Thanksgiving was a nice break from the routine, and I found much for which to be thankful. My heart went out to our Marines, soldiers, airmen, sailors, and all the others who had to spend this day away from home and family. All day long, my thoughts and prayers kept going back to those very special people.

Today I went back to Timmer’s post of 11/22, concerning the Constitution and the very difficult situation regarding the Marine who was taped by Kevin Sites last Saturday shooting the insurgent in Fallujah. As of this post, there were 44 comments on that thread, and it proved to be a really interesting subject with a broad variety of opinions.

Time has moved on and this is no longer the breaking front page story, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of the subject. Al Jazeera, of course, has jumped on the story, as has the anti-American UN. The ICRC is also wringing their hands over the possibility of civilian casualties, again accusing the US of war crimes while ignoring the enemy who saws heads off innocent civilians. Something here smells worse than a dead fish under the hood, just a little off kilter! Our fighting forces are in harm’s way in order to free civilians from the brutal regime that had taken root in Fallujah, and from all appearances, they have leaned over backwards to keep civilian casualties at a minimum. Yet, our guys are expected to be the “gentlemen” of this war, not just in Fallujah, but in all of this war. I refer you to the comments by LTCOL Willy Buhl, referenced in Kevin Sites’ letter to the Devil Dogs.

So, where do we go from here in this debate? Is it really about the Constitution and the First Amendment, or is it about OPSEC, or the need to get the enemy before he gets you, or just what? Go back and read Timmer’s post, and read all those comments, and let me know:

What do YOU think?