Marines Investigate Shooting of Wounded Iraqi

Nov. 15, 2004 -- -- The U.S. Marine Corps is investigating the killing of a wounded Iraqi insurgent by a Marine at a mosque during the U.S.-led assault on Fallujah, Iraq. The incident was recorded on videotape by an embedded reporter covering the operation for a pool of American and British news organizations.

The Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment came under fire from the mosque on Friday. A tank returned fire on the mosque, and a squad of Marines entered the building on foot. Ten insurgents were killed, five were wounded, and weapons and rocket-propelled grenades were found inside, the Marines said.

The embedded reporter said the Marines moved to another location, leaving the lightly wounded insurgents behind.

Lt. Col. Bob Miller of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force defended the action.

"The Marines are engaged in combat operations. It's not prudent for the commander to pull out his Marines from contact to render aid such as evacuating enemy wounded," he said. "They're involved in contact with the enemy. They first have to achieve the objectives there."

The next day, however, after hearing that the mosque had been reoccupied by insurgents, a different group of Marines, also from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, entered the building. The same reporter heard gunfire inside the mosque, entered the building, and continued videotaping.

He said he saw the same five wounded insurgents he had seen Friday in the mosque, but four of them appeared to have been shot again by the squad that had just entered the mosque. One appeared to be dead.

Then one of the Marines present said: "He's f---ing faking he's dead! He's faking he's f---ing dead!"

The Marine is then seen on tape shooting one of the wounded men against the wall at close range.

When the reporter informed the Marine that the Iraqis were the same men who had been wounded in Friday's clash and left behind, the Marine said on tape, "I didn't know, sir. I didn't know."