[Shelayne]

‘I realised that these soldiers were very, very poor kids, who had all left school unbelievably early. It was the first time they had all been out of the United States. They didn’t speak a word of Iraqi. They had no idea what they were doing in Iraq, and they felt let down by the marine corps. It was hard to condemn them out of hand as cold-blooded killers.’

OOPS, looks like he left out "uneducated". Poor misled, uneducated slobs. (yes, I am clenching my teeth.)

[gardencatz]

Seems to me the UNBIASED and RESPONSIBLE thing to do would be to wait until the hearings/trials are over. So much has come out just in the past week that exonerates these Marines and shows the “went on a killing frenzy out of anger” theory TRUMPED UP BY THE MEDIA AND A SENILE CONGRESSMAN to be completely bogus.

For instance, we now know the “budding journalism student”, I mean “human rights advocate” who provided the tape to TIME was actually known by Marine Intelligence to be part of the insurgency. They couldn’t say that before because (for obvious reasons) it was classified. We now know that the forensic evidence (little things like blood spatter patterns, photos, etc.) provided by THE PROSECUTION proves the Marine version, rather than the insurgent/TIME/Murtha version to be the truthful one.

We know Marines that day were expecting as many as 20 attacks, possibly involving a WHITE CAR (also classified until recently). We know that AK-47’s were recovered along with a suitcase with a variety of different passports. Now tell me, why would an “innocent” family (who had their children stay home from school and cover their ears because they KNEW the IED was going to go off) in a known insurgent stronghold need AK-47’s and fake passports? I’m sure they just wanted to escape the “evil American military” to the safe and free paradise of Syria.

There’s no way possible to give a complete, accurate portrayal without waiting for the outcome. Thus, your movie gives credence to a MYTH that’s helping to destroy the lives of these Marines (even when exonerated things like this movie will keep the myth alive), but I guess you’ll have the unique “honor” of being to Iraq what Apocalypse Now was for Vietnam. Granted, I am not a biased observer, but I admit my bias.

You say you care about the military and yet you star in a movie that keeps the myth alive and whose writer can’t even be bothered to wait for an outcome to see if perhaps, just perhaps the Marines might be telling the truth. Maybe a reporter, shopping for a “military slaughters civilians” story (an insurgent’s dream) who breaks bread with the Taliban and thinks they’re a swell bunch of fellows (well, except for that whole oppression, rape, beating and stoning to death of women thing), is so biased, he was fine with publishing a barely researched but sensational and mostly wrong story. Maybe a congressman who lies about having met with military brass about that day in Haditha before declaring those Marines “killed in cold blood”, just might lie about other things too.

The Marines take HONOR, COURAGE & COMMITMENT very, very seriously. They are highly disciplined and part of their training involves NOT panicking or flying into a rage when a buddy dies. Buddies die in Iraq all the time. Marines have consistently been sent to the worst, most violent areas in Iraq. Haditha is one of those places. These were experienced Marines in a VOLUNTEER military who knew exacty what they were getting themselves into. Marines in Fallujah and Haditha are no different than the Marines in Iwo Jima. They will do their job with pride and honor and bravery. And if a comrade falls, he won’t be left behind. But he’s certainly not going to dishonor his brother’s sacrifice by killing for revenge. Bet that doesn’t appear in your movie.

Cindie