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War crimes?
townhall.com ^ | 11/19/04 | Oliver North

Posted on 11/18/2004 10:58:21 PM PST by kattracks

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- By now, almost everyone in the world with a television has seen the videotape that appears to show a U.S. Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi terrorist inside a mosque in Fallujah. For the record, here are the facts, because facts -- not rumors or emotions -- really are important. Here is what those who were there told me:

 On Friday, Nov. 12, U.S. Marines were fired upon by terrorists armed with AK-47s, RPD machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades from a mosque and an adjacent building. The Marines returned fire, first with M-16s and 240G machine guns, and then, as they continued to take fire and casualties, they escalated to an MK-19, a 40mm grenade launcher and then an AT-4 missile.

 When none of these weapons successfully eliminated enemy fire, the platoon commander called for and received permission to open fire with the main gun of an M-1 Abrams tank and then storm the buildings. In the ensuing assault, 10 terrorists were killed and five others were wounded, as the Marines went room-to-room clearing the buildings. Immediately afterward, two correspondents accompanying coalition forces were shown a large quantity of AK-47s, machine guns, mortar rounds, explosives, RPGs and hand grenades that had been stored in the mosque.

 While the print and broadcast cameramen were photographing the evidence of a war crime -- weapons being stored in a place of worship -- the Marine unit received an order over the radio to advance and secure another building. As the bone-tired troops departed for their next objective, one of the correspondents asked what would become of the wounded terrorists. A Marine sergeant replied that another unit was to move up and evacuate the injured enemy to the rear for treatment and detention.

 The following morning -- Saturday -- another platoon of Marines from a different company was attacked from the mosque. A second gunfight ensued, and once again, a squad of Marines assaulted the structure. They were accompanied by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites and his cameraman, taping for the "pool" -- meaning that whatever tape he filed would be available to all the networks accredited to cover Operation New Dawn.

 According to the videotape and the report filed after the action, as the Marines burst into one of the rooms inside the mosque, they found four terrorists -- one dead and three wounded. In the video that has now been seen around the world, one of the battle-weary Marines points his weapon at one of the enemy combatants lying against the wall and shouts, "He's (expletive) faking he's dead. He's faking he's (expletive) dead." An instant later, the Marine raises his rifle and fires into the insurgent's head. Immediately thereafter, another Marine can be heard saying, "Well, he's dead now."

 For American broadcasts, the actual shot is "blacked out." But when the tape airs on Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Lebanon TV and other Arab media outlets, nothing is left to the imagination. Unfortunately, neither version is accurate -- though both are very troubling. Like so much of what's on television today, only the goriest, most sensational portion of the tape has aired. As a consequence, "the rest of the story" -- as my friend Paul Harvey puts it -- has been lost in the clamor created by 15 seconds of videotape.

 Only a few have seen the footage shot the day before -- providing irrefutable evidence that the mosque was a well-defended arms depot. And fewer still have viewed the very next sequence after "the shooting," which shows two Marines pointing their weapons at another combatant lying motionless. Suddenly, one of the Marines jumps back as the terrorist stretches out his hand, motioning that he is alive. Neither Marine opens fire.

 According to the Marines, a Navy medical corpsman was then summoned to treat the two wounded prisoners. In his original written report, Sites, the correspondent who videotaped the shooting, doesn't mention the medical treatment provided to the injured enemy combatants, but he does note that four of the combatants were some of those who had been left behind from the firefight on Friday. If the NBC reporter knew that from being there the day before, why didn't he tell this new group of Marines before they rushed into the room?

 None of that is included in the tape, which is now being used to raise Islamic ire at the "American invader." Why? And why did it take more than a day to learn that the Marine seen shooting on the videotape had been wounded in the face the day before if the correspondent knew that when he filed the videotape? Why didn't the original story include the fact that a Marine in the same unit had been killed 24 hours earlier while searching the booby-trapped dead body of a terrorist?

