1 00:00:26,763 --> 00:00:33,163 There was an SUV full of four Blackwater contractors who were, 2 00:00:33,163 --> 00:00:35,243 you know, driving around Fallujah. 3 00:00:35,243 --> 00:00:36,963 And they got ambushed. 4 00:00:36,963 --> 00:00:39,083 SHOUTING AND CHEERING 5 00:00:39,083 --> 00:00:42,803 The Iraqis gathered round, just like having a party. 6 00:00:42,803 --> 00:00:44,883 SHOUTING CAR HORNS BLARING 7 00:00:47,003 --> 00:00:51,123 Then they picked up what was left of the bodies and they take 'em 8 00:00:51,123 --> 00:00:54,763 up to the bridge on the Euphrates and, you know, string 'em up. 9 00:00:59,523 --> 00:01:01,603 It was like on television, beamed around the world 10 00:01:01,603 --> 00:01:03,443 and the Iraqis are partying, and they love it 11 00:01:03,443 --> 00:01:05,363 and they're making fools out of the Americans, 12 00:01:05,363 --> 00:01:07,043 they're hitting them with their shoes. 13 00:01:07,043 --> 00:01:10,883 And that was like... That was like the end, you know. 14 00:01:10,883 --> 00:01:13,763 I mean, it was, what a frigging nightmare. 15 00:01:16,363 --> 00:01:19,083 Major combat operations in Iraq have ended... 16 00:01:19,083 --> 00:01:23,283 It had been a year since George Bush had claimed the Iraq war was won. 17 00:01:23,283 --> 00:01:25,643 ..and our allies have prevailed. 18 00:01:27,363 --> 00:01:29,403 But the story was far from over. 19 00:01:31,843 --> 00:01:34,323 After the toppling of Saddam Hussein, 20 00:01:34,323 --> 00:01:37,243 the old regime lost its grip on power... 21 00:01:38,963 --> 00:01:42,563 ..but it was not about to give up without a fight. 22 00:01:42,563 --> 00:01:45,403 Terrorists and regime remnants have been attacking our forces 23 00:01:45,403 --> 00:01:47,923 and our forces have been going in and killing them. 24 00:01:47,923 --> 00:01:52,163 America found itself struggling to keep control 25 00:01:52,163 --> 00:01:56,083 as a violent insurgency took hold across the country. 26 00:01:59,203 --> 00:02:01,963 And there was worse to come. 27 00:02:01,963 --> 00:02:03,443 NEWS REPORT: London's morning papers 28 00:02:03,443 --> 00:02:05,923 are calling it a torture scandal, shocking pictures... 29 00:02:05,923 --> 00:02:09,443 Another bad news day for America in the Arab world. 30 00:02:18,723 --> 00:02:22,403 The battle to win hearts and minds had failed. 31 00:02:22,403 --> 00:02:25,283 The US Army was feeling the strain. 32 00:02:25,283 --> 00:02:27,603 I wanted to ask about the convoy campaign and to find out... 33 00:02:27,603 --> 00:02:31,243 HE BREATHES HEAVILY 34 00:02:27,603 --> 00:02:31,243 ..if you can confirm that yest... 35 00:02:31,243 --> 00:02:34,123 Get him out of the room, it's really embarrassing. 36 00:02:34,123 --> 00:02:37,523 The politicians have had their say about the Iraq war. 37 00:02:37,523 --> 00:02:42,243 I was going to start off tonight telling some self-deprecating jokes, 38 00:02:42,243 --> 00:02:44,563 then I couldn't think of any mistakes I had made to be 39 00:02:44,563 --> 00:02:45,923 self-deprecating about. 40 00:02:50,003 --> 00:02:52,843 In this series, civilians, journalists 41 00:02:52,843 --> 00:02:58,323 and soldiers tell their personal stories of the 2003 invasion 42 00:02:58,323 --> 00:03:02,763 and how the years of chaos that followed changed the world for ever. 43 00:03:16,763 --> 00:03:19,803 Who said that thing, was it Churchill? 44 00:03:19,803 --> 00:03:24,083 Said the thing, like you never feel so alive... 45 00:03:24,083 --> 00:03:26,563 ..as when you are being shot at or when you're... 46 00:03:28,043 --> 00:03:29,923 Something like that, such bullshit. 47 00:03:32,523 --> 00:03:36,083 You know, call me or Dexter what you want, 48 00:03:36,083 --> 00:03:41,563 but going into risky situations and inviting danger, 49 00:03:41,563 --> 00:03:44,563 like almost inviting danger, 50 00:03:44,563 --> 00:03:47,523 certainly wasn't some, like, thrill-seeking mission. 