not be mullified. They want to be the dominate power in the region, hence the world. Sadam Hussien wanted the same thing for himself, but obviously failed. Weapons grade nuclear material will go a long way achieving this goal. Regardless of recent press reports, Iran still seeks nuclear weaponry. Eventually, if the Radicals are still in power, they will reach this goal. Agreements are scraps of paper. They are meaningless unless all parties are earnest following the letter and spirit of the agreement. Otherwise violations, or outright scrapping of the agreement, is a matter of time. Look to our history. How many treaties signed by Washington with the North American Indians that were set aside when thought to be inconvenient? North Korea announce only a couple of years ago they have been violating the Nuclear Agreements signed by former Pres. Carter under the stewardship of Pres Clinton a couple of years earlier.
It would be interesting to see if Iran takes a page from the North Korean playbook. By agreeing to talks and delaying the conferences, they are buying time to quietly generate the nuclear material. Once they have the bomb, they aren't giving it back.

 

All is fair in love and war...

I have to side with the Iraqi here, since I myself am a terrorist.

 

In wartime, all war footage captured by embedded journalists must first pass through and be approved by the Pentagon before it can be aired. If the Pentagon didn't want people to see this, they could have easily refused to allow the media to air it.

This is pure, unadulterated psyops.

 

**


War is a twisted bitch whose vicious pups are violence and cruelty

That is why no one should support letting loss the dogs of war without understanding what they are going to unleash and even more importantly WHY they are doing it.

Americans seem very divided on why they are in Iraq and many don’t have any real idea of what war entails and its risks.

I wrote this some time ago in the thread “The President lied to start war”
http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19321&page=1&pp=10

I started this post to show that US politicians can manipulate information to take that step toward war, the inference being that this still goes on. Another idea expressed here is that the US elite can use the approach of many Americans to overly simplify problems to their advantage.

I have argued that the manipulation of information was used to convince Americans to become involved in Vietnam. That the policy was overly simplistic not taking the Vietnamese history and aspirations into account. I have also tried to show how the use of a supposed ‘good aim’ was used and was seen by many Americans give further justification for action and made certain actions that they may otherwise have objected to more acceptable on the grounds that the ends justified the means.

This sounds very familiar?

The Iraq invasion was sold to the American people on the grounds of a threat from WMD’s that didn’t exist.

As I’ve pointed out before the situation in Iraq was a lot more complex than seemed to be understood by those wanting the action. It seemed to me that it was over reliant on the belief that being ‘anti-Saddam’ would be enough. It is one of the themes of the Vietnam war that many Americans went to the country believing that they were saving the people from ‘communism’ but once there found that they were not treated as saviours but that many Vietnamese didn’t seem to want them there or like them. This caused a lot of resentment and a mistrust of the people they were there to protect and help. Increasingly the reports coming out of Iraq are of disillusioned and resentful soldiers that don’t believe they are being treated as these peoples ‘liberators’.
http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19321&page=6&pp=10

**

I think if true the solider is guilty but the people that are far more responsible are the ones that put him there in the first place and those that really should be despised are those that supported a war that they don’t seem to have a clue about.

**

 

Absolutely!!

 

Good excuse, except that those men in the mosqe were already stripped of weapons by another group of marines...

They were unarmed and wounded and that marine already knew it before he stepped inside...

 

I didnt hear anything about that. And if they were allready stripped of weapons by another group of marines, its not certain that this marine knew anything about it.

 

I heard that Al-Jazeera has repeatedly shown the footage of this shooting but refuses to show the execution of Margaret Hassan by the "nationalist" insurgents.

 

Nightline showed the film last night.

Before they entered the mousqe they were briefed by a second group of marines in the doorway.

He knew they were unarmed...

 

It amazes me when NeoCons get upset when PEOPLE DEFEND THEMSELVES! HEY, they LIE to get us into this horrible war. Then refuse to end it when ALL the reasons for going there are proven wrong. And then get UPSET when the people who have had their homes and towns DESTROYED by the pillagers (american soldiers) FIGHT BACK.

This is what war looks like. "We" were NOT greeted with rose petals. If the NeoCons and Hawks get UPSET when Iraqis (or anyone else) DEFEND themselves, then they had a DELUSIONAL idea of what WAR was about from the start.

QUIT YER BITCHIN. YOU GOT US INTO A WAR THAT CANNOT BE WON. AND NOW Y'ALL ARE COMPLAINING THAT THE IRAQI'S DIDN'T LAY DOWN AND DIE IN THE FIRST WEEK.

WELCOME TO WAR, BUSH LOVERS.

Nuff said.

 

Defending oneself from unwanted invasion is NOT a war crime. Killing a wounded, unarmed man IS! Deal with it. You shouldn't have gotten us into this war if you didn't know what it would be like. HELL! That's what.

Amazing.

 

These "defenders against invasion" are the same butchers decapitating humanitarian workers and destroying basic infrastructure. People like Maggie Sugar are the same sort of moral imbeciles that cheered the homicidal Khmer Rouge as liberators.

 

They are resorting to desperate measures. And I think that someone already pointed out in this thread, or another, that there are likely American's that would do similar things if we were in the same situation as the Iraqi's. It isn't like there are no American's that have ever butchered people before.

The point is, they are fighting against our occupation while we all pretend that we are doing some great service for them. And then we can't seem to understand why they are resorting to this kind of violence. Not that it is okay to butcher innocent people, but we need to have some understanding of the position that they are in. We can't force our idea of how a country should be run on them, just like any country would have a hard time doing that to us over here.

 

If not for these terrorist thugs, our occupation could have ended long ago. Their goal is to create another Taliban-style haven for exporting Islamic fascism. If they cared about the Iraqi people, why would they murder someone like Magaret Hassan who spent 30 years of her life helping them?

I'm not sure why I'm even trying to reason with such reprobate minds. It's ridiculous to to have to argue what should be obvious to anyone with the slightest moral sensibility.

 

If we cared about the Iraqi people why were we torturing them in Abu Gharib? The Red Cross said 70-90% of them were innocent civilians.

I have moral sensibility. I also have commom sense and empathy. People don't need to think, act, look, or believe like me for me to recognize that they are still people.