Officials Say Marine Death in Iraq Was Accidental (Shot in the Head)

[leftchick]

http://beta.abc3340.com/news/stories/1205/288308.html

Montgomery (AP) - Military officials say a Cullman County marine who was killed in his barracks in Iraq last week was accidentally shot to death.

Corporal Adam Fales was killed in his barracks in Fallujah on December 16th. The Department of Defense (website) initially said Fales was killed by a "non-hostile" gunshot, a shot his family said was fired to his head while he slept.

A spokeswoman for the Marine Corps base in Cherry Point, North Carolina, said yesterday -- quote -- "initial indications are that it was an accidental death."

She declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation into Fales' death.

[wicket]

1. And I'm Santa Claus.

[0007]

2. Pile em higher!

Grass Bush

Pile the bodies high in Austerlitz and Waterloo Iraq
Shovel them under and let me work--
I am the grass; bush; I cover all.

And pile them high in Gettyburg Baghdad
And pile them high in Ypres and Vedum Mossoul and Al Fallaujah

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?

I am the grass bush.
Let me work.

Carl Sandburg

[LisaL]

3. Guns don't kill people, accidents kill people?

Who are they trying to fool?
WTF can you get shot in the head accidentally, and while sleeping?

[UpInArms]

4. Someone "accidentally" put a gun to the back

of this man's head and "accidentally" pulled the trigger, thus "accidentally" killing him in a "non-hostile" manner.

Ummmm.... right....

I think that I'll have to "accidentally" not believe a word of this shit.

:banghead:

[hack89]

6. Soldiers get casual with weapons..

forget its loaded and accidentally shoot someone. Look at the number of accidental shootings in America - doesn't it make sense that they would happen in a environment where thousands of people are carrying weapons 24 hours a day?

[goddess40]

8. that just changes it from murder to manslaughter

it doesn't just make it go away.

[hack89]

9. Who said it made it go away or made it right?

I was just pointing out that weapon accidents are very common in a war zone and one should not automatically assume it was deliberate.

[goddess40]

12. Sorry, I was talking about the right wingers

I didn't mean to imply that you didn't understand.

[Arianrhod]

13. Isn't that redundant? n/t

[hack89]

15. I'm not sure I understand what you mean. nt

[Arianrhod]

21. LOL Sorry, just a little joke.

You talked about the US, and then about "places where everyone has guns 24 hours a day." Seems to me that's the same place.

:)

[MADem]

16. That was my thought, initially

We will not know unless they release the circumstances. How far away was the weapon, did someone drop it with safety off, did someone think it was not loaded, what kind of weapon, etc?

It's what happens when you reduce the intelligence requirements for enlistment to CAT IV.

If there is more to this, I hope his family pipes up.

[thefool_wa]

17. Except

I'm fairly certain the marines don't sleep in the barracks with their guns in their bed. They have gun lockers to prevent EXACTLY this type of thing.

I wonder what he said that got him killed.

[cliss]

11. Same here, UIA.

This was not an accident. So the question is, was it a fragging? Or was this troop hostile about US involvement in Iraq?

[sabra]

5. more: Family: Alabama Marine awake when accidentally shot in Iraq

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/13475056.htm

Family: Alabama Marine awake when accidentally shot in Iraq

Associated Press
CULLMAN, Ala. - A north Alabama Marine was at his laptop listening to music in his barracks when he was accidentally shot to death by a member of his unit in Iraq, his family said.

Military officials have confirmed that Cpl. Adam Fales, 22, of Cullman, was accidentally shot to death in his barracks in Fallujah on Dec. 16, but have not released details.

Fales' brother, Jacob Fales, said the family learned from the military that he was listening to country music with three of his fellow Marines before two of them got up to leave.

"They picked up their guns. One of them accidentally pulled the trigger. The gun was pointed at Adam," Jacob Fales, who is also a Marine corporal, told The Cullman Times in a story Friday.

[pocket]

7. maybe he was gay, or voted for Kerry

dissent doesn't go over well with those people

[IndianaGreen]

19. Gay GIs have been murdered in the past

There is a thread about one such incident in the LGBT forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x23359

[pocket]

20. I know, lots of them

probably a lot more than we ever get to hear about

[uppityperson]

10. He was only 22. nt

[saigon68]

14. DEATH IN IRAQ-NAM

DEATH IN IRAQ-NAM

IRAQ-NAM, is a ruthless, vicious place that asks No Quarter and Gives None.

Death here rides a Pale Horse.

Death claims in no particular order, the Innocent, the Guilty, the Unlucky and the Careless.


Corporal Adam Fales WAS VERY, VERY UNLUCKY-----

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

18. You mean to tell me you've all never accidentally shot someone

in the back of the head? Happens to me all the time. You never know when someone might be sleeping when you shoot up the house and they're in your bullet's path. Stupid bullet.