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| Iraq-Jordan |
| What happened in the Fallujah mosque - by Kevin Sites |
| 2004-11-22 |
| Since the shooting in the mosque, I've been haunted that I have not been able to tell you directly what I saw or explain the process by which the world came to see it as well. As you know, I'm not some war-zone tourist with a camera who doesn't understand that ugly things happen in combat. I've spent most of the last five years covering global conflict. But I have never in my career been a "gotcha" reporter -- hoping for people to commit wrongdoings so I can catch them at it. This week I've even been shocked to see myself painted as some kind of anti-war activist. Anyone who has seen my reporting on television or has read my dispatches is fully aware of the lengths I've gone to play it straight down the middle -- not to become a tool of propaganda for the left or the right. But I find myself a lightning rod for controversy in reporting what I saw occur in front of me, camera rolling. It's time you have the facts from me, in my own words, about what I saw -- without imposing on that Marine -- guilt or innocence or anything in between. I want you to read my account and make up your own minds about whether you think what I did was right or wrong. All the other armchair analysts don't mean a damn to me. Here it goes. Nov. 13, 2004 It's Saturday morning and we're still at our strong point from the night before, a clearing between a set of buildings on the southern edge of the city. The advance has been swift, but pockets of resistance still exist. In fact, we're taking sniper fire from both the front and the rear. Weapons Company uses its 81's (mortars) where they spot muzzle flashes. The tanks do some blasting of their own. By mid-morning, we're told we're moving north again. We'll be back clearing some of the area we passed yesterday. There are also reports that the mosque, where 10 insurgents were killed and five wounded on Friday, may have been re-occupied overnight. I decide to leave you guys and pick up with one of the infantry squads as they move house-to-house back toward the mosque. (For their own privacy and protection I will not name or identify in any way, any of those I was traveling with during this incident.) Many of the structures are empty of people -- but full of weapons. Outside one residence, a member of the squad lobs a frag grenade over the wall. Everyone piles in, including me. While the Marines go into the house, I follow the flames caused by the grenade into the courtyard. When the smoke clears, I can see through my viewfinder that the fire is burning beside a large pile of anti-aircraft rounds. I yell to the lieutenant that we need to move. Almost immediately after clearing out of the house, small explosions begin as the rounds cook off in the fire. At that point, we hear the tanks firing their 240-machine guns into the mosque. There's radio chatter that insurgents inside could be shooting back. The tanks cease fire and we file through a breach in the outer wall. Read the rest at the link. Interesting if all true. Either way in my gut I still think F*ck You Kevin Sites, F*ck You very much. |
| Posted by:Jarhead |
| #7 Matt, Update: 173243 Signatures Total |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2004-11-22 10:56:56 PM |
| #6 I am waiting for his blog to start accepting comments once again. The boy and his site got shut down because of the overwhelming backlash. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2004-11-22 10:53:40 PM |
| #5 Pismo Beach - not likely |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-22 10:17:23 PM |
| #4 When this son of a bitch returns to the U.S., I'd like to see the citizens of where he lives run his ass out of town. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-11-22 10:10:19 PM |
| #3 he's either unscrupulous or else very naive. Should have known this was heaven-sent for Al-Jizz and the anti-US euromedia |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-22 9:58:31 PM |
| #2 The petition is now up to 169,844 signatures. http://www.petitiononline.com/ |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-11-22 9:02:27 PM |
| #1 Sites is a scumbag, he knew exactly what he was doing when he released that tape to the pool. There is a saving grace here however, this didn't happen prior to the election so its not being beaten to death by the MSM, and being made out to be the worst thing to happen in the history of warfare since Mai Lai. That may be just enough to get that Marine quietly back to his unit. From now on I would recommend the last security round fired during any action be into the embeds' camera. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-11-22 7:46:41 PM |