NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL TAKES AN UNFLINCHING LOOK AT SIX YEARS OF WAR IN IRAQ — AS EXPERIENCED BY THE MEN AND WOMEN ON THE FRONT LINES

Soldiers' Battlefield Footage, Photographs and Testimonies Reveal Complex Portrait of Controversial War

Inside the Iraq War Premieres Sunday, December 13, 2009, at 9 PM ET/PT

(WASHINGTON, D.C. — NOVEMBER 30, 2009) A controversial war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of civilians. A war with countless stories of bravery, triumph, sacrifice and tragedy. Even as six years of news coverage and policy debate have framed our understanding of the war in Iraq, what have our service members really experienced? And what can their up-close insight teach us about this war?

Transporting viewers to war-torn Iraq, National Geographic Channel (NGC) provides an unflinching, personal and in-depth look at the last six years in Inside the Iraq War, premiering Sunday, December 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. From the producers of Inside 9/11, Inside the Iraq War opens a window into the first-person experiences of the men and women who live this war on a daily basis the dangerous missions, the interrogations, the life-or-death situations and the ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. The film avoids the policy debate that raged in the United States and around the world and opens a window into the soldier's battlefield perspective through a complex tapestry of video shot by the troops themselves, news footage from embedded journalists, rare photos and compelling personal accounts from those on the front lines.

Inside the Iraq War puts a human face on the soldiers caught in the maelstrom of insurgent violence, sectarian strife and ferocious urban combat. It chronicles the war in detail, from the fall of Baghdad to the struggle for Fallujah, the uprisings in Basra and Sadr City, the capture of Saddam Hussein and the Anbar Offensive up until the first wave of the recent surge. The program provides a close-up view of 21st century warfare through first-person accounts, with personal stories that shed light on the larger story of the conduct of the war, its triumphs and tragedies.

Watch the dramatic chapters from the very earliest days of the war, such as Stealth Fighter pilot Major Mark Hoehn's top-secret mission over Baghdad to target Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with satellite-guided bunker-busting bombs. And relive the experiences of 30-year-old Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, whose Apache attack helicopter was shot down during the first weeks of the war. Williams and his gunner were taken prisoner, tortured, interrogated and paraded before cameras on Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera. Inside the Iraq War incorporates actual footage of Williams' interrogation, as well as the emotional day he was rescued.

Among the first Americans into the Iraqi capital, Marine Tank Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch and his tank unit find themselves circling an iconic statue of Saddam Hussein as a crowd gathers. The statue is pulled down and moments later, someone snaps a front-page photo of Popaditch joining in the celebration, cigar in hand. Popaditch describes that historic moment and the contrast a year later when his tank command came under fire during the first battle of Fallujah, blinding him in one eye. “A rocket hit me right in the helmet. Blew my helmet apart, blew [...] one eye out of my head and knock[ed] my other eye down in my sinus cavity, so for me, what I saw was real bright flash of light, like a super-intense camera flash and then nothing, just darkness and I could hear this, like, humming in my ears, like if you took a radio and put it on the static and then cranked the volume [...] I couldn't hear anything.”

You'll hear from Special Operations Interrogator Eric Maddox, who coerced a man from Hussein's inner circle to reveal the dictator's hiding spot. The unit immediately flies the informant to the location and spends hours searching every inch of it. Then, without saying a word, the informant kicks at a rope coming out of the ground. Soldiers pull on the rope and discover the hidden hole containing Saddam Hussein. Watch as soldiers pull the disheveled dictator from the hole, and hear what it was like to be there as the hunt for the despised dictator came to a fruitful conclusion.

The same day Saddam is captured, a car bomb in Khalidiyah destroys an Iraqi police station, killing 26 policemen and two little girls. Rumors spread that the explosion was caused by an errant U.S. missile as a campaign of misinformation takes hold. Lieutenant Colonel Garry Bishop describes how his work rebuilding basic services in Iraq was complicated by lies: “It was almost as if we were combating rumors as much as we were combating enemy combatants.” Find out how soldiers like Bishop developed strategies for winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

President Bush's orders to send 20,000 troops to Iraq in January 2007 gave U.S. forces the strength they needed to sustain and build on gains, helping to stabilize the situation. But with more than 100,000 troops continuing to fight in Iraq, and thousands more set to redeploy soon, Inside the Iraq War provides timely insight into the emotional and psychological toll on soldiers, the violence they have experienced and the ethical dilemmas posed by the war.

Inside the Iraq War is produced by Towers Productions, Inc., for National Geographic Channel (NGC). For Towers Productions, producer/writer is Ellen Hardner, supervising producer/writer is Charles Fitzgerald, editor is Karla Svatos and executive producer is Jonathan Towers. For NGC, executive producer is Michael Welsh, senior vice president of production is Michael Cascio and executive in charge of production is Steve Burns.

For more information visit natgeotv.com/iraq.

Ellie