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Editorial,
continued.
Since recessions are based on a
fear of a poor economy, the easing of bad news should help the economy.
Although there has been some bad news regarding the airline industry, the
economy is picking up at a rapid pace.
This edition of The Tracy Business Journal contains an article
about my own consulting firm that has grown into a corporation. We are
proud of our new stature in the corporate world and enjoy talking about
how we have evolved over the last two years.
Tracy has another new consultant. Stephany Smith Gonser has started
a unique consulting service that organizes her clients for success.
Stephany reports that many people waste a lot of time searching for things
that have been misplaced, or are unable to focus on their work because of
clutter lying around the office or home.
We have an interesting opinion article written by a person who
became disillusioned by the recent political campaign. Politics seems to
have become more vicious during the last few years and this article is
intended to inspire people not to accept this kind of dirty campaigning in
the future. We hope to receive a lot of letters on this one.
We close this edition of the Tracy Business Journal with another
excellent article from Kevin Richter of the Toastmasters organization with
advice on how to think on your feet. This is an important skill that is
honed through the Toastmaster’s experience and it can help you to be a
better speaker in formal presentations, interviews, or while conversing at
a social gathering.
Editorial Opinion.
We should be very concerned about the rush to judgment in the media about
the Marine who shot a man in a mosque in Fallujah, Iraq. Some early news
media accounts of the shooting suggested that he entered the mosque,
observed a person pretending to be dead, and willingly shot the
individual. Some reports suggested the Marine shot the person as some form
of entertainment.
We cannot claim to support our troops who are fighting for our
rights while being critical of what they are doing. People who do this
frustrate me and need to take a position instead of trying to eat their
cake and have it too. We cannot have it both ways. I choose to support
them.
The news footage of the Marines entering the mosque was
interesting, but it became riveting as the Marine announced that he had a
person who was playing dead. He yelled it twice before a shot rang out and
the Marine announced that the subject was now dead. The quick and easy
interpretation of the event was that the Marine shot an innocent person
for not being dead. That would be an incorrect interpretation.
It is irresponsible to make this kind of
rush to judgment in the case of this Marine. Let us examine the events
that lead to the shooting so that we may have a better understanding of
the situation. The Marines were engaged in the clearing of buildings after
an extensive urban fight. In previous work as a law enforcement officer, I
did this kind of work and it quickly wears on the nerves. Every step may
bring a shot from a hiding suspect and there will be no warning. You turn
a corner or miss something and you or others are dead.
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Let’s look at
the most likely scenario of what happened in Fallujah. Our Marines had
been engaged with a terrorist enemy for about a month in furious urban
fighting. The Marine in question had been trained on the booby traps being
discovered on a daily basis as the Marines went through the buildings to
clear them of hostile enemy. He was trained to be watchful for hostile
suicide bombers posing as dead bodies to draw the Marines closer so they
could be killed as the terrorist detonates the bomb he is carrying. The
objective of the suicide bomber is to use any possible trick to draw the
Marines as close as possible and then kill as many as possible using an
explosive device. Since the suicide bomber will also be killed when the
bomb explodes, there is no need for him to attempt to find cover, which
might tip off the Marines that of the trap.
The Marine had received a gunshot wound to the face only the day
before the incident in question. This kind of event would reinforce the
training and sensitize the Marine to the dangers involved in clearing
buildings. Combine the training with the reinforcement of that training
and anyone would have been in a heightened state of alertness.
Something to consider is that the battle took place in a Mosque. A
Mosque is the Islamic equivalent of a Church and should only be used for
religious worship. This Mosque, like most of the Mosques in Fallujah, had
been turned into a terrorist military fortress.
The videotape shows the Marines entering the Mosque in Fallujah
using standard clearing tactics. They were looking for anything that might
be a trap or be hostile toward them. There were several bodies scattered
through the Mosque with some injured and others may have been dead. The
Marine worked his way through the Mosque and evaluated all bodies for the
possibility of being a threat, but only focused on one man who appeared to
be dead, but did not appear to be injured. He took no action towards the
others who were not perceived to be a threat.
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San Joaquin Human
Resources Association
"Wage
and Hour Issues, Understanding FLSA"
Wednesday
December 15, 2004
Le Bistro Restaurant, Stockton, CA
11:30am - 1:30pm
Click here for more information
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The Marine properly
announced the situation to the rest of his squad and responded according
to his training. The Marine shot and killed a man who he felt was feigning
death who appeared to be hostile and whose actions were consistent with
those of a suicide bomber. The man on the floor behaved as a suicide
bomber and was appropriately treated as a suicide bomber. The fact that he
was not a suicide bomber is not relevant and simply changes the label to
that collateral damage. Unfortunately, a reporter sought prominence by
showing it to the world, caught it on tape.
The illusion in this situation is that the man who was killed was
an innocent bystander and that the Marine acted in violation of the
provisions of the Geneva Convention that regulate the handling and
treatment of enemy prisoners. Let’s examine that belief.
Fallujah had been the site of a prolonged battle between U.S.
Military forces and the terrorists who have held the city for months. The
terrorists had used the Mosque as a military fortress to hide weapons and
for cover while engaging our forces in a hostile action. Innocent people
would not have been in the Mosque at that time, which makes the man a
terrorist and potential suicide bomber, especially if he appears to be
faking his own death in a manner consistent with suicide bombers.
The terrorists in Fallujah do not appear to be associated with any
kind of conventional military or conventional warfare covered by the
Geneva Convention. Why are we invoking rules and guidelines that simply do
not apply? The news media seems to be doing this and it is wrong. Let us
not forget that out combat troops and enemy alike can view our news
coverage, which can influence the outcome of a war in the same way that it
did during the Viet Nam conflice.
It is my understanding that a Marine was killed the day after this
incident’s tape began being played on news broadcasts throughout the
world. It is also my understanding that he was killed by a suicide bomber
in a situation similar to the one on the news coverage, but that the
Marine hesitated, the suicide bomber detonated the bomb, and the Marine
died. It has been speculated that the Marine who was killed my have not
shot the suicide bomber because of the ongoing publicity of the previous
shooting. If this is the case, then the distribution of the tape may have
influenced the behavior of or troops and aided in the death of a Marine.
This should not be happening.
We need to be thanking those members of the armed forces who are
living with the hell of serving in a war and not be critical of them.
Keith T. Chiles MBA |
