According to court-martial testimony, that belief is held by some Marines in Iraq.
Apparently that’s what some Marines believe.
Need I remark on how horrible this is if it’s true?
The same witness, CPL Saul Lopezromo —testifying for the defense in a court-martial of a Marine accused of shooting a captive to death and planting a weapon on him — also swore that
a procedure called “dead-checking” was routine. If Marines entered a house where a man was wounded, instead of checking to see whether he needed medical aid, they shot him to make sure he was dead.
CPL. Lopezromo, previously accused of beating up another Iraqi (charges were dismissed) summed things up with Dirty Harry cold-bloodedness:
If somebody is worth shooting once, they’re worth shooting twice.
According to CPL. Lopezromo, the man the accused killed wasn’t the jihadist he and his friends were out hunting; when they couldn’t find their target, they grabbed someone else and killed him instead.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman