Anyway, I'm outta here. Good to meet you Raptor & edman. Lets hope that good comes out of this mess for everyone.

Good talking with ya'll (that's for you, Ant!). 'Till next time...

I hear you, TOW--I was with 2nd Plt., Lima 3/1 ((84-85), which is the unit that the Marine was with (not sure about platoon). I was never in harm's way, though, and couldn't even begin to know how I'd react in those circumstances. I do know that I'm 100% behind all the coalition forces over there, and wish them the best.

Well Raptor, glad you got the frustration out! Good to talk about it all with you--makes me a better American. Good debate makes us all better Americans. Later.

HOW DARE YOU ASSES!!! As a long time reader of this blog, I have come to trust Kevin's reporting. When I first heard and seen this story, I too wondered why he would have released something that was so ???????? But really, reading what you idiots bashing him have to say makes me see that he had no choice. What is he supposed to be the editor of the war for the world? His ass was in that room too, and maybe he has seen so much that he didn't view this at the time as the scandal it has become. I have heard he first took the tape to the military before broadcasting it and they took immediate action in pulling the marine in. We should all be standing behind both Kevin and that marine. They are facing animals over there, and Kevins job is to report what is going on, not just what we may like. Learn to take the good with the bad people. GROW THE FUCK UP. I worry that this will hinder other reporters from reporting truly. Let the military decide if there own has errored. But if we can stomach what is going on, we have to stomach it all. Who can honestly say what they would have done if they were either Kevin or that marine? Whom ever says they can is a fucking LIAR or living in LA LA LAND.

Reporters are there to report - eyewitness to the world. This guy's got guts. If you lot don't like what the reporter's camera shows, and how the rest of the sane world views you - invaders, holier-than-thou, mass murderers, morons serving the interests of the Halliburtons of this world, then, poor devils, perhaps you shouldn't have opened the Pandora's box in the first place.

Edited by author 11-17-2004 11:35 AM
We need to show some repect for the journalist who was a mere witness. Don't put your frothing agendas onto him! The innocent community members in Fallujah are trapped between the soldiers and the insurgents. A humanitarian disaster is being created, which is no surprise. This is what happens in war.

There are no uniforms worn by the enemy to tell our soldiers who is out to kill them and who is pleading for their innocent life. Ask yourself or the person next to you: if you were in that soldier's shoes, what would you have done? None of us can say we know. If we think we do, we're fantasizing.

You are all naive to think anyone is going to be "civil" when there is a war and it's either you or them who shall die on any given day. This is what happens when we make a decision to put our troops in harm's way. War, when it's YOU participating in it, strips away all mythic pretense.

To the grunt, this isn't Gods and Generals or Geneva Convention Watch. It's getting back to your wife and kids. It's insuring your next breath.
 
Playing armchair judge and jury is pointless. Accusing Kevin Sites, the journalist who only shows you reality, of being a non-patriot is agenda-driven extortion and abhorrent to any of us who believe in true freedom. War is war, war's rotten. If you think for a minute any of those soldiers WANT to be there and play "hero", you're nuts. They want to do their duty and go home. They'll do anything to get there, and if you sit in judgement of them, you ought to take their place for a while.

If you're going to be angry about this shooting in Fallujah, think of the people (the neoCon-soaked administration) who SENT the soldiers to the hellhole on a false pretense to begin with.

Get real.

http://iddybud.blogspot.com

You people bashing Kevin Sites need help. You are blaming him and accusing him of atrocious things in the same breath as whining that people you perceive as anti-military will do the same to the soldiers in the video. Perhaps thou protest too loudly...

if people are concerned about what they see its only because the military folks at Abu Ghraib gave them ample reason to be, not Kevin Sites. If the benefit of the doubt is lacking then it's not his fault, it's Lyndie Englands.

If you actually listen to the commentary that Kevin does, he says that the soldier had already been removed from the field of operations, therefore the military already knew and had taken action before Kevin did his commentary of the video and prior to it being sent to NBC.

Kevin also states in his commentary that this is a possible case of self defense, due to the booby trapped bodies being set by the insurgents and other conditons upon the battlefield.
 
Kevin has also released a statement that says "during my time with the marines I has witnessed the Marines behaving as a disciplined and professional force throughout this offensive and that the only person actually knows what happened and what he was thinking is the marine himself".

NBC does not have anything to do with this blog, it so states on their website.

To blame the bearer of bad news is not a very realistic endevor by anyone.
Name calling, swearing and other forms of childish behavior really don't help the situation any, but I suppose might make the person doing so, feel that they have vented their rage and I suppose feel better about it? It does not however, say very much about them as a person.

Give the soldier, the military, NBC and the reporter the benefit of the doubt. As others have noted here, Kevin Sites did give plenty of BOTD to the soldier (possible self defense, etc.) Let the facts be put forth without rushing to kill the messenger.

The footage and reports filed by this reporter prior to this incident were some of the most piercing insights available on the day-to-day war -- and have been praised and respected by military and non-military people. If you doubt this, just go back and look at the discussions.

Please, no more flip flops, or hostile knee jerk reations. It's not helpful to anyone.

We all understand the soldiers are in extreme difficult sitiations -- Kevin Sites is there, and understands that more than any of us writing here does. I think that's why this Marine unit specifically requested this specific reporter be embedded with them.

It would be a hollow victory to the freedoms we claim we are fighting for, to then supress, threaten the messengers and hide information like this. This is one of the fundemental principals that shoud continue to differeentiate us from those we are fighting. I've been a member of the wider military community and trust that the vast majority military personel and community would agree with this need for the facts to be known -- even if it is the worst news possible.