Before the smoke had cleared from the ruins where Qasay and Uday Hussein died in a battle with US forces on 22 July in Iraq, outside observers began to ask why the US had not done more to take the brothers alive. Included in the speculation was the question whether the US actions were 'overkill' and if new non-lethal capabilities could have disoriented, subdued or otherwise incapacitated the Husseins to allow for their capture. US military officials, in response, said the scenario did not allow for this. After giving the men a chance to surrender, the shooting started, thereby leaving no room to employ such devices. "When you are getting shot at, I don't think non-lethals are the answer," US Marine Corps Brig Gen Richard Natonski, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Task Force Tarawa in Iraq, told Jane's Defence Weekly. "You have to use lethal force against force. From that perspective, the army handled it the only way they could."
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