 Within hours of the videotaped incident in the mosque, another Marine was killed and five others wounded by a booby-trapped body they found in a house after a gunfight. Why was this not made part of the original story? Even Amnesty International, no friend to the American armed forces, has reported that the Iraqi terrorists have illegally used white flags to lure coalition forces into ambushes. Yet this, too, is absent in the original story.

 Though the Arab media doesn't mention it, the incident is being fully investigated -- even as combat operations continue. If a court martial is convened, the young Marine in the videotape will have a chance to defend his actions. Meanwhile, Arab broadcasts outside Iraq that won't even mention the murder of relief worker Margaret Hassan will replay the "shooting video" for weeks to come as an incitement to join the Jihad.

 In the rush to air sensational footage, the "pool" system failed us all. Worse yet, it failed the young soldiers and Marines and their brave Iraqi allies who are fighting to liberate Fallujah from the terrorists' bloody grip. Even though the "shooting video" lacked context and failed to tell the full story -- it became the big story. If it becomes the story of Fallujah, that would be a crime.

Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist, host of the Fox News Channel's War Stories and founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: fallujah; fallujahmarine; kevinsites; mosqueunmasked; olivernorth; om; omterrorists; therestofthestory
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1 posted on 11/18/2004 10:58:21 PM PST by kattracks
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To: kattracks

I am quite sick of this story.

The wounded men were nonuniformed fighters who were attacking from inside a holy place.

Under the terms of the Geneva Convention, summary execution is quite appropriate for either of these offenses. This is intended to discourage such activities.

Not that that is exactly what happened.


2 posted on 11/18/2004 11:04:21 PM PST by Restorer (Europe is heavily armed, but only with envy.)
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To: kattracks
Thats not a war crime.

here let me show you a warcrime

3 posted on 11/18/2004 11:05:04 PM PST by GeronL (I thought I was moving today, its been postponed till Sunday, I think)
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To: Restorer

and pretending to be dead is apparently a violation too


4 posted on 11/18/2004 11:05:45 PM PST by GeronL (I thought I was moving today, its been postponed till Sunday, I think)
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To: kattracks
As usual the PRESS and MSM is on the side of the jihadists, the ENEMY, OUR ENEMY, those that would kill every last soldier, sailor, airman and Marine and then all of us and finally all of Western Civilisation.

Is it any wonder that most people loathe the leftists that innundate the MSM.

5 posted on 11/18/2004 11:07:43 PM PST by PISANO (Never Forget 911!! & 911's 1st Heroes..... "Beamer, Glick, Bingham & Bennett.")
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To: PISANO

He should have beheaded the guy.


6 posted on 11/18/2004 11:17:24 PM PST by ReadyNow (When you see the eye, expect a lie!)
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To: kattracks

This is a very good analysis,and as Dennis Prager said yesterday on his show as this story developsmore will be found out about this Kevin Sites.


7 posted on 11/18/2004 11:21:16 PM PST by nothernlights
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To: kattracks
And fewer still have viewed the very next sequence after "the shooting," which shows two Marines pointing their weapons at another combatant lying motionless. Suddenly, one of the Marines jumps back as the terrorist stretches out his hand, motioning that he is alive. Neither Marine opens fire.

Just FYI a link to footage showing this part was posted on FR a few day back...I saved the the download but lost the link... any one got it?

8 posted on 11/18/2004 11:21:35 PM PST by tophat9000 (We didn’t rise they sunk look at the blue, water filled, sink holes map (Mike Moore Fatass divots ?)
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To: kattracks

I wonder how Kevin Sites and his cameraman would feel if they get Kidnapped by some of these Jihadists! Probably pray for the sight of a marine!


9 posted on 11/18/2004 11:22:00 PM PST by 26lemoncharlie (Defending America)
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To: Restorer

We need to withdraw from the "Geneva convention, a bad idea that only our mean find themselved hamstrung postition.


10 posted on 11/18/2004 11:27:04 PM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: 26lemoncharlie

Kevin Sites was kidnapped earlier this year near Kirkuk,and then very strangely released after 4 hours. He is one of the very very very few western hostages to have survived a kidnapping in Iraq. Is he just lucky?


11 posted on 11/18/2004 11:32:04 PM PST by nothernlights
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To: kattracks

Ollie does a good job of explaining the circumstances surrounding this story. I fail to see any wrongdoing by the Brave Marine. After all, he gave the faking scumbag not one, but two warnings. Give the Marine a Purple Heart for his wounds and a pat on the back for a job done well. Instant decisions are made in the heat of battle, I believe he made the correct one.


12 posted on 11/18/2004 11:34:14 PM PST by Yosemite
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To: kattracks; NonValueAdded; Watery Tart; WhistlingPastTheGraveyard; bluefish; lonevoice; ...
Pinging Ollie's list...


13 posted on 11/18/2004 11:36:36 PM PST by cgk (The Left was beaten by Pres Bush twice & will never have another shot at him... who's dumb?)
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To: nothernlights
"...more will be found out about this Kevin Sites"

A FReeper posted yesterday that some of Sites' photos are proudly displayed on an anti-war web site.

14 posted on 11/18/2004 11:42:45 PM PST by TheCrusader ("the frenzy of the Mohammedans has devastated the Churches of God" - Pope Urban II, 1097 A.D.)
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To: nothernlights

Didn't know that, how would anyone follow up on his links and previous activities and assignments. He nmay have ties with some of the organizations.


15 posted on 11/18/2004 11:43:32 PM PST by 26lemoncharlie (Defending America)
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To: nothernlights
"Is he just lucky?"

No, many of his photos are displayed on an anti-war website; if his kidnappers had access to a computer I'm sure he showed it to them and that's why he was released. He's a friend of the terrorists.

16 posted on 11/18/2004 11:44:43 PM PST by TheCrusader ("the frenzy of the Mohammedans has devastated the Churches of God" - Pope Urban II, 1097 A.D.)
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To: TheCrusader

On a post,yesterday there was a link to an MSNBC article about Sites.It said that Sitesused to be a CNN freelancer,but CNN did not renew his contract. CNN did not want to comment on Sites after the release of the video. Also in that article,it stated that Sites was being kept under wraps by NBC.
From Ollie's report and these facts about Sites coming out, it looks like a set up.


17 posted on 11/18/2004 11:51:22 PM PST by nothernlights
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To: kattracks

It has been said before, but in this story the MSM and Arabic media have no interest in guilt or innocence, only the slightest interest in ratings or sensation, and are oppose to presenting balanced perspective.

For them the intention is to try and portray American soldiers as equal to (for the MSM), and worse then (for the Arabic press) the terrorists we are fighting in Iraq.


18 posted on 11/18/2004 11:52:40 PM PST by swilhelm73 (Dowd wrote that Kerry was defeated by a "jihad" of Christians...Finally – a jihad liberals oppose!)
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To: swilhelm73

I heard that they might be kicking out all the embeds because of this.

Sites should be charged for this fraud as well, no way should he get away with this. What a lowlife. He should never be allowed to write again.


19 posted on 11/19/2004 1:31:43 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: Nathan Zachary
I heard that they might be kicking out all the embeds because of this.

I hope this is true. I sent Ollie an email this morning after reading his article and asked him how Americans could support this young Marine hero AND if it was time to pull embeddeds out of combat. If they could all be like Ollie, there would be no problem - but we all know the MSM is anti-America.

I think Sites and his anti-war/America views need more exposure. BTW - if he's so anti-war, why does he work as a war correspondent?......Is he working HIS agenda and not America's??

20 posted on 11/19/2004 2:34:33 AM PST by Elkiejg (The Democratic Party is no longer the party of H.S. Truman & Zell Miller - their loss.)
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