Home > U.S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi

U.S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded Iraqi

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 16 November 2004
36 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International


by STEVEN R. HURST

The U.S. military is investigating the videotaped fatal shooting of a wounded
and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner by a U.S. Marine in a mosque in the former
insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, a Marine spokesman said.

The dramatic footage was taken Saturday by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of
NBC television, who said three other prisoners wounded a day earlier in the mosque
had also apparently been shot the next day by the Marines.

The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.

Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten men and wounding five, Sites said. The Marines said the fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles.

The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from insurgents who have been battling U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months.

The same five men were still in the mosque on Saturday, Sites reported.

On the video, as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead.

He's (expletive) faking he's dead!''Yeah, he’s breathing,’’ another Marine is heard saying.

He's faking he's (expletive) dead!'' the first Marine says. The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner lying on the floor of the mosque. The video shown by NBC and provided to the network pool was blacked out at that point and did not show the bullet hitting the man. But a rifle shot could be heard.He’s dead now,’’ a Marine is heard saying.

The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp.

Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.

NBC reported that the Marine seen shooting the wounded Iraqi had himself been shot in the face the day before, but quickly returned to duty.

A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was being investigated.'' He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division. On Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement that the 1st Marine Division is investigating an allegation of the unlawful use of force in the death of an enemy combatant in Fallujah during combat operations on Saturday. The Marine has been withdrawn from the battlefield pending the results of the investigation, the U.S. military said.We follow the law of armed conflict and hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability,’’ said Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The facts of this case will be thoroughly pursued to make an informed decision and to protect the rights of all persons involved.'' Lt. Col. Bob Miller, who NBC said is heading the investigation, told the network that the rules of engagement allow the use of force in self-defense.Any wounded - in this case insurgents - who don’t pose a threat would not be considered hostile,’’ said Miller.

The events on the videotape began as some of the Marines from the unit accompanied by Sites approached the mosque on Saturday, a day after it was stormed by other Marines.

Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow Marine shrugs.

Sites’ account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day’s attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.

The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According to his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the fourth man who was shown being shot.

The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.

NBC’s Robert Padavick told members of the U.S. television pool that the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the Marine’s identity was hidden because they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that.'' In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of thegraphic nature’’ of the video. (AP)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4618201,00.html

Forum posts

  • As far as I’m concerned, if they’re insurgents, finish them off, it’s war.

    • You probably don’t know what the word insurgent means, you dopey, burger eating, pole dancing, batti-man, cowboy, cheap shot. Spread democracy the American way, killing the inncocent and demeaning enemy combatees who have given up the fight, what moral people you are. The Iraqis would have battered you if the fight was anywhere near fair, they have loads of something you don’t = Dignity, Pride & Courage.

    • Hey wait a minute they had weapons of mass destruc.. -No wait um...they had chemical and biolo.. no wait.. we’re winning hearts and minds...um.. we’re spreading democra... oh shit we need their goddam oil.

    • That proves how morally depleted you guys have become. They are not insurgents pal. They live there. It is YOU who are the murderer, not them.

    • As far as I’m concerned its the equivelent of martians coming to earth and attacking us. Whoever has the biggest guns wins. And in that case the martians would win and we would be the insurgents. Fighting for our land. Republicans need to pull thier Toby Keith listening heads out of thier asses and stop this stupid war. People are now dying in mass and we are stuck in a hornets nest. No wonder all of Bush’s cabinet is jumping ship. Dumbasses.

    • They may not be iraqis, they are probably from elsewhere trying to get in on some jihad. Well, we’re giving them their jihad. And even if they are iraqis, if they couldn’t batter saddam, what makes you think they could batter the US? As for dignity, pride & courage, where was it when they ran away when the insurgents started bombing them? Nada, the iraqis police force ran away.

    • Okay, we’ll take the oil.

    • All the regular iraqis have either left or are hiding in their houses. They wouln’t be out fighting unless they are insurgents.

    • What a stupid example. A more appropriate one is if earthlings had a dictator who made threats against the martians, the martians came to attack the earthlings and won, and the venusians came to earth to fight with the martians to prolong the fighting.

    • Your dumb as hell to compare Jihadists to Venusians. Evrybody knows Venusians are female only.

    • LOL! And women can’t be jihadists, what’s with all those palestinian women blowing themselves up?

    • Every 2 term president has major changes to his cabinet, DUMBASS!

