The man’s vehicle was hit by gunfire and he was seriously wounded, while a passenger in the vehicle was less seriously wounded, according to that statement. The U.S. soldier then approached the car and shot the wounded drive to death at close range, according to the statement.
At the time, defense officials said the investigation centered on “a potential violation of U.S. rules of engagement.” They said the soldier may have shot the Iraqi to end the wounded man’s suffering, but one official added that soldiers “don’t get to make those kinds of decisions.”
Let’s turn away for a minute from the behavior of the soldier who capped the driver at close range and in cold blood.
Check out the metacommunication in the stated defense, from “one official”
Don’t you call an ambulance for a human being?
Doesn’t the proffered justification (or mitigation, if you insist…) betray a dehumanization of the Iraqi people at the highest levels of our government?
Stupid, yes. They’re just trying to weasel out of a murder and said something thoughtless. I don’t think this means that Bush personally thinks Iraqis are horses.
The US Army is bringing murder charges against a soldier. I fail to see the debate here. Is it ‘murder is wrong’? Good debate. Murder is wrong.
Or perhaps the debate is that the soldier isn’t entitled to a defense? You are aware I’m sure that ‘defense officials’ are lawyers for the defense, right? What exactly did you expect them to say? ‘Ya, he did it…he busted a cap in the mo fo and he’s glad he did!’?? Get real. Of COURSE they are going to try any defense they can to get the guy off…its their fucking JOB.
Where is the highest levels of the government involvement here Mr. Goth? I must have missed it in your linked article…
I think in this case, “defense officials” refer to officials at the Department of Defense. I might be wrong, here. However, I don’t see the problem with this article. The line " the soldier may have shot the Iraqi to end the wounded man’s suffering", isn’t dehumanizing, I don’t think, even though the soldier acted incorrectly, of course.
Well, and again, I’m not saying what he did was wise or right, just that it may have been done out of compassion and wasn’t neccesarily dehumanizing, and killing somebody who’s so seriously injured that medical care won’t save him in order to put him out of his misery isn’t unknown in human history.