SwiftVets.com

[SandiM]

Damned if they do, Dead if they don'tMark Alexander (archive)


November 19, 2004


"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
--Thomas Paine

In their latest campaign to eradicate Jihadi vermin on the Iraqi warfront with Jihadistan, U.S. Marines and Army infantry have, in the last two weeks, purged Fallujah of more than 5,000 terrorist insurgents who were dug in throughout the city. The combat has been fierce.

A week into the Fallujah operation, an NBC photographer embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, recorded video of a young combat-hardened Marine entering a room in a mosque where he found several insurgents on the floor under covers. Unable to determine if these enemy combatants were injured, dead or preparing to ambush his unit, the Marine raised his rifle in preparation to defend himself and his fellow Marines. When he detected movement from one of the combatants, the Marine yelled, "He's (expletive) faking he's dead! He's faking he's (expletive) dead!" and killed the Jihadi -- and that is where this story should have ended.

As it turned out, however, the Jihadi had been wounded the day before and the NBC photographer, Kevin Sites (whose photographs are featured on many anti-war websites), stepped up to get his 15 seconds of fame. Sites turned the video over to his network, telling them that he did not think the Jihadi was a threat, and within 24 hours, Lefty lynch mobs were forming to hang themselves a Marine.

Notably, the loudest protests of "war crimes" were from those who have never been closer to combat than the distance between their living-room lounge chairs and TVs. (Of course, it is a war crime to store weapons in a mosque as was documented, but the Lefties are not protesting that.) Indeed, the Leftmedia's mindless promotion of this video (as with the Abu Ghraib feeding frenzy: see -- http://FederalistPatriot.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=258) was tantamount to shaking a hornet's nest -- making the task of our fighting forces in Fallujah and elsewhere in the region all the more difficult. Actions have consequences, and the exploitation of this video empowered Jihadis in the region -- in effect, making life very difficult for our Armed Forces.

But what you're not hearing from NBC's Tom Brokaw or any other Leftmedia talkingheads in their wholesale condemnation of this incident is that Jihadis (knowing that U.S. military personnel have the decency to tend to wounded enemy combatants) have routinely booby-trapped the bodies of dead insurgents. In fact, one member of the Marine squad now being scrutinized was killed (and five others wounded) when attempting to check on a wounded Jihadi only days earlier. In addition, the Marine now being questioned for killing this wounded Jihadi suffered a wound to his face a day earlier when an injured Jihadi fired on him.

These facts notwithstanding, the Left and their media minions have now made this young Marine their poster boy for U.S. atrocities. Here, we would remind these hypocrites that a few short weeks ago, they were doing all in their power to support John F. Kerry's campaign for the most powerful office in the world. This would be the same JFK who received a Silver Star (with and erroneous "V") for chasing a wounded Vietcong combatant (described as a young boy in a loin cloth) around a hutch and shooting him in the back.

While we have strenuously questioned the merits of John Kerry's Silver Star for this action, we have never questioned his decision to kill this VC enemy, whom he judged to be a threat to his boat crew. By the Kerry standard, the young Marine in question should get a Silver Star. (Of course, enlisted personnel really have to do something spectacular to pin one of those on.)

Now that the Left is once again decrying military actions to liberate Iraq, please take a moment and join more than 115,000 grateful Americans who have already signed An Open Letter in Support of America's Armed Forces in support of our Patriots in uniform. These American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have plowed the ground for liberty while protecting their countrymen back home. We remain the proud and the free because they have stood bravely in harm's way and remain on post today.

For this, we, the American People, offer our heartfelt thanks. Please support our troops -- let your voice be heard! Join fellow Patriots on the front lines in defense of our liberty and national sovereignty. Visit http://PatriotPetitions.US/USMIL

Memo to the Pentagon: Leave the reporters embedded, but have them check their cameras in the rear. Otherwise, the resulting Leftist hype will continue to jeopardize our mission -- and jeopardize the lives of American military personnel.

Quote of the week...

