A Soldier's Perspective

Patriot And So It Begins…

Did I call it or what? This is just the beginning, I promise. The Washington Post today published an article titled "Iraqis Accuse Marines in April Killing Of Civilian."

The article says that Marines took a "52-year-old disabled Iraqi outside and shot him four times in the face." But, our our mean "cold-blooded" killer Marines didn't stop there. They "planted" an assault rifle and shovel next to his body.

According to the Compost article, the soldiers went to the home of Hashim Ibrihim Awad al-Zobaie at two in the morning and banged on the door. When Hashim answered the door, the soldiers grabbed him by his clothing and dragged him outdoors. The family then say they heard shooting about an hour later. They didn't immediately instigate because they were "too afraid of the U.S. forces."

The Marines' account of the incident state that he was shot when he was caught in the act of digging a hole for IEDs on the side of the road at approximately 0425 (4:25 a.m.) on April 6.

Family members are insisting that Hashim is not an insurgent or terrorist. Of course, they'll say that. I can't tell you how many times, when I was with 1st Cavalry in Baghdad, I heard that when we'd catch terrorists IN THE ACT, then raid their home. The remaining family members would insist that the man we had wasn't a terrorist. The weapons he were caught with weren't his. He only shot at us because he was scared. Oddly enough, the only people the Compost refer to as sources of this allegation are conveniently tied into the whole incident; the family and the neighbor. The neighbor just happened to have his door knocked on as well. AND the weapon the Marines "planted" belonged to him. Interesting…

The Compost says that the soldiers or marines returned to the home and asked if the investigators had spoken to the family, which they had. The article continues…

According to Ibrahim, the American said, "We are ready to compensate you with the money you want, on one condition, which is when the investigation committee comes back, you tell them that your brother worked with the insurgents and had connections with the insurgents, and that he used to go out at night to places you don't know."

Ibrahim didn't agree to the terms and said that no money could bring his brother back. Now, here's my question: If we are such "cold-blooded" killers, bent on exacting our own form of justice and killing everyone that doesn't agree with us, why didn't we just go back to the house at two in the morning again and just kill the witnesses?

This is just another example of the blame America first media trying to press their agenda to discredit the Iraq campaign. Mark my words, this is just the first of many allegations that will come out of Iraq. As the insurgents realize the massive weapon they have in their hands right now, they will leverage it. The "mercenary killing" angle will their nuclear weapon, their WMD. And as the media reports on these ALLEGATIONS, America will begin to believe them. After all, a lie told so many times begins to become the truth.