Once again (or perhaps "still" would be more accurate), the so-called "mainstream" media is trying to turn public opinion against the US military and the liberation of Iraq. In October 2003, the media tried to use the case of Lt. Colonel West to undermine support for the war in America. The Colonel scared a captured terrorist into giving up information about an ambush that saved the lives of his men. He caused the prisoner no harm, but put his twenty-year career on the line by firing a gun to intimidate the man. In May 2004, CBS and the rest of the Liberal media blew the events at Abu Ghraib prison out of all proportion in order to discredit the Bush administration. Ignoring the facts -- that the military had halted the abuses as soon as they were reported, and was already investigating the soldiers who went beyond their orders and abused prisoners -- CBS (of later forged document infamy) led the charge to smear the President and anyone else they could reach. Though the media enabled our enemies to claim a major propaganda victory in both cases, most Americans were able to look beyond the Liberal mudslinging for the truth before making their own judgments. However, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, "there they go again!" As they've done before, the American media is rushing to hand our enemies a propaganda coup they could never hope to attain for themselves.

The latest story in the media spin cycle is the case of a Marine who shot a wounded enemy in Fallujah. According to a videotape and news story by an NBC reporter, the incident took place in a mosque that had been used as a firing position by the enemy. A different group of Marines had killed and wounded the insurgents occupying the mosque the day before. They didn't secure the location at that time, since they were involved in a firefight. Marines of the 3rd battalion, 1st regiment, receiving a report that the enemy had re-occupied the mosque, entered the building. One man among the dead and wounded in the mosque was apparently feigning unconsciousness, and one of the Marines shot him.  The fact that the Marine first warned his fellows by saying, "He's faking he's dead!" twice before firing shows that he considered the man to be a danger.

Liberals are quick to pronounce judgment before all the facts are known, falsely labeling the men in the mosque "prisoners," and calling the incident an "atrocity" and an "execution." They won't even wait for the investigation that is already underway to conclude. They accuse the United States of violating the Geneva Convention, although the insurgents were not prisoners and the Geneva Convention does not apply to terrorists. According to the 1949 Geneva Convention IV, article 4, part 2, prisoners eligible for protection must have been commanded by a responsible person, worn a distinctive badge or uniform, carried their weapons openly, and fought by the rules of the Geneva conventions themselves. Terrorists must choose e) none of the above. When the reporter informed the Marine that the wounded and dead terrorists were the same men who had been shot the day before and left behind, the Marine said, "I didn't know, sir. I didn't know." The Left doesn't ask whether the wounded man might have made a sudden motion, or looked as though he might be concealing a weapon or explosive. They refuse to take into account how many terrorists have feigned unconsciousness or surrender in order to lure soldiers close enough to kill. The day before, a booby-trapped dead body had killed another Marine from the very same unit, and the Marine who shot the wounded terrorist in the mosque had himself been shot in the face.

If any members of the US military (especially those in Iraq or Afghanistan) were reading this, I'd say: don't take chances. Your lives are far more important than those of the terrorists you're fighting. If an enemy gives you even the slightest cause for doubt, then shoot first and ask questions later. You are on the scene; I am not. You have been trained under the harshest conditions to recognise and respond to danger as if by instinct; I have not. You only have a split-second in which to react to a possible threat to your life and the lives of your fellow soldiers while under combat conditions; I have all the time in the world, safe at home while you protect me. Without serious cause to doubt it, I trust your judgment. If this man appeared to be a threat in any way whatsoever, then action was justified. We won't win any battles by giving the enemy extra chances to kill our troops. We won't win any wars by letting them send you home, sleeping under a flag.

Monday-morning quarterbacking media pundits and hysterical anti-military Liberals want to convict, condemn, draw and quarter any soldier who doesn't play by some bizarre, fantasy world, white-bread version of the rules, guaranteed to kill more Americans than enemies. I guess they've dropped the veneer of "supporting the troops" they adopted while trying to get John Kerry elected... a man who made his bones in the Democratic party by accusing every soldier in Vietnam of committing atrocities "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." Isn't that exactly what the Left is doing to the troops in Iraq today -- accusing them of committing war crimes in order to indict the administration by association?

Come to think of it, didn't Kerry get a Silver Star for shooting a wounded, fleeing enemy in the back, as per his own after-action report... and didn't the Democrats hail him as the greatest war hero since Sergeant York and Audie Murphy only a few short months ago? Things certainly have changed quickly, it seems, now that the election's over.