Thursday, May 08, 2008

Haditha: Movie Opens Before Trial Ends

The new movie Battle for Haditha opens today. The New York Times reviewed it here. Sgt. Wuterich, the squad leader in the killings documented in Battle for Haditha, is still facing court-martial in the death of the Iraqis depicted in the movie. Apparently depositions of Iraqis regarding the incident are on-going, see SD Union-Tribune article here. I wonder how that will play into influence and members' issues, see article here?

Anyone who gets to see Battle of Haditha (limited US distribution right now), please post comments in . . . the Comments.

6 comments:

Marcus Fulton said...

You'll certainly not have to sit on the members panel if you go see it now.

Anonymous said...

Oh I don't know...some people may be able to separate fact from fiction. Do you doubt the ability of Marine officers to do so?

Anonymous said...

I have not seen this movie, though I hope to. I beleive it has been in production for about two years. Over the course of those two years, the tale of Haditha has evolved significantly. Initially, it was portrayed as the Iraqi version of Mai Lai, with trigger happy Marines ruthlessly and intentionally mowing down innocent civilians. As various courts-martial have played out, Haditha appears to have morphed into more of a “fog of war” tragedy. What has me most curious is whether this movie portrays the former or the latter, or if it hedges its bets with something in between.

Marcus Fulton said...

Anon,
They may, but I still think they're out under the liberal grant mandate. It might actually be a little tough to sort out what you know from the evidence and what you remember from the movie; kind of like when you read a book and see the movie and can't remember what all the differences were.

Anonymous said...

marcus fulton: I can separate fact from fiction, and so can you. And why would we presume that we are smarter than Marine officers?

Anonymous said...

Separating fact from fiction is not a matter of intelligence ("smarter"?). The influence can be subconscious. Then there is the separate question of motive and predisposition: WHY did the viewer seek out the movie?