thedrifter
11-17-07, 05:39 AM
'Pendleton 8' documentary in production
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY -- A New York filmmaker is in North County this week conducting interviews for a documentary about eight Camp Pendleton troops convicted this year of offenses arising out of the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi man.
Don Sikorski said Wednesday that his film, "Article 32," will focus on the seven Marines and a Navy medical corpsman charged in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman who was kidnapped from his home in the village of Hamdania and shot to death.
The April 26, 2006, incident led to murder charges against all eight men. Seven were convicted of lesser offenses.
After being incarcerated for several months, all are now free except for the squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, who was convicted by a military jury at Camp Pendleton of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Sikorski said his film will center on each man's story.
"It's actually eight stories and an attempt to find out what happened and how the events of that night have affected them," he said. "It will let the viewer decide what transpired and whether they all were in fact guilty and got the punishment they deserved or if they should have been brought before the military justice system."
The 31-year-old filmmaker said he got the idea for his second full-length documentary after watching a television interview with one of the defendants, former Cpl. Trent Thomas, who is now a private.
Sikorski's first documentary, "Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the Cops," was produced in 2006 and portrayed the often strained relationships between law enforcement and the world of rap music.
That film took three years to produce and is now available on DVD and by purchase on cable television.
For "Article 32," Sikorski said he has a budget in the "low six figures," he said. He added that he hopes it will get a theater release in military communities such as those in North County, and that a network such as Home Box Office will want to purchase it.
This week, Sikorski said he plans to interview some of the troops, their family members and the defense attorneys associated with the group that became known by supporters as the "Pendleton 8."
From what he's learned so far, Sikorski said he believes the Hamdania incident is representative in many ways of the struggle for Iraq.
"There are a lot of moral dilemmas that our troops face where they're damned if they do and damned if they don't," he said. "There are split-second decisions that define this war in many ways."
Testimony from the men who reached plea agreements consistently showed the squad from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment originally planned to kidnap and kill a known insurgent in Hamdania, a village northwest of Baghdad.
When that man could not be found, a "snatch team" went to Awad's house, took him from his bed, bound and gagged him and shot him to death. The squad was arrested a few days later after Awad's relatives complained to military authorities.
Despite the testimony from several of those who pleaded guilty, supporters argued none of the men should have been charged and continue to call for a reduction in Hutchins' prison sentence.
Sikorski said he will let those who see his film draw their own conclusions about the prosecution.
"I am not taking a sympathetic approach," he said. "My approach is to tell the truth according to the individuals who participated in it."
See a trailer of Sikorski's film at www.article32film.com.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY -- A New York filmmaker is in North County this week conducting interviews for a documentary about eight Camp Pendleton troops convicted this year of offenses arising out of the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi man.
Don Sikorski said Wednesday that his film, "Article 32," will focus on the seven Marines and a Navy medical corpsman charged in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman who was kidnapped from his home in the village of Hamdania and shot to death.
The April 26, 2006, incident led to murder charges against all eight men. Seven were convicted of lesser offenses.
After being incarcerated for several months, all are now free except for the squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, who was convicted by a military jury at Camp Pendleton of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Sikorski said his film will center on each man's story.
"It's actually eight stories and an attempt to find out what happened and how the events of that night have affected them," he said. "It will let the viewer decide what transpired and whether they all were in fact guilty and got the punishment they deserved or if they should have been brought before the military justice system."
The 31-year-old filmmaker said he got the idea for his second full-length documentary after watching a television interview with one of the defendants, former Cpl. Trent Thomas, who is now a private.
Sikorski's first documentary, "Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the Cops," was produced in 2006 and portrayed the often strained relationships between law enforcement and the world of rap music.
That film took three years to produce and is now available on DVD and by purchase on cable television.
For "Article 32," Sikorski said he has a budget in the "low six figures," he said. He added that he hopes it will get a theater release in military communities such as those in North County, and that a network such as Home Box Office will want to purchase it.
This week, Sikorski said he plans to interview some of the troops, their family members and the defense attorneys associated with the group that became known by supporters as the "Pendleton 8."
From what he's learned so far, Sikorski said he believes the Hamdania incident is representative in many ways of the struggle for Iraq.
"There are a lot of moral dilemmas that our troops face where they're damned if they do and damned if they don't," he said. "There are split-second decisions that define this war in many ways."
Testimony from the men who reached plea agreements consistently showed the squad from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment originally planned to kidnap and kill a known insurgent in Hamdania, a village northwest of Baghdad.
When that man could not be found, a "snatch team" went to Awad's house, took him from his bed, bound and gagged him and shot him to death. The squad was arrested a few days later after Awad's relatives complained to military authorities.
Despite the testimony from several of those who pleaded guilty, supporters argued none of the men should have been charged and continue to call for a reduction in Hutchins' prison sentence.
Sikorski said he will let those who see his film draw their own conclusions about the prosecution.
"I am not taking a sympathetic approach," he said. "My approach is to tell the truth according to the individuals who participated in it."
See a trailer of Sikorski's film at www.article32film.com.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie