One of the things I was taught when going thru officer training school was making things black and white, peeling that onion back so it wasn't shades of gray anymore, but black and white. Makes the decision-making process a whole lot easier. This issue is pretty simple. Did he or did he not violate the ROEs that were in effect at the time? Forget all this other crap that's been posted, that just makes the issue more shades of gray. It boils down to whether he did or did not positively ID the subject, and positively ascertain said subject's intent, before firing? Period, dot.

Someone copied a statement from SFC Taylor: “Based on the facts available to me at the time, I believed the person dressed in black who exited the vehicle was a threat to me and my men,”. Really, that's it? That's a piss-poor situational assessment, and is a gross failure of the ROEs.

We all know we have the inherent right to self defense, and that can't be bargained away in ROE's or RUF's, etc. But that doesn't apply in this case.