...because you're not omniscient. I'm not going to link to anyone over this — you know who you are.

We have a videotape, shot by embedded reporter Kevin Sites, which shows a Marine shooting what appears to be a wounded insurgent. But we're left with a lot of questions, and we have to establish context. Also, we have to remember that the videotape is one perspective, which isn't all-inclusive.

On the one hand we have the hand-wringing hate-America-first crowd weeping and wailing and calling this young Marine a murderer. On the other, we have the "our troops can do no wrong" blind defenders of this Marine.

And the most egregious offender I've seen is the one who chastised the other Marines present at this event for not shooting and killing Kevin Sites on the spot. Of all the immoral lunacy I've heard, this one is near the top.

So to both sides I say the same thing: shut up. You don't know what you're talking about. You have limited information, and you can't vouch for the validity or quality of the information you do have. That's the job of Navy investigators and the Marine chain-of-command. They know their jobs, they know how to pursue this issue, they're on the scene, and they'll figure it out. I can guarantee you that this Marine's Commanding Officer isn't going to send him to court martial if it isn't justified (if there is an unjust result of this, it will be in the Marine's favor, which is fine with me. I can (and Americans should) cut a lot of slack to a guy who is out there getting shot at, buddies dying, and being wounded himself. If you haven't been in a situation like that, you can't imagine what it's like.).

Pardon my slip from the usual decorum I try to maintain on this site, but all of you folks are talking out your collective asses. You think you know what's going on, but I guarantee you don't know a tenth of the information pertinent to this case.

So just shut up, 'kay?

That is all.

P.S. In case I was a bit too nuanced above, if you read it carefully you'll notice I'm addressing folks on opposing ends of the spectrum on this issue. I'm specifically not addressing the folks who, quite sensibly, say this is what we know, there's a lot we don't know, let's wait and see. So you guys calm down; I wasn't talking about you, capiche?