I saw the story about the wounded, unarmed Iraqi being killed by a Marine right after I finished reading about an Associated Press photographer escaping from Fallujah as U.S. troops moved in.
The latter story stays with me more but hasn't gotten the same attention ... maybe because the Marine is on film. We have a "criminal." No doubt, he was pretty stressed from being shot, his own self, the day before, etc. Which doesn't excuse anything.
But pull back the spotlight, please.
The AP photographer's story says he watched U.S. helicopters and snipers gunning down anyone ... anyone ... trying to swim across the Euphrates to safety. Men, women and children. Including, specifically, a family of five.
Probably no one ordered the Marine to shoot and kill a wounded, unarmed "insurgent" in a mosque.
But, sure as hell, someone ordered those helicopters into the air, and told the men in them to make sure no one crossed the river ...