The marine shooting

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004
Filed Under: News/ Add Comment


A U.S. marine shot and killed an injured Iraqi insurgent inside a Fallujah mosque last week. The incident has touched off a storm of media coverage because a reporter managed to catch the shooting on tape. It appears that the Iraqi was unarmed at the time of the shooting and that he did not make any sudden movements or otherwise threaten the marine before he was killed, but may have pretended to be dead. Afterwards, another marine remarked in the background, “Well he’s dead now”.

I’ve read that the marines had been told that deadly force would be allowed against men of military age that were perceived to have hostile intentions, regardless of whether or not they fired on American soldiers first. The rules of engagement had been altered based on the fighting environment and knowledge of the enemy.

I think that one of the reasons the war in Iraq has been compared to Vietnam is that it’s often impossible to differentiate between those you are trying to protect and those that are trying to kill you. I can’t begin to imagine the madness that could result from living that reality on a daily basis. If a man walks towards your friends with a white flag of surrender, and then ends up taking out half a block, and killing your friends with the explosives strapped to his back, what lesson do you take from that experience? In a war zone where you encounter a wounded man who was trying to kill you only a few minutes before, is there a specific course of action that fits every situation? Does it matter if the enemy has been known to lie on top of grenades rather than surrender as a prisoner of war?

I honestly can’t say that I think the marine made the right decision, but I can’t say that it was wrong either. In that situation, I might believe that it was better that the man was dead than risk the alternative. It’s not fair, but nobody ever said that it was. If war is hell, then it’s partially because it forces otherwise good people to make horrible choices. Should the price of compassion be your own life? Does it have to be?