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Originally posted by clod:
but when ANYBODY points an RPG at you, you have no choice but to kill them.
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This is the second time in this thread that someone has implied that the kid posed a direct threat to Boggs i.e. he was pointing an RPG launcher at Boggs. The article says:
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When a young Iraqi boy stooped to pick up a rocket propelled grenade off the body of a dead paramilitary, US Army Private Nick Boggs ... unloaded machinegun fire and the boy."
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Later on the article says:
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"But others are apparently being used as fighters or more often as scouts and weapons collectors. US officers and soldiers say that turns them into legitimate targets.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but a "rocket propelled grenade" is a little thing that looks like a mini bomb. It needs to go into an RPG launcher to be of any use. The article says the kid was picking up a "rocket propelled grenade" (not a launcher) which suggests he was one of the majority who are weapons collectors (in this case collecting ammo). In any event, he hadn't picked up whatever it is he was going for and certainly hadn't aimed it at anyone, so he wasn't a direct threat to Boggs at the time of his death. The US Army considers weapons collectors legitimate targets. In all likelihood he was killed because he was recovering weapons not because he was a direct threat to Boggs.