    • And what country are you from?
      One wounded insurgent getting shot on a battlefield is the exception, not the rule. 100% of US troops captured by these fucks would be tortured to death. Where’s your outrage when an Iraqi police station or Christian church, or Shi’ite Mosque gets bombed by insurgents? 3% of the population and some foreign fighters are keeping the rest of the population from building a modern nation. There are almost no non-combatants in Fallujah because there was plenty of time for families to get out of there before the fighting started. Also plenty of time for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to encourage others to fight to the death while he left town to go bomb innocent Iraqi civilians.

      The Iraqi’s? They were fighting on our side. Most of that country wants the insurgents to go away. The insurgents in Fallujah were foreign fighters and locals who were pissed off that with Saddam gone they don’t get to dominate the Sh’ites anymore. Instead of being important people through Saddam’s mobster cronyism they have to look at actually working for a living.

      As far as Dignity, Pride and Courage none have more than the US military, and judging from your writing you are an Anglo and a traitorous, seditious one at that. If you love the Muslim Jihadists so much, maybe you should go and live and die with them. They’d think you’re a fool too.

    • What a sick person you are. It was America who started the war.

    • Where do you get all of this crap, I just watched a report of the BBC and the Iraqi citizens they interviewed said "you came over her and murdered my family, do you think I can just forget this and go on as if it did not happen?" You lame brains need to ask yourselves if the tables were turned would you really welcome and respect the invaders to our country and not care if they destroyed your families and your cities and your lives? Where is your common sense...of course you would hate us and never forget these murders...who would...these people are no different than we are, despite what propaganda you listen to, you can’t possibly think they like what we are doing there. At least when Saddam was in control he was one of their citizens they knew and understood him and his rules...they detest everything we are doing there and they only take jobs in the interm government because there are no other jobs, and at the first sign of trouble they run away because they have no reason to be loyal or do anything but pretend to go along with us, they want to stay alive and to eat and have enough resources to live...don’t be stupid.

    • Oh? Saddam Hussein wasn’t lying and threatening the US for the past 12 years.

    • You are right on one thing only, yes I AM from England, Bristol to be precise, Totterdown BS4 to be more precise. The rest of what you say is total yankee rightwing bollocks.
      I’m no traitor though. I feel that people should fight when they have been attacked, and you should only fight for a legitimate reason.
      3 quick factual points firstly: War in Iraq was Illegal : Saddam had no connection to Al-Qaeda: No weapons of mass destruction found.
      Now understand USA started this blooday illegal mess on false pretences and here we are in a complete mess. Falluja was a relatively peaceful place compared to other Iraqi cities. They only started the so called insurgency when they were shot at during a peaceful proest against the Americans who were using their local school as a base camp for attacks. When
      There were half a million civilians 3-4 hundred thousand left the city. This means that at leats 100,000 civilians were left with the maybe 10,000 of them being Freedom Fighters any other people still in the city were peole who had come from outside Iraq/Falluja however not all are foreign . The Americans are heavy handed at everything they do, did they think that the honourable Iraqi people would just sit down and back away.
      With reference to you yanks helping the Shia, that is a proper fairytale. In the current war, you battered the holy city of Najaf and previously in the eighties you supported Saddam with weapons and money to stop the Shia uprising in Iraq. There are pictures with Rumsfeld to prove this as well as invoices from US weapons makers.
      I don’t agree with Saddams policies, but at least with him he was honest. He did what hw did even though it was kuntish.
      You are a dumb yank and your kind of yank dresses everything up as good against evil , winner and loser. Your simple reasoning suits your simple brain. ( not all of you, there are many good people who see the truth) We can see past this and we can see past you.
      Screw you , & Halliburton & KBR and Lockheed Cheney Bush Rumsfeld, you are going straight to hell with your comic book lies and excuses for committing murder, you cannot fool us. and when the honest people be it Atheist, Muslim, Christian and Jew (non Zionist) come together, I pray that they shove burning oil lamps up your ass like you did to the Iraqis.
      Bristol Junglist Peace & Freedom to Defend Posse

    • Innocent my ass. They must have something you don’t and that’s intellect.

