Thank you.................

Subject: Marine Response to a simple question

In response to the news blurb about the Marine who put two rounds

("double tap") in a wounded insurgent's head in Fallujah, here's a

response from a Marine:

"It's a safety issue, pure and simple. After assaulting through a

target, we put a security round in everybody's head. Sorry al-Reuters,

there's no paddy wagon rolling around Fallujah picking up "prisoners"

and offering them a hot cup a joe, falafel, and a blanket. There's no

time to dick around on the target. You clear the space, dump the

chumps, and move on.org. Are Corpsman expected to treat wounded

terrorists? Negative. Hey Libs ... worried about the defense budget?

Well, it would be waste, fraud, and abuse for a Corpsman to expend one

man-minute or a battle dressing on a terrorist. It's much cheaper to

just spend the $.02 on a 5.56mm FMJ.

By the way, in our view, terrorists who chop off civilian's heads are

not prisoners, they are carcasses. Chopping off a civilian's head is

another reason why these idiots are known as "unlawful combatants." It

seems that most of the world's journalists have forgotten that fact.

Let me be very clear about this issue. I have looked around the web,

and many people get this concept, but there are some stragglers.

Here is your typical Marine sitrep (situation report): You just took

fire from unlawful combatants (no uniform - breaking every Geneva

Convention rule there is) shooting from a religious building attempting

to use the sanctuary status of their position as protection. But you're

in Fallujah now, and the Marine Corps has decided that they're not

playing that game this time. That was Najaf. So you set the mosque on

fire and you hose down the terrorists with small arms, launch some AT-4s

(Rockets), some 40MM grenades into the building and things quiet down.

So you run over there, and find some tangos (bad guys) wounded and

pretending to be dead. You are aware that suicide martyrdom is like

really popular with these idiots, and they think taking some Marines

with them would be really cool. So you can either risk your life and

your fire team's lives by having them cover you while you bend down and

search a guy that you think is pretending to be dead for some reason.

Most of the time these are the guys with the grenade or vest made of

explosives. Also, you don't know who or what is in the next room. You're

already speaking English to the rest of your fire team or squad which

lets the terrorist know you are there and you are his enemy. You are

speaking loud because your hearing is poor from shooting people for

several days. So you know that there are many other rooms to enter, and

that if anyone is still alive in those rooms, they know that Americans

are in the mosque. Meanwhile (3 seconds later), you still have this

terrorist (that was just shooting at you from a mosque) playing possum.

What do you do? You double tap his head, and you go to the next room,

that's what!!!

What about the Geneva Convention and all that Law of Land Warfare stuff?

What about it? Without even addressing the issues at hand, your first

thought should be, "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

Bear in mind that this tactic of double tapping a fallen terrorist is a

perpetual mindset that is reinforced by experience on a minute-by-minute

basis. Secondly, you are fighting an unlawful combatant in a Sanctuary,

which is a double No-No on his part. Third, tactically you are in no

position to take "prisoners" because there are more rooms to search and

clear, and the behavior of said terrorist indicates that he is up to no

good. No good in Fallujah is a very large place and the low end of no

good and the high end of no good are fundamentally the same ... Marines

end up getting hurt or die. So there is no compelling reason for you to

do anything but double tap this idiot and get on with the mission.

If you are a veteran, then everything I have just written is

self-evident. If you are not a veteran then at least try to put yourself

in the situation. Remember, in Fallujah there is no yesterday, there is

no tomorrow, there is only now. Right NOW. Have you ever lived in NOW

for a week? It is really, really not easy. If you have never lived in

NOW for longer than it takes to finish the big roller coaster at Six

Flags, then shut your hole about putting Marines in jail for "War

Crimes"."