Mike,
I agree that the incident at the taxi is the most questionable, and it is difficult to place the men there as threats. The closest I have heard is that they could have been running to trigger another IED. Again it is the state of mind of the shooter that matters not the actual threat. Plus the men were said to have run well after the explosion and while being addressed by an armed US Marine.
“And the facts clearly bear out, as presented here, that they were wrong, the families were not insurgents. The five men were probably not insurgents so far as we’ve been told.”
I disagree that we know any of these folks, other than the young children, were not insurgents. Brass from AK-47s was found in the first house they assaulted later that afternoon, when SSgt Laughner examined the scene. So somebody was firing from that building.
I have said that I am only trying to see if there was a crime, or even more would they be convicted if tried. I think no in both cases. I also think that they operated at the very edge of the ROE and they could and probably should have pulled back and re-evaluated the situation.
Cordially,
Uncle J