    • In this so called war everyone is killing everyone. The thing is the U.S. is taking it way too far. The people in Iraq are not going to stand around and let this happen to their country, too much is going on. Yes killing is very wrong and killing + killing does not solve anything, but hows it ever going to end. Neither side wants to give up because Bush keeps sending more and more down with every dead body thats returning. The people of Iraq are being slaughtered throughout each day and more rebellish people are getting angry. There is no good coming out of all this fighting and there is no good coming out of all of your fighting either. Can the people who support Bush HONESTLY say that what he and the rest of his greedy squad are doing is truly right? I do not support this president, call me un-patriotic, call me a traitor, I dont care because I’m standing up for what I truly believe is correct and one day I know we can make a difference for everyones sake. -Kaoru

    • Sure I’d be pissed at the US if they took away Saddam my vaunted leader who provided my town with booty and opportunity at the expense of the rest of the population. I’d fight them and when my brother got killed by the US I’d be happy to tell BBC how much I hate the Americans. But what about the rest of the Iraqis who just want to rebuild their lives without insurgent bombs going off? What about them? These are the majority of Iraqis, not the bombers, but the bombed.

      Maybe you fucks should give them a little compassion instead of just worrying about the "rights" of the insurgents. They have the right to be a martyr, and that is what we are helping them with.

    • 1. War in Iraq was illegal? No, our Congress gave the President authority to do it, as your government approved their participation. If you are referring to the UN security council vote and France’s threat of boycott, well the French clearly had their own motivations: 1. dirty oil for food program bribes and illegal miltary contracts from Saddam. Ask Kofi Anon about the bribes his son got from Saddam.

      2. Saddam did have a connection to terrorism. He gave 25 thousand dollars to each Palestinian suicide bomber, encouraging terrorism. He had connections with Al Qaeda and Al Zarqawi and Ansar Al-Islam. He was not involved in 9/11 but had been shooting at US jets enforcing UN no fly zone for 10 years, gassed his own population and was a loose cannon in an already unstable and anti-west middle east. Although we did not find WMD it has been determined that he could have reconstituted his nuclear program in one year and was actively working to undermine the military effects of UN sanctions.

      3. All major intelligence agencies (US, France, UK and Russian) believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. We acted on that. The fact that he may not have actually had them does not change anything. After 9/11 (when we WERE attacked) we can’t take the chance of letting someone "pass off" a nuke to terrorists. Apparently your government feels the same, even if you don’t.

      As far as the Shia go, how does putting down the thug Al Sadr relate? He is not respected or respectable, he’s a pimp. Al-Sistani is the man whom the Shia respect, and we have taken great pains to do things in a way acceptable to him, that is why he encourages people to participate in the upcoming election. What we did with Saddam in the 80’s had to do with getting him in our camp instead of the Soviets. You do remember the Cold War don’t you and what it felt like to face the threat of nuclear obliteration from Soviet ICBM’s don’t you?

      You ultra libs in Europe don’t realize that the peace and prosperity you have is a direct result of the US. You take your freedoms for granted and live in the non realistic post modern socialist world of Europe that believe that negotiation and appeasement are good enough. You are instantly ready to align yourself with people who would destroy your civilization. That is traitorous and that is seditious and that is what you are.

  • NONE OF THIS IS RIGHT.... stop fighting amoung yourselves, that doesn’t make anything better! Look whats happening right now in this world. The people who are dieing, the hearts that are breaking, the riots that break non-stop, the souls that are lost, the lies that are spoken. We need to do something that will stop this, and argueing about petty articles are comments will not stop that. We need to stand up for what we truly believe in and TAKE ACTION now. With peace of course and if that fails than do what in your heart feels right. -Kaoru

    • What freaking planet are you from? Lets sit down and talk??? They’ll cut your fucking throat first or blow you up, because thats what they do, thats all they do! You can’t reason or negotiate with them. They want us all dead. You bleeding hearts and Europeans don’t realize whats at stake.

    • What would god want? He/she loves all humans. God wants peace and harmony. If god created mankind do you think he would want any person to be killed? God needs humans so they can see god. This war should have never happened. The human brain is meant for ideas and consciousness. Killing is against god. Christians and Moslems and all people should realize that. Remember god sees you for what you are. Its time for thought not more killing. Those who advocate killing on this board need to be aware that if they write things that furthur murder in any way god sees them typing and passes judgement.

    • Muslims don’t realize that. They think it’s okay to go around killing people. How the hell do you think this whole thing started.

    • American don’t realize that the are the evil killing machines, but only if it’s against
      women and children.

    • Tell us what is at stake??? Not our reputation, that is over and done the world hates the Americans...not our safety, the Iraqis never did anything to us, not our way of life, we are still the most immoral country on the planet, not our WMD we still have enough nuclear (or nukular for you) weapons to destroy the entire planet 40 times over, not our jobs, Bushco is seeing to it that they are disappearing by the thousands every month, not our economy this war is finishing that off as we go bankrupt...so what is at stake that we shouldn’t just leave these people the fuck alone?

