We are not the "same as terrorists"

Excerpt from an article in Slate via Instapundit:

"Yet it is the differences between these two killings that reveal the most important truths about the Marine shooting in Fallujah. Hassan was, in every sense of the word, a noncombatant. She worked for more than 20 years to help Iraqis obtain basic necessities: food, running water, medical care, electricity, and education. The Iraqi insurgents kidnapped her and murdered her in order to terrorize the Iraqi population and the aid workers trying to help them.

By contrast, the Marines entered a building in Fallujah and found several men who, until moments before, had been enemy insurgents engaged in mortal combat. A hidden grenade would have changed everything, and the Marine would have been lauded. As it turned out, the Iraqi was entitled to mercy, but Hassan was truly innocent. There is no legitimate moral equivalence between a soldier asking for quarter and a noncombatant like Hassan."

In addition, besides the motives of the two killings, the response and ultimate fate of the people responsible will be decidedly different. The Marine will face potential charges and discipline if found in violation of military and international law by his own commanders while the people who carried out the execution of Ms. Hassan will be rewarded by their 'commanders'. The only justice that will come to them is when the Marines track them down and kill them. If that means they are shot like their commrade, 'unarmed' on the floor of their hideout after a firefight, so be it.