How Was Your Day At Work?…

You know, my day at work sucked today.
Well, let me amend that: I’ve had a lot of sucky days at work lately, and I’ve not been too quiet about my discontent either. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a lot of good days, but lately work has just been getting to me. It happens to all of us. We get annoyed and we have a horrible day. In fact, it’s safe to say that we take it for granted.
I work in technology, so it’s not like I have a high-stress job. I don’t fight fires and I don’t save lives. I don’t make decisions that affect the populations of countries and I don’t ever see myself in harm’s way. I have it easy. I have a nice home, a decent career, a wonderful family and really a great life.
Why am I hesitant to complain anymore? Easy. I’m not in Fallujah.
Now, I don’t say this I’m glad someone else is there instead of me. That’s not it. I say this because what I go through on a daily basis pales in comparison to what our incredibly brave and courageous men and women do in service to the United States in their deployment.
Take the case of the United States Marine who is now under investigation for having shot and killed a wounded Iraqi in Fallujah on Saturday. A reporter from NBC News embedded with the USMC 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, Kevin Sites, captured the moment on tape inside the mosque and it has since lead to a storm of controversy.
An un-named Marine shot a wounded Iraqi insurgent at point-blank range in Fallujah. According to a report from Reuters Television, the Marine is heard on the video tape saying, “He’s f***ing faking he’s dead,” after noticing the Iraqi was still breathing. After raising his weapon and firing at the Iraqi’s head, the Marine stated, “He’s dead now.”
At issue is whether the Iraqi was a prisoner, and whether the Marine violated rules of engagement and used illegal force. Human rights organizations are calling the shooting a war crime. Muslims are outraged that the shooting took place in a mosque. The marine has been withdrawn from his unit as the investigation continues.
This Marine’s primary job is to enter a hot zone and engage in combat against the enemy. All of his days at work are tough, unlike ours. “I can see why he would do it. He was probably running around being shot at for days on end in Fallujah. There should be an investigation but they should look into the circumstances,” said L/Cpl Christopher Hanson. “I would have shot the insurgent too. Two shots to the head,” said Sgt Nicholas Graham, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “You can’t trust these people. He did nothing wrong.”
The last few days were tough. In fact, the day before this shooting in the Fallujah mosque, this very same un-named Marine was shot in the face. Read that again: the Marine involved in this shooting was shot in the face. He was wounded in the face and after another Marine from his unit was killed by the booby-trapped body of an insurgent.
Now, I’m clearly no expert and I’ve never been a Marine (much to the chagrin and dismay of my father, by the way). However, I’m thinking that if you encounter a booby-trapped body in Fallujah and watch a buddy die while getting shot in the face, you’re likely to be a little more careful the next time you encounter another body.
That sounds pretty reasonable, even to me.
Instead all of the networks and the “human rights advocates” are armchair quarterbacking this shooting like they know what they were talking about–and they have absolutely no comprehension.
You know, this Marine could have seen something…anything…that made him believe that the Iraqi had a weapon or device that could kill everyone in that room, Iraqi and American alike. A gun…an IED…a bomb strapped to his chest…who knows? We don’t know. I believe at that moment, it’s a life or death decision–and the Marine chose to fire, protecting everyone in that room and in the rest of the Mosque from what could have been a mortal danger based on his own experiences.
There is nothing so far that should lead us to believe that the insurgents in Fallujah are going to play by the rules. Their goal is to take out as many of us as they can, even if they have to strap a bomb to themselves to do it.
Since this war began in Iraq, I have been against having reporters embedded with combat units. I have firmly believed that reporters belong on the sidelines–like maybe in Qatar. I believe that even more now. To his credit, NBC’s Kevin Sites has gone on record saying, “I have witnessed the Marines behaving as a disciplined and professional force throughout this offensive. In this particular case, it certainly was a confusing situation to say the least.” That didn’t stop him from giving the tape to NBC, though, did it?
Our troops are on the front lines in Fallujah for a reason and the work they do is not pretty, safe or diplomatic and it often involves the taking of lives. Our troops know there are rules and regulations with regard to the prosecution of warfare. Our troops are the best in the world at what they do and they do it best when we’re not over-analyzing their actions and trying to do them how to do their job or what’s a danger to them.
If this were a cop in New York City who had fired his weapon at a wounded gang suspect that he thought was armed then we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Instead, it’s Iraq and the news outlets can’t wait to jump on it so they can exploit it as the next Abu Ghraib.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to get up, drink my coffee, go to work and enjoy my day. I’ll do it because I can. I’ll do it because I have some perspective. I’ll do it because there are men and women doing work I cannot fathom–fighting enemies foreign and domestic.
I’m going to have a good day tomorrow, and I hope you do, too.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com