Mau Mauing the Marines

Mau Mauing the Marines
by Jennifer King, Managing Editor

November 22, 2004

"The Heretical Housewife"

Managing Editor Jennifer King The recent publication of the video of a U.S. Marine shooting an Iraqi “insurgent” is the latest installment in Old Media’s unending war against the United States military. Embedded photographer Kevin Sites’ motivation is a toss up. He resembles a typical longhaired antiwar radical, plus he has submitted photos to an antiwar site - imagesagainstwar.com. Some of Sites’ actions are suspicious, as will be detailed below. Furthermore, Sites had to first edit the no doubt voluminous footage he has amassed as an embed. He had to know that his incriminating video would make it to the big time - and provide Al Jazeera and the conspiratorial “Arab Street” with endless ammunition against American troops and their mission in the Middle East.

As predicted, the Arab media erupted in hypocritical outrage. The Arab League called the shooting a “war crime”, while the peace loving Hezbollah called it a “crime against humanity”. They should certainly know about those. Meanwhile, nary a tear has been shed over the horrific brutality of the Islamist jihadists. An endless river of blood has been shed, both in Iraq and out of it, by these fanatics. We have seen them coldly executing victims screaming in anguish as their heads are slowly sawn off. We have seen them shooting small children in the back in Beslan. We have seen the mutilated and burned corpses of U.S. civilian contractors dragged through the streets and hung from bridges. The same day as the shooting, a woman’s body was recovered. She had been disembowled, her throat slit, her hands and lower legs had been cut off and her face so disfigured that it was impossible to identify her. It is believed that she is Margaret Hassan, an Irish born woman with Iraqi citizenship who was married to an Iraqi and was best known for her generous charitable work among Iraq’s poorest citizens. Al Jazeera has declined to air this tape.

Oliver North, relying on firsthand knowledge from the men who were there, reports that there were two gun battles which occurred in the mosque, the first on Friday, November 12th, when U.S. Marines were fired upon by heavily armed terrorists. After an intense battle the Marines secured the location. Reporters were then shown the immense arsenal which had been stored in the mosque in clear violation of war crimes laws. As this platoon moved on to their next location, five wounded terrorists were left behind for another unit to evacuate. On Saturday, a different platoon moved in and the second gun battle ensued. This time, Mr. Sites and his NBC crew accompanied them and shot the tape shown ‘round the world.

Col. North notes that Mr. Sites mentions in his written report that four of the enemy combatants were some of the same group that had been left behind from the firefight on Friday. Amazingly, this appears to suggest that Mr. Sites knew that this group of Marines were about to discover four wounded terrorists as they rushed into the room. Why didn’t Mr. Sites bother to mention this small fact to the platoon? Was he trying to set up a situation which might provide him with some juicy footage? If so, Mr. Sites is not only responsible for that man’s death, he is also responsible for grievously slandering the U.S. military and forever affecting the life of that U.S. Marine.

Is Mr. Sites an antiwar zealot who tried to harm the troops and dampen their mission? On his blog, Mr. Sites muses “I am not a military or an American cheerleader” and he further asserts that he should follow the advice of a fellow newsman, “to write in a notepad every day, that I am not one of them”, apparently fearing that he might get too close to the Marines he is covering. Further clouding the issue is the apparent cherry picking of available videotape. There is no footage displaying the vast arsenal stored at the mosque, and no mention of the fact that shortly after the gun battle, a U.S. Navy Corpsman was summoned to administer medical care to the wounded terrorists.

Whatever his intention, Mr. Sites framed the incident so that it portrayed the United States and the U.S. military in the worst possible light. The tape was bracketed with reporting which incorrectly called the terrorists “prisoners”, asserted that they were “unarmed” and made a point out of telling the world that the shooting had occurred in a mosque. (As others have mentioned, why is a mosque only desecrated by American troops shooting in, while it is not desecrated by terrorists shooting out or using it as a weapons arsenal?)

Old Media jumped right in and played it’s part, neglecting to inform the Red Staters that the this unit had lost a man to a booby trapped body the day before. Mere hours after the videotaped incident, yet another Marine was killed and five more were wounded by another rigged corpse.

War is not a football game, and the terrorists don’t play by Marquis of Queensbury rules. They have dressed as women and civilians, they have “surrendered” only to detonate themselves as the troops draw closer, they have tripwired buildings and cars and they have unerringly played upon our weakness - the essential goodness of our troops.

American taxpayers have paid millions to make “smart” bombs in order to preserve human life. We went into Fallujah with virtually no element of surprise because we wanted the civilians to get out. Our troops and their efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq have provided those citizens with the first chance they have ever had to live normal lives under freedom. Too bad the media can’t seem to find that footage. ***

Photo of Jennifer King courtesy of staff files