There has been debate for some time now about the US Marine who killed a wounded, unarmed terrorist during the battle for Fallujah. Murder most foul or self defence? Predictably the Left call it murder and the right, justifiable homicide or words to that effect. At this stage, until we hear the words and thoughts of the Marine, no one is in a position to call it either way. No one other than the Marine knows the answer. Kevin Sites doesn’t – he just recorded an event. Commentators around the world can’t know either as there are too many factors involved. Kevin Sites appeals to all to understand his point of view and why he submitted the film for release. His story rings true and doesn’t indicate any bias. I’m happy to accept that Kevin believes what he says In Vietnam, when dealing with severely wounded or dead we would loop a rope around an arm, pull back out of grenade range and then turn the body over. You see, the enemy being fanatics, were known to remove the pin from a grenade as their last defiant act and secure the grenade with the lever under their body or a limb. When turned over the grenade would explode. If they are prepared to do this as their last conscience thought do you think they won’t do the same when they have more control over their body. They will, believe me. Romantics and novelists quote flags of truce and Geneva Conventions. The soldier sticks to reality and until he is totally in control Rule 5.56 applies. Wounded isn’t enough. The Marine would be looking in the terrorists eyes for a hint of resignation or defiance. He would be looking for tiny body movements that might herald danger..a pistol coming up…a grenade being thrown or rolled. His limbic brain would be in control. It would be assessing the risk and preparing to fight or flee. It has already filed the fact that these terrorists, lying on the ground wounded, have previously killed Marines and it would not be prepared to give the terrorist the benefit of the doubt. The Marine did what all soldiers have always done….assessed the situation and acted. This is not the time to cut any slack. Mistakes translate into death and hesitation itself can be a fatal mistake. Kevin Sites doesn’t know all of this and if he thinks he does he’s wrong. Its a feeling not a sentence in a rule book. He is in Iraq filming action and has no responsibility to react in a split second to try and save lives except his own. He just records the events with a lens that in no way is wired through the brain and vision of the Marine. Not for him the hundreds of hours Marines train to react very quickly to threats. Not for him the responsibility of the life of the man following him. He records history. It is the role of the soldier to play his part in making that history and it is no less important because that role is a small one. The Marine didn’t go into that room prepared to fire He went in prepared not to fire if he was very quickly convinced it was safe. He has already applied first pressure to the trigger and as it is his and his mates lives at risk, and not the cameraman?s, then he gets the call. The Marine only has to say;

Sir, I thought he was moving his hand towards a hidden weapon or rolling off an unpinned grenade or about to press a detonator or…..you get the message

and the investigating officer must clear him. If the Marine’s perception of the circumstances was that he and his mates were under threat then he did what he was trained to do. If, on the other hand, he went into the room, was satisfied that all inside were not a threat and then he killed one then that is murder. That moment in battle when the ‘heat of battle’ has cooled is a very fine line that can’t be discerned by cameras or words. Initially it is a slow down of nerves, breathing, pulse and reactions – a sense of having survived and then quickly becomes a state of affairs when the tactics change to securing the scene and the prisoners. Good commanders pick it quickly and true, some soldiers have to be told it is now over, but before you condemn anyone slow to change, measure the adrenalin in his blood and the fear in his heart and then comment. If you can’t do either then leave it be. In the long term I expect the matter will die. Sane and experienced men will know these things and feel all I have said. Thankfully, the commentators aren’t the judges as well.