BTW..REFERENCE those graphic photos of the killed eight year old WHICH clearly indicate a targeted head shot....
IMHO and one who has fired shots in anger in a war where civilians were constantly in the line of fire....they can in fact walk at anytime unannounced and unexpected into a fire fight.....but then the civilian usually has a number of wounds then...and actually they very rarely hit the head.....
A single shot to the head is a hallmark of SOF especially highly trained units such as ST6....
IF this is in fact true and under the existing ROE for both Iraq and AFG...THIS IS A WAR CRIME.....
UNLESS the ROE was changed...AND IF SO BY WHOM....??? If the US President and then seconded by the SecDef ...THEN MATTIS had a serious problem on his hands.....as does the current President....
As the targeted killing of civilians is a direct violation of the GC...Rule of Land Warfare.....AND ESPECIALLY since the SVN massacre at My Lai..by US troops.......WHICH ST6 apparently has forgotten their way the way after over 14 years of continuous war........
EXAMPLES of my personal combat experience as a SF soldier in VN..and who is highly decorated and wounded a number of times in that combat....as a lowly SGT.....
1. I had a complete Regular NVA company walk into my ambush and I could have completely wiped them out but in the beginning of their movement formation were approximately 30 civilians being largely forced to carry logistics supplies....we recognized them from a nearby village....withheld fire and allowed the NVA unit to move through...and never did we regret not firing....
2. In another ambush I triggered the ambush on two 13-14 year old boys in school uniforms...WHY both were carrying one each.45 in their pants and the older of the two a M1 carbine.
Under the GC both were considered enemy combatants...meaning carrying openly a weapon...having a uniform ...common school uniform but worn deep in the bamboo jungle not in a city/town or village and carrying valid VC IDs identifying them as scouts/couriers...
Did my hear ache for it...yes but the ROE and the GC were strictly held to....in both cases.....one case it saved lives in the other it cost lives....
War is never an equal opportunity event....BUT a common solider is required as much as he or she can do..to minimize the lost of civilian life....in order to in the end save one's own morals.....and then live with the results for the rest of your as no one else can help you in the end....
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