PBS program to spotlight Haditha killings

[thedrifter]

Sun February 17, 2008 <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By Jay F. Marks <br />
Staff Writer <br />
An Edmond Marine will go to trial next month on charges stemming from the death of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005, but television viewers won't...

[thedrifter]

February 17, 2008
PBS To Air Haditha documentary
Denis Keohane
This Tuesday, February 19 at 9:00 pm ET, PBS' Frontline will air a one hour show on what has come to be known as "The Haditha Massacre". The show is entitled "Rules Of Engagement".

Bruce Keslar of The Democracy Project, has been given an advance copy and transcript, and offers an encouraging preview. Keslar gives the show a B- while also acknowledging that an A would have been impossible due to time constraints alone. Defend Our Marines, which site has diligently followed and publicized everything it could obtain on Haditha is also encouraged, and DOM's David Allender posts an interview with the show's producer, Arun Rath.


Rath: "At the most basic level, I hope [the audience will] come away with a better understanding of what happened in Haditha that day. More importantly, I'm hoping that people will come away with a deeper appreciation of the extraordinarily difficult job our Marines and soldiers are undertaking in Iraq, in terms of trying to follow the Rules of Engagement in a situation where insurgents intentionally blend in with civilians."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Frontline’s Haditha: “Rules of Engagement” <br />
<br />
Airing on PBS Tuesday, Feb. 19. Check your local listings and make a note. Preview trailers here. <br />
<br />
I just finished watching a review copy. If you want...

[thedrifter]

February 20, 2008
Haditha Marines Vindicated

Like a lot of you I watched the PBS Frontline documentary on the Haditha "massacre". It was absolutely incredible. Like Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive, the documentary convinced me that the Marines accused of "massacring" innocent civilians are innocent.

There's no doubt that Haditha was a tragic loss of innocent life, but it was no massacre. Mark this one up to the fog of war combined with unclear rules of engagement. And you know who came off as the biggest jackass of them all? Jack Murtha.

What's so disgusting about the way the MSM reported the incident is that the Muslim world is thoroughly convinced that the original framing of the story as out-of-control Marines callously murdering the closest Arabs they could find, including women and children, in revenge for their fallen comrade has stuck. Regardless of the facts, that is how the world will remember Haditha.

And Congressman Jack Murtha, by lending his support to that inaccurate version of events, gave the Haditha "massacre" story added legitimacy.

Ellie