Marine response to a simple question:
In response to the news blurb about the Marine who put two
rounds ("double tap") in a wounded insurgent's head in Fallujah,
here's a response from one Marine who has been there:
"It's a safety issue, pure and simple. After assaulting through a target, we
put a security round in everybody's head. Sorry al-Reuters, there's no paddy
wagon rolling around Fallujah picking up "prisoners" and offering
them a hot cup a Joe, falafel, and a blanket. There's no time to dick around on
the target. You clear the space, dump the chumps, and move on dot org. Are
Corpsman expected to treat wounded terrorists? Negative.
Hey Libs ... worried about the defense budget? Well, it would be waste, fraud, and
abuse for a Corpsman to expend one man-minute or a battle dressing on a
terrorist. It's much cheaper to just spend the $.02 on a 5.56mm FMJ.
By the way in our view terrorists who chop off civilian's
heads are not prisoners they are carcasses. Chopping off a civilian's head is another reason why these
idiots are known as "unlawful combatants." It seems that most of the world's journalists have forgotten
that fact.
Let me be very clear about this issue. I have looked
around the web, and many people get this concept, but there are some
stragglers.
Here is your typical Marine SITREP (situation report): You
just took fire from unlawful combatants (no uniform - breaking every Geneva
Convention rule there is) 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 (bad guys) wounded and
pretending to be dead. You are
aware that suicide martyrdom is like really popular with these idiots, and they
think taking some Marines with them would be really cool. So you can either risk your life and
your fire team'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.
Most of the time these are the guys with the grenade or
vest made of explosives. Also, you
don't know who or what is in the next room. You're already speaking English to
the rest of your fire team or squad, which lets the terrorist know you are
there and you are his enemy. You are speaking 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 Convention and all that Law of Land Warfare stuff? What about it? Without even
addressing the issues at hand, your first thought should be, "I'd rather
be judged by 12 than carried by 6."
Bear in mind that this tactic of double tapping a fallen
terrorist is a perpetual mindset that is reinforced by experience 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 end up getting
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 combat veteran, then 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 really,
really not easy. 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."