Here's very good news from the Marines.
A Marine corporal who was videotaped shooting an apparently injured and unarmed Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque last year will not face court-martial, the Marine Corps announced Wednesday.Posted by Alan at May 4, 2005 09:57 PMMaj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, said that a review of the evidence showed the Marine’s actions in the shooting were “consistent with the established rules of engagement and the law of armed conflict.”
The shootings occurred at a mosque during an intense street-to-street battle for Fallujah. Caught on tape by an NBC camera, a squad of Marines entered the mosque to investigate reports of enemy gunfire. Inside, they found four enemy insurgents, wounded in a firefight the day before.
A Marine corporal who noticed that one of the insurgents was still breathing raised his rifle and fired a single shot into the man’s head.
Military officials now report that the same corporal shot three of the unarmed insurgents inside the mosque.
Sources tell NBC News the decision was based on the fact the Marines had been warned that the enemy would feign death and booby-trap bodies as a tactic to lure Marines to their deaths. The sources said the corporal apparently feared for his life when he fired the shots.