No Time for Truth is the first book to investigate the "Haditha Massacre," the controversial killing of twenty four unarmed Iraqi civilians in November 2005 and the subsequent prosecution of eight Marines charged with violating the rules of combat. Unravelled by the authors, this complex tragedy of the Iraq War compellingly illustrates the bitter observation by Aeschylus that "in war, truth is the first casualty."
After the explosion of an IED killed one Marine and wounded two others, the counter-attack against at least nine insurgents hiding in the village of Haditha resulted in the deaths of innocent Iraqis. Killed in the firefight were an elderly man and ten helpless women and children. Ignited by an expose in TIME magazine, the reports of the killings exploded around the world in headline news reports citing murder and cover-up. Responding to Iraqi claims that the victims were randomly slaughtered by rampaging Marines bent on revenge, the Marines countered that the insurgents had intentionally endangered the innocent civilians. Fuelled by international and American condemnation of the killings and aided by the military's botched response to the news stories, the Pentagon and the Marine Corps attempted to court martial four officers and four enlisted Marines for their roles in the incident.
Slowly at first and then with greater rapidity, the government's case began to fall apart. One after another the alleged perpetrators walked away without sanction until only one of the participants was convicted of anything, and he agreed to submit a guilty plea to a misdemeanour and an honourable discharge.
The Haditha incident triggered a divisive and highly publicised trial that left many questions unanswered about military justice and cast doubt on the honour of the tradition-bound United States Marines Corps. No Time for Truth makes it clear that the final cost of this incident is still to be revealed.
- ISBN10 1612514693
- ISBN13 9781612514697
- Publish Date 30 December 2014
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Naval Institute Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English