MovieChat Forums > Battle for Haditha (2008) Discussion > Horrible but probably more accurate than...

Horrible but probably more accurate than not

posted 16 years ago by schm0098
2 replies | jump to latest

First off, I was a marine until a couple of years ago for almost 10 years. The only reason I mention that is because I was amazed at how accurate the portrayal of the Marines really was. From the look, to the training and lingo, down to the attitude. It seems as if real Marines were hired as actors to play in this film.

First, I hope things didn't happen this way. There seems to be several ways to interpret this film. I believe the innocent families were the main subject of this movie. It wasn't just the Marines committing the crimes here but Iraq's own citizens putting the families and homes at risk by their actions, even anticipating the outcome. I think it went even further to show the Iraqi's who set the bomb were following the will of others, the "Foreign Fighters" as they were mentioned as, and the Marines soldiers getting the blessing of their superiors to take action without regard for innocent non-combatants.

Like I said, I hope things didnt happen the way they did although I wouldnt be surprised if thats how it was. The problem with our military right now is that we are putting this control in the hands of very young individuals after they have been trained to be extremely aggressive. Add to this the overly long tours of duty and constant preesure and fatigue, it was bound to happen.

The Marines have a long and proud history but they are losing sight of the fact that they are around to protect and serve those who need their help. The superiors are losing sight of this and training them to kill without telling them who they are protecting and who they are fighting. The Corps is developing an arrogance and the youngest Marines are feeding off this and losing sight of the values and tradition the Marines stand for.

Would I behave like this? No and I would have never allowed my fellow Marines to behave like this either. We are one of the most highly trained militaries in the world so there is no need for us to attack without regard, in civilian suburbs and cities, especially when we arent fighting an army, just a band of thug terrorists.

It was a mistake for the US to invade Iraq and impose our will but whats done is done. I do worry about what would happen if the US pulled out completely with Iraq so divided and neighboring countries looking to feed off of it.

There are millions of ways to look at the situation in Iraq. I wish they could unite enough to ask the US to leave and show that they can survive and evolve to what they need to be for the best of their people. I hope the radicals figure out that they are only making things worse and killing their own people and preventing independence. I would love for the billions of US dollars being spent in Iraq to be used for school, food, rebuilding instead of supplying arms, military training and military objectives.

This was an incredible movie!!!! with a powerful message. All military persons should see it.

[–] schm0098 16 years ago

Oh yeah, something for previous posters. Not only am I American, I am also a Marine as I mentioned, also a Texan (our own country:) ), and I live about an hour to an hour and a half from where George Bush is from. I am finishing up my Engineering Masters here at Texas Tech University. I try not to get involved with debating American policy with foreigners because life is really good here. It takes visiting other countries to determine this but it is true, even with all our problems. I personally would love nothiing more than to see the US stop "policing" the world as one poster put it but at the same time I would also like to see how things would be if we could stop giving so much money away to all these foreign governments which would in turn give me back at least 10 percent of my paycheck.

If we stopped our "policing", would rogue, unpredictable governments like North Korea, Iran and yes, Venezuela, to name a very few; be trusted not to take dangerous action or at least cause conflict? Many of the countries in this world are a ticking time bomb of bad things waiting to happen.

[–] dogalicious14 16 years ago

first off you guys dont understand that iraq is for iraqis. if someone is fighting the mexican invaders in america and iam a texan damn right i'll let them put that ied and hit the mexicans. now why should i leave my house, no one knew they were going to go house to house and kill the civilians. second, we have to understand that in iraq the law allows every house to have an AK just like in america where every house has a TV they have guns because when stuff happens u have to defend your neighborhood and your house. Thats why after the attack on the 6 guys in the car a random guy took out his AK and started shooting at the maries. Now the sad part is that guy hiding with his family was a little punk cause he should have joined in like a true arab and took out some bad guys lol.