“An Old Marines Opinion”
A few weeks back, Chris Matthews, an un-recovered left-wing Liberal TV commentator, had the temerity to pass judgment on the conduct of a young Marine hero, with a scathing indictment of that warriors action in combat. Combat is the operative word here. Chris Matthews has no real time experience with the Armed Forces of the United States, nor has he ever considered hosting a story about our troops, which might have given him some insight into their lives and the danger they face every day, even when supposedly safely ensconced in an American base. He would be the first to decry the amount of lives lost in the war to liberate Iraq, when our troops face injury and death every day, simply in maneuvers.
But this young Marine was not within the United States, practicing to defend the freedom and rights, that pompous media pant-loads, take for granted, while whining about the supposed evil spirit of our nation, especially when being run by Republicans. They are proud that they are referred to as Elitists, rather than being embarrassed by that dubious distinction. Matthews, Rather, Jennings and their ilk, truly believe that their audience cannot understand the political, economic or legislative actions taken on an every day basis. These machinations are beyond our mental powers. Jennings, who was probably trying to sound modest, stated recently that he felt privileged to have his position, where he can explain the news to the American people, each day. What a jackass! However, his statement only shows the media for what they are, it is something that could be a pernicious and costly accusation against an American hero. Rather than being investigated, he should be given, at the least, the Purple Heart he deserves, for being shot in the face, the day prior to the incident that Mr. Matthews sees as despicable, rather than self-defense as all our troops are taught. You take no chances with an armed dissident, shoot first and live, is the motto that every one of our soldiers and Marines must hold dear. Matthews made his decision that this young man, fighting in Falujah, in street-to-street warfare of the worst type, deliberately fired upon a helpless and wounded man. The day before this incident, this Marine had been informed that a fellow Marine was killed by a terrorist, who feigned death and then pulled the pin on a grenade, killing that Marine, who was turning the terrorist over to determine what he could do for him. No good deed goes unpunished in combat. Had he simply fired a round into that coward, he would be alive today. Further, as I stated prior, the accused Marine had been shot in the face, the same day the other Marine was killed. With that in mind, when one Marine said, that he believed one of the dead terrorists was breathing, this combat veteran fired into the deceiver, making sure that he would not pull the pin on a grenade and possibly maim or kill all of the patrol.
There is something else that Matthews, an elite reporter should understand, it is that, these cowardly terrorists, are un-uniformed insurgents, who do not represent the military forces of any nation. They are simply either anti-Iraq personnel, or terrorists from Iran and Syria, who are promoting murder of the innocent populace of Iraq, who embrace liberty and freedom from the deathly tyranny of a family of murderers, who even killed their own kin and gassed entire villages of innocents, simply because they were self sufficient Kurds. Since the insurgents are irregulars they are not covered by the Geneva Convention and could, if we wished, be killed on sight, whether they formed a threat or not. We could actually, capture them, line them up against a wall and shoot them, with or without blindfolds. They are operating totally outside of the law and therefore are acting under severe prejudice and without rights.
Matthews made his decision based upon the same piece of tape that I saw, wherein the Marine patrol suspects that one of the supposed dead or wounded was breathing and a Marine fires on the suspect insurgent, ending the possible threat. I have, during my tour as a former Officer with the United States Marine Corps pulled the pin on and thrown many a grenade. Unlike the movies, once you release the grenade, the spoon flies off, igniting the grenade and three to five seconds later, shrapnel rips through the bodies of those in the area near the explosion. If that desperate terrorist had thrown a grenade, it is possible that every one of those Marines would be dead.
I believe that the Corps Headquarters personnel has had enough time to view the tape and discuss the background of the type of fighting that these Marines were enduring, especially the Marine “under investigation,” and therefore, they should declare him as innocent of any charge and, instead, decorate him for his quick assessment of a critical situation and taking decisive action, to protect the patrol from a terrorist. Wake up Headquarters, we are the “First to Fight” and we should not fear the press or TV detritus, but stand behind our young and heroic Marines. The press has always attacked the Marine Corps, over our 229 years of existence, complaining that we were an unnecessary expenditure, or that we treated our troops with an uncommon disregard and savage training. We taught our Marines how to fight and win, under extreme stress and many of them gave their lives, so that the battle streamers on the Corps flag would bespeak our faithful duty to our country. Were I to come on a terrorist in the United States and I was armed, I would kill him, if unarmed, I would kill him with my “empty hands.” That is what a terrorist deserves. Show the Chris Matthews, Dan Rathers and Peter Jennings of the media, that the Corps still has enough guts to stand up to them and then cease the program of embedded journalists with combat units, for they are not your friends. Surveys show that they are anti-American in their opinions and most despise the military. This is made obvious by the anti-war, anti-Iraq freedom stories that the left wing media espouses. You don’t see any of the reclamation projects that the troops are involved in, or the kindness of our troops to the families and children of Iraq. They are left wing Liberals, dump them back where they should be and leave our troops to do what they were trained to do, without endangering themselves baby sitting these America haters. God Bless and watch over our troops, who are in harm’s way.
Semper Fidelis,
Ed McGrath
A Former Marine