Haditha KillingsBy: Ben Foster, Alex West, Emily

Spracklen & Ann Stevenson

Haditha Killings: Background Information- On November 19th, 2005, an IED blew up a U.S.

Humvee, one U.S. Marine was killed and two others were wounded.

- The Marines in the Kilo Company reacted by trying to find and eliminate the Insurgent threat.

- 12 insurgents and 15 civilians were killed, including women and children.

- Reports conflict whether the Iraqi men killed were insurgents or unarmed civilians.

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Humvee that was Blown Up by IED

Haditha Killings: Background Information cont.

-A press release was given by the USMC the day after the incident.

-Story was not spotlighted until the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization gave a video of the deceased to Tim McGirk, a Baghdad correspondent for Times magazine.

-McGirk's article brought attention to the situation and provoked legal investigations

Haditha Seen by All

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Haditha Killings:Background Information cont.

- No soldiers were convicted of murder; charges for all were dropped- Actions were justified by the Rules of Engagement- Frank Wuterich Trial

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Inquiry Question

How was the portrayal of the 2005 Haditha killings different in the United States vs. Middle Eastern media and why?

American Media Portrayal

- Inaccurate Marine press report was released indicating that the U.S. marine and 15 Iraqi fatalities all resulted from the IED.

- After Tim McGirk received the video of the bodies of the Haditha killings, his story of the event came out on page 35 of Times. It did not gain much attention.

- Congressman, John Murtha, an ex-Marine and opposer of the Iraqi war, helped the Haditha killings gain attention in the media.

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Middle Eastern Media Portrayal- Iraqis looked at this as a war crime. - They sought justice against the soldiers that

murdered innocent civilians.- Middle Eastern civilians did not believe the

soldiers would be held responsible- They felt the appropriate sentence was

executed for all soldiers involved- Iraqis were shown all images and Americans

portrayed as villains

Civilian Quotes- “If they plan to implement justice, then we welcome this step to refer the eight

marines to the court, but we have our doubts in American justice. The verdict will be life sentences for four of them and the other four will be released, according to what we heard in the media. They blamed one soldier in the killing of a whole family, while it was carnage. The Iraqi government should have summoned those soldiers and executed them.” - Dr. Waleed Al-Obeidi

- “I prefer they won’t be executed, and to be handed over to Haditha people to get the punishment they deserve.” - Tahseen Al-Hadithi

- “I believe that the sentence will be issued against four of the accused, only. They will cover for the others. The accused will get life sentences, and it is not enough. The whole unit should be put into trial. We expect the same thing that happened in Abu Ghraib, when they convicted low-ranking officers and the higher ones got away. We demand that George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the Iraqi government should be tried.” - Noor Laeq

Connections to The Zero- "Nothing pisses me off more than that. That's exactly

what the other side wants, Brian. For us to start doubting our actions before we've had a chance to take them. Every question we ask is a love letter to our enemies" (Walter 54).

- " 'I may have done some ... really bad things, sir.' 'Look, don't you for a minute doubt yourself, Brian. I know for a fact you haven't done anything that wasn't necessary. In fact, I've heard'-he paused- 'unofficially ... very good things ... from the top. Do you understand?” (Walter 117).

Connections to The Zero (continued)

- "All over the city, all over the country, people rose from bed and scurried and fought and returned at night to sleep, independent of any meaning except the rising , scurrying, fighting and sleeping. (Walter 163)

- "Does a man ever realize that he has been the villain of his own story?

Results of the Haditha Killings

- They changed protocol, so whenever a civilian is killed there is an automatic investigation launched.

- The marine corps efforts to minimize the chances of recurrence have been diminished and hidden because of the trial

Works Cited Rules of Engagement. Arun Rath. Frontline, 2008. Documentary.Walter, Jess. The Zero. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.Ricks, Thomas E. "Things Fall Apart." The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the

American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008. New York: Penguin, 2009. Print.Surk, Barbara, and Faris Mohammed. "Iraqi Town: Justice Failed U.S. Raid

Victims."Time. 25 Jan. 2012. Time. 16 Apr. 2012 <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2105302,00.html>.

Rath, Arun. “What Are the Ramifications of the Haditha Case?” Frontline. PBS, 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/ wgbh/ pages/ frontline/ iraq-war-on-terror/ rules-of-engagement-iraq-war-on-terror/ how-the-haditha-incident-transformed-the-marine-corps/>.

"Haditha Residents on Charged Marines: Let Us Have Them." The New York Times. 22 Dec. 2006. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/world/middleeast/22cnd-reax.html?_r=2&oref=slogin>.