Marine Corps Does the Right Thing

Wed, May 4, 2005 at 6:29:09 pm PDT

The Marine Corps has announced, as anyone of sound mind knew they should and would, that the Marine videotaped doing his job by Kevin Sites will not be court-martialed.

The Al-Associated Press is careful to mention in their headline that the shooting took place in a mosque: No Court-Martial in Iraq Mosque Shooting.

In a war zone.

SAN DIEGO - 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.

Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, 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 corporal was not identified in a two-page statement issued by Camp Pendleton, the headquarters of the expeditionary force north of San Diego.

The Nov. 13 incident was videotaped by Kevin Sites, a freelance journalist on assignment for NBC.

The shooting occurred when a Marine unit entered the mosque and found five men wounded in fighting at the site the day before, when another Marine unit clashed with gunmen apparently using the mosque to fire from, according to Sites’ broadcast.