PBS’s Frontline Focuses on Haditha Case

The PBS news magazine Frontline recently aired an episode focusing on the “Haditha incident” of November 19, 2005, in which a group of United States Marines allegedly killed 24 Iraqis, at least 15 of them noncombatant civilians, in violation of international and U.S. military law. In 2006, the U.S. military charged eight Marines in connection with the incident.

Providing essential background for the story was our own Professor Jon Shelburne, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, and senior military counsel detailed to the defense of Lt. Col. Jeff Chessani, the battalion commander responsible for the Marines involved. Shelburne is acting with support from the Thomas More Law Center, a national legal advocacy group that asserts Chessani and the other Marines charged are being scapegoated in what is primarily an ideological and political battle.

“All of us talked with Frontline before the show aired,” Shelburne explained. “But they cut [our interviews] since they wanted to focus on the cases against the shooters.” (Chessani is charged with failing to properly report the incident, not with the actual killings.) If you’d like to educate yourself on the full story of Haditha, you can find the full program online at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/haditha/

At the top of the blog is an AP Photo of RWU Professor Lt. Col. John Shelburne (left) and Attorney Brian Rooney (center) at Camp Pendleton accompanying United States Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani (right), the senior Marine charged in the Haditha incident.