"Some 40 Marines have just lost their lives cleaning out one of the world's worst terror dens, in Fallujah, yet all the world wants to talk about is the NBC videotape of a Marine shooting a prostrate Iraqi inside a mosque. ... The al-Zarqawi TV network, also known as Al-Jazeera, has broadcast the tape to the Arab world, and U.S. media have also played it up. The point seems to be to conjure up images again of Abu Ghraib, further maligning the American purpose in Iraq. Never mind that the pictures don't come close to telling us about the context of the incident, much less what was on the mind of the soldier after days of combat. Put yourself in that Marine's boots. He and his mates have had to endure some of the toughest infantry duty imaginable, house-to-house urban fighting against an enemy that neither wears a uniform nor obeys any normal rules of war. ... When not disemboweling Iraqi women, these killers hide in mosques and hospitals, booby-trap dead bodies, and open fire as they pretend to surrender. Their snipers kill U.S. soldiers out of nowhere. According to one account, the Marine in the videotape had seen a member of his unit killed by another insurgent pretending to be dead. Who from the safety of his Manhattan sofa has standing to judge what that Marine did in that mosque?"
--The Wall Street Journal


Mark Alexander is Executive Editor and Publisher of The Federalist Patriot, a Townhall.com member group.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/markalexander/ma20041119.shtml
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Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. (Winston Churchill)

[Mooncusser]

AMen.
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MACV '64...65
Thu Thua, Long An

I actually won the election before I lost it.

"It is a good day to fight! It is a good day to die! Strong hearts, brave hearts to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear!" (Crazy Horse)

[Marquis]

There was a day, about the time that I was born, that American journalists were patriots. I miss those days. Sad to say, but "fill in the blank" regarding these anti-American and anti-U.S. Soldier ********! It nwould be fitting that they would be taken hostage and beheaded, Amen!

[Stop Hanoi John]

Where is the outrage form these same folks over the French slaughter of Ivory Coast civilians? Please visit this thread in the Geedunk forum if you want to see the video.

If we can get this out to the MSM, who is ignoring it (what a shock!), maybe we can get Chirac to shut the hell up for a few weeks.

http://www2.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17556

[scotty61]

I read Kevin Sites' response to all this. No doubt, this is a first class ego we're dealing with. As a correspondent he felt he had the right several times to tell the Marine LT. what he had to do. He really up-played the sympathy factor on the wounded terrorists and ignored their handywork which surrounded him. Nope, this guy was not there to report, he was there to get that Pulitzer Prize moment for himself and to hell with anyone who got in his way. He's real scum, felt like I needed to flush my eyes out when I got done.
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John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.

[DaveS]

Uncle Walter turned the media into a pack of liberal hounds that continues to cloud journalistic judgement.

I remember watching him at night but don't remember being asked if I thought he was the most honest person in the world. What a joke.

[blue9t3]

Gimme a break! If Kevin had caught some hot lead, he'd be going around saying that US forces werent trained/equipped to handle the insurgents(dirt bag loosers)
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MOPAR-BUYER

[blue9t3]

And oh ya, I would give that marine three days r+r.
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MOPAR-BUYER

[msindependent]

Is Sites back home? I have a stink bomb that I want to send him.

[tony54]

I posted this reply on another forum, I think its worth repeating:

Here is what proper procedure should be:
If terrorist snipers are shooting out from a mosque, the US Marines sorround the mosque, and send in the reporters and camera crews, give them one hour to talk the terrorists into laying down their guns and promising to be good boys and go home.
The terrorists will be allowed to come out with white flag in hand, say they are sorry and go home to mommy.

If after one hour they didn't co-operate with the newsies, then the US Marines storm the place and kill all the terrorists.
Then the US Marines take pictures of the beheaded jurnalists and send them to NBC with a note: "We tried it your way, it didn't work"
"ps: send another news crew"

[blue9t3]

Great tactic Tony,
Tell the newsies that when they see the knife coming out they should remind the terrorists that they are being filmed, and can expect a scathing report on al-jazzera every 20 minutes for two weeks!
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MOPAR-BUYER

[Digger]

I think it should be recognized that freedom of the press is a "PRIVELEDGE" granted by our Constitution. It is not a "RIGHT" that is absolute in any sense. Priveledges granted can be taken away from those who abuse them and in this case should be.
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Hey swifty, I'm with you, Just watch you don't get "Kerry'd away in the propwash

Sgt. Maj. Seamus D.D. MacNemi R.M.C. Ret.

[Snipe]

OK. Something that I haven't heard a word about. Since this
incident, are infantrymen still taking "embedded" reporters with
them or do they tell them to keep away from them while they are
working. It wouldn't take a general to make a policy, an 18 year
old private with a rifle can be very convincing.
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Tin Can Sailor