Toll on U.S. Marines in Iraq: 'dead checking'
Noble rationales can't mask brutalizing effects of situation
Sunday, September 16, 2007
To quote the philosopher Pascal, man is neither angel nor brute; the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute. Nowhere is this more readily apparent than in Iraq, where U.S. soldiers were sent on the noble mission of ridding the nation of destructive weapons, ousting a tyrant, liberating a people and building a democratic model for the whole Middle East. War, however, has a way of brutalizing victim and victimizer. No matter how well-trained and well-intentioned U.S. troops are, in the combat zone they are capable of the same atrocities that have befallen all soldiers in all wars at all times. Accordingly, in the trial of U.S. Marines charged with shooting a 52-year-old Iraqi man to death in 2006, Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo said that he considered the slaying "not as an execution" but "killing the enemy." Although Lopezromo was not part of the group accused, he went on to announce that Marines "were told to crank up the violence" and that they considered all Iraqi men the enemy. Not a bright prospect in a nation where the United States is trying to build a democracy. Lopezromo's most frightening statement, however, concerned "dead checking." Apparently, after Marines entered a house, they would check to make sure the Iraqis inside were dead. If they weren't, the Marines would shoot the wounded rather than seek medical aid. The corporal summed up the practice by noting, "If somebody is worth shooting once, they are worth shooting twice." link to entire article
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