    • It wasn’t the US military that used women and children as human shields.

    • > They want us all dead. You bleeding hearts and Europeans don’t realize whats at stake.

      Bullshit! Give me a single bit of proof that Iraqis wanted us dead before you started this dark and evil war against them.

      Its you American morons, with your fitting president, that fail to realize you are killing innocent people living on their land.

    • Most of the world has always hated America and always will because lack of what they have. And if we are so immoral tell me why aprroximately 4000 citizens from around the world become LEGAL US citizens every day.

    • If your so right then tell me whose going around Iraq with death sqads kidnapping INNOCENT people from their homes and killing them. There is no proof that Iraquis wanted us dead but plenty of proof that the Islamofascist terrorist do. Can you say 9/11, same building 1992, USS Cole, BAlI, US Embassy(Africa), and more, plus Marine Barracks Beuirut. So shut the fuck up.

    • yeah, we Americans aren’t killing any innocent people in Iraq, and I’m sure our actions aren’t creating any ’terrorists’, and I’m sure Bush is a clever man, Fuckwit.

    • Only the british would know how to fuck their wits.

    • > If your so right then tell me whose going around Iraq with death sqads kidnapping INNOCENT people from their homes and killing them.

      Man I wonder whether you can make logical conclusions at all!

      These people, however crazed, fanatic and evil they are in beheading innocent people — they are still crazed, fanatic and evil at their OWN land. Not yours. It is YOU who have attacked them. It is YOU who are the evil ones, not them.

      And keep in mind that these people did not exist UNTIL it was proven that you were humiliating, raping and torturing prisoners on Saddam’s prison. Hell, *I* would certainly wish to destroy America if you had treated my father the way you treated your prisoners.

  • Here is your situation Marine. You just took fire from unlawful combatants shooting from a religious building attempting to use the sanctuary status of their position as protection. But you’re in Fallujah now, and the Marine Corps has decided that they’re not playing that game this time. That was Najaf. So you set the mosque on fire and you hose down the terrorists with small arms, launch some AT-4s (Rockets), some 40MM grenades into the building and things quiet down. So you run over there, and find some tangos wounded and pretending to be dead. You are aware that suicide martyrdom is like really popular with these kind of idiots, and like taking some Marines with them would be really cool. So you can either risk your life and your fireteam’s lives by having them cover you while you bend down and search a guy that you think is pretending to be dead for some reason. Also, you don’t know who or what is in the next room, and you’re already speaking english to each other and its loud because your hearing is poor from shooting people for several days. So you know that there are many other rooms to enter, and that if anyone is still alive in those rooms, they know that Americans are in the mosque. Meanwhile (3 seconds later), you still have this terrorist that was just shooting at you from a mosque playing possum. What do you do?

    You double tap his head, and you go to the next room, that’s what.

    What about the Geneva Conventions and all that Law of Land Warfare stuff? What about it. Without even addressing the issues at hand you first thought should be, “I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.” Bear in mind that this is a perpetual mindset that is reinforced by experiences gained on a minute by minute basis. Secondly, you are fighting an unlawful combatant in a Sanctuary which is a double No No on his part. Third, tactically you are in no position to take “prisoners” because there are more rooms to search and clear, and the behavior of said terrorist indicates that he is up to no good. No good in Fallujah is a very large place and the low end of no good and the high end of no good are fundamentally the same... Marines get hurt or die. So there is no compelling reason for you to do anything but double tap this idiot and get on with the mission.

    If you are a veteran then everything I have just written is self evident, if you are not a veteran than at least try to put yourself in the situation. Remember, in Fallujah there is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only now. Right NOW. Have you ever lived in NOW for a week? It is not easy, and if you have never lived in NOW for longer than it takes to finish the big roller coaster at Six Flags, then shut your hole about putting Marines in jail for war crimes.

    Just like bayonetting Japanese "bodies" in WWII. In both cases, the practice is a reasonable, prudent, and effective way with dealing with "dead" guys trying to kill you.

    And meanwhile, the french army has opened fire on a demonstration in Ivory Coast and killed dozens of unarmed civilians.
    Where are the condemnations of such a barbaric act?
    ...silence...

    • I’m a marine corps veteran and its our duty to uphold the highest principles. War breaks down all the rules in the end but when it comes to insurgencies its particularly important to stay within the rules. Otherwisw its self defeating. Your just creating more enemies.