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Friday 22 August 2008

It is not US Marines who should be on trial

The acclaimed film-maker Nick Broomfield reflects on the making of his film on the bloody battle for Haditha, and the reconciliation he witnessed between US soldiers and Iraqis

The massacre effectively delivered Haditha into the hands of the insurgency. People now hated the Americans and nearly every family in Haditha had a personal grudge against the US Marines.

We spoke to the survivors on and off for about a week. It was hard to see adult men weep uncontrollably. They somehow thought we would have an explanation for what had happened.

What emerged in all our conversations was that everyone we had talked to regarded themselves as victims. The Iraqis, just like the Marines, wanted to talk because they felt their point of view has never been represented. It became apparent there was a suspicion and paranoia that each group had about the other.

There were fears and prejudices that were so ingrained that it would take a lot more than anything I could say to change this. It was only months later, when we were actually shooting the film, that Marines and Iraqis had the first real opportunity to get to know each other.

To make the film as authentic as possible, I cast ex-Marines and Iraqis who had lived through the conflict to work in the film. The lead, Elliot Ruiz, was the youngest Marine in Iraq when in service. It was a nerve-wracking situation. On the first day of filming, a nasty fight broke out between one of the Iraqis and the Marines when he learnt that some of them had served in Fallujah, where three of his brothers had been killed. At one stage I didn’t think we would get through the film because tensions between the two groups were so bad.

The Marines, distrustful of all Arabs, believed they would be taken out. On one occasion I had suggested having dinner in a restaurant in the town where we were filming and the Marines had accused me of being reckless with their lives, because they were sure a hitman would attack them along the way.

It would take several weeks before the Iraqis and Marines got to kicking a football around together and chatting. After a while, to my great relief, they became the best of friends, though both sides were continually amazed that they liked each other. The friendship still endures. When I showed the film to the Iraqi cast back in Jordan, I was surprised by how many times I was asked questions about how the Marines were doing.

The trial of the Marines of Kilo Company continues, and probably will not be over until the end of March or April. But after the long, difficult process of making Battle for Haditha, I am not sure the burden of guilt should lie with them. Surely it is the architects of the war, the Blairs and the Bushes, who knew what they were doing, who knew what the repercussions of their decisions would be, who should really be standing in the dock?

Nick Broomfield’s Battle For Haditha Will Be Shown On Channel 4 At 9 P.m. On 17 March As The Centrepiece Of The Channel’s Iraq Season, Marking The Fifth Anniversary Of The Conflict. It Will Be Followed Later That Evening On More 4 By On That Day, An Investigative Documentary About The Haditha Massacre Co-directed By Barney Broomfield And Marc Hoeferlin, Who As Producers And Writers On Nick Broomfield’s Film Gained Unprecedented Access To Iraqi Eyewitnesses And Previously Unseen Internal Documents.

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