I just listened to the whole thing, strictly for the schadenfreude. It was probably what you might expect: McGirk’s response is, “How do you explain to the relatives of the Iraqi civilians, including women and children and a man in a wheelchair, why Wuterich is getting off with a slap on the wrist?” McGirk remains to this day a complete asshole. (By the way, he sounds very gay. No joke.)
There were three people interviewed during the 16 minute radio show. The correspondent, Alison St. John, was actually very fair and did a nice job of reporting. The adjunct law professor, Jane Siegel, spent a career in the Marines as a lawyer but in this interview she sounded clueless and offered nothing of substance, IMO.
I did get the impression that the host (no name given) was a scumbag lefty (NPR, surprise, surprise) and it was fun listening to her gnash her teeth near the end.
One thing I did find interesting is that McGirk always pronounces “Haditha” with the accent on the first syllable - “HAH-dith-ah” whereas I have always heard everybody else pronounce it with the accent on the second syllable - “Ha-DEE-tha”.
Also, all of those people, including the alleged former Marine lawyer, seemed hopelessly confused about what the “rules of engagement” were in November 2005. They all agreed that it was always necessary to “positively identify targets” before shooting. They seemed utterly clueless about how Marines were trained to deal with “hostile” houses, etc.
Lancey, I just finished listening to it also. I wish I had known you were, I would have waited for your report! LOL!
What a waste of time (it was a 16 minute segment). I agree with your assessment. Siegel is a retired COL. St.John and the host (Maureen something) had those phony British uppity accents that seem to plague PBS. It’s like finger nails on a chalkboard listening to them. McGirk blamed the story of Haditha for the Iraqi’s hating us and throwing us out of Iraq. Either he was trying to take credit or doesn’t remember that he wrote the story. He sounded to me like he was on drugs. Maybe he’s a queer crackhead.