Sometimes people are too close to something to be able to see things clearly. Other times people are too far away to be able to notice the details. No perspective is perfect, but those who want a clear picture will move forward or step back as needed.

I was talking with two guys at work, both of whom were in the United States Marine Corps. We were talking about this incident in Fallujah where a wounded Iraqi fighter was shot in the head in a Mosque. Some call him a prisoner because the day before, the Mosque was cleared and 5 wounded men were left for a follow up detail of Marines to take care of them. However, it is not fair to call the dead man a prisoner as he had not yet been detained, guarded or processed.
Regardless of that, an apparently unarmed and wounded man was killed in a holy place. And that kind of thing is the last thing we need to happen, let alone become publicized. But my coworkers were more bothered by the publicity rather than the actions.
If the guy was faking being dead then fine, the Marines shouldn't take a chance. And war is an ugly business. But our latest stated goal being there is to bring Freedom and Democracy to Iraq. Shooting unarmed and wounded men is not the best way to achieve that. And war being ugly and violent, should still be fought according to a certain set of rules, a code of honor if you will. If not for the sake of those we fight, than at least for the sake of those who fight for us.
Abusing prisoners, shooting the unarmed or the wounded, or detaining people indefinitely with no legal recourse are all anathema to our stated cause and to the principles that this country was founded upon.
This is the shit that tore the American people apart during Vietnam. We want and need to be the good guys. It is part of our national self-image. Part of that is also the ass-kicking cowboy. But the cowboy in the white hat. That's where Bush lost almost half of this country. The actions we take around the world are viewed around the world, and believe it or not, the world wants us to be the cowboy in the white hat.
And whatever the circumstances of this incident, as much as it may at first add more dirt to that white hat, our willingness to expose that, our willingness to investigate such incidents is something that we are also fighting for. In most of those movies, it was the small town newspaper printer who spoke the truth about the man in the black hat. That printer with the glasses and the visor who championed truth and justice, only to be killed or have his place torched. And that's when the man in the white hat would be spurred into action by the sacrifice of those who speak the truth, no matter the cost.
So let the truth be told and what will happen, will be.