It's All About Perspective

A US Marine fighting in Fallujah has killed another insurgent who was pretending to be dead. You probably haven’t heard about this episode, however, because this insurgent turned out to be armed and opened fire on the Marines. You can read a brief snippet about the incident on this Australian ABC News Online site. Does it seem odd to anyone else that you can’t seem to find this story anywhere else? Oh, for instance, like CBS, NBC, ABC… The first was a major story, yet this gets no attention at all. Seems odd to me.

Now, about the incident in the mosque a week ago… In case you haven’t seen it, the journalist who shot the video has posted a detailed accounting of the event on his blog. He’s careful not to pass judgment on the Marine, but he does paint a decidedly odd scene. Be sure to read it. By the way, did you know that this Marine had been injured earlier in the day by shrapnel from a grenade? Or had you heard that another Marine had been killed a few days earlier by a booby-trapped body of another insurgent playing dead? This incident, as described by the man filming it, certainly leads you to question either the motives or the thought processes of the Marine, but I think we must take into account his perspective. And his perspective, I shouldn’t need to remind you, is vastly different than yours or mine.

But that’s just my perspective.