I'M WE'RE JUST SAYIN': Smokin'!

Man, this war just keeps getting better and better. Apparently our Marlboro Men have gone from "Kicking Butt":

Marlboro Marine

to "Killing Prisoners":

mosque

(NBC’s Kevin) Sites saw the five wounded men left behind on Friday still in the mosque. Four of them had been shot again, apparently by members of the squad that entered the mosque moments earlier. One appeared to be dead, and the three others were severely wounded. The fifth man was lying under a blanket, apparently not having been shot a second time.

One of the Marines noticed that one of the severely wounded men was still breathing. He did not appear to be armed, Sites said.

The Marine could be heard insisting: “He’s f---ing faking he’s dead — he’s faking he’s f---ing dead.” Sites then watched as the Marine raised his rifle and fired into the man’s head from point-blank range.

“Well, he’s dead now,” another Marine said.

Lovely. As usual, James Wolcott nails it:

Watching the unquestioning, propagandistic, bombastic, indifferent-to-civilian coverage of the destruction of Fallujah on the TV news--an operation burying the Geneva Conventions under tons of rubble--makes me wonder why we just go rename the United States "Israel West" and be done with it? We've adapted all of the Israeli tactics used against the Palestinians and incarnated them in the newly-made mythic image of the Marine Marlboro Man.

According to Fox News, the "Marlboro Man" soldier whose photograph was plastered on the front page of the New York Post and dozens of other rags has become a sexual icon. One female fan emailed, actual quote, "His gaze is warm but deadly."

Yes, that sounds like the perfect soldier in the era of compassionate slaughter, warm but deadly.

Interesting historical note: The actor who portrayed the Marlboro Man in those ads died of lung cancer.

Eschaton also weighs in:

War Crimes Are Not an American Value

Of course, Kerry was telling the truth about the atrocities in Viet Nam. Every war has atrocities. Now, there's a new one in Iraq. But it's too icky to show on tv. Too bad. This war will end when Americans get to see every night at dinner what their sons and daughters are becoming.

("Editor's" Note: Please don't peg me as a traitor who hates our troops. If that's what you read into this and previous anti-war posts of mine, well, then, you're an a-hole)
wounded