51 00:03:47,523 --> 00:03:51,883 There were moments where both of us were scared shitless, erm, 52 00:03:51,883 --> 00:03:55,603 and that wasn't the point of the work. 53 00:03:55,603 --> 00:04:00,523 It was to try to find a story that we felt compelled that needed 54 00:04:00,523 --> 00:04:02,723 to be told. 55 00:04:02,723 --> 00:04:06,523 Ashley Gilbertson came to Iraq as a freelance photographer 56 00:04:06,523 --> 00:04:08,443 at the start of the war. 57 00:04:08,443 --> 00:04:11,203 After a photograph he took of an American soldier 58 00:04:11,203 --> 00:04:14,883 in one of Saddam's palaces was published in Time magazine, 59 00:04:14,883 --> 00:04:17,323 he began working with Dexter Filkins, 60 00:04:17,323 --> 00:04:20,683 a journalist attached to the New York Times. 61 00:04:20,683 --> 00:04:22,603 Working with Dexter was amazing. 62 00:04:22,603 --> 00:04:25,043 There was almost nowhere that he wouldn't go 63 00:04:25,043 --> 00:04:27,163 and the same went for me. 64 00:04:28,563 --> 00:04:31,763 What gets me out of bed in the morning and what makes me continue 65 00:04:31,763 --> 00:04:36,923 to work is this absolute fury that I have that things are wrong. 66 00:04:40,083 --> 00:04:43,683 You know, he was like a kid. He was like so young. 67 00:04:43,683 --> 00:04:48,483 Erm, you know, I thought, huh, you know. 68 00:04:48,483 --> 00:04:53,323 But he's immensely talented and really fearless 69 00:04:53,323 --> 00:04:57,123 and very enterprising so we got along really well. 70 00:04:58,643 --> 00:05:02,563 In moments of extreme chaos, a bomb would go off, 71 00:05:02,563 --> 00:05:04,883 gunfire, 72 00:05:04,883 --> 00:05:08,243 I think my blood pressure goes down, not up, 73 00:05:08,243 --> 00:05:11,683 and I think very, very clearly about what I need to do. 74 00:05:11,683 --> 00:05:16,723 Was there a time when you thought you had pushed it too far? 75 00:05:16,723 --> 00:05:19,643 Definitely. Erm, 76 00:05:19,643 --> 00:05:22,563 more than once, erm, I felt that. 77 00:05:22,563 --> 00:05:25,363 I felt that in Fallujah. 78 00:05:25,363 --> 00:05:27,123 I definitely felt that in Fallujah. 79 00:05:30,123 --> 00:05:33,123 There's so much that happened there, 80 00:05:33,123 --> 00:05:37,523 like I've got 2,500 pictures or something from that week. 81 00:05:39,643 --> 00:05:41,523 I barely remember taking any of them. 82 00:05:43,963 --> 00:05:50,403 Up until November 2004, I'd been able to cover Iraq 83 00:05:50,403 --> 00:05:55,163 as somebody else's war, but in Fallujah, 84 00:05:55,163 --> 00:05:59,763 it turned into not just a war that I was covering, 85 00:05:59,763 --> 00:06:03,083 it turned into something that I was involved in. 86 00:06:03,083 --> 00:06:05,723 I am here today because another man died. 87 00:06:15,563 --> 00:06:20,603 A year into the war, Fallujah, 40 miles outside Baghdad, 88 00:06:20,603 --> 00:06:23,203 was a hotbed of anti-American insurgency. 89 00:06:25,883 --> 00:06:29,283 Fallujah was bad, like from the beginning. 90 00:06:29,283 --> 00:06:33,083 It just like wasn't a nice place to go if you were American. 91 00:06:33,083 --> 00:06:35,843 It had become like a giant car bomb factory. 92 00:06:35,843 --> 00:06:38,923 They were just like making car bombs and shipping them to Baghdad, 93 00:06:38,923 --> 00:06:40,403 you know, like every day. 94 00:06:40,403 --> 00:06:44,443 Go, go home! Go, go home! 95 00:06:44,443 --> 00:06:45,803 The place was a powder keg. 96 00:06:47,443 --> 00:06:50,243 Whether you were being robbed, whether you were being held up by 97 00:06:50,243 --> 00:06:52,683 armed bandits, whether somebody was trying to kidnap you, 98 00:06:52,683 --> 00:06:54,283 whether they were trying to kill you, 99 00:06:54,283 --> 00:06:56,963 or they were trying to get under your car to do who knows what. 100 00:06:58,603 --> 00:07:01,723 In Fallujah, the Americans were no longer just facing 101 00:07:01,723 --> 00:07:03,843 a home-grown Iraqi resistance. 102 00:07:03,843 --> 00:07:07,603 GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING 103 00:07:09,563 --> 00:07:13,163 Since the war began, foreign Islamic extremists had begun 104 00:07:13,163 --> 00:07:16,843 entering Iraq, bringing with them a jihadist mentality. 105 00:07:23,003 --> 00:07:26,643 Led by a Jordanian named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, 106 00:07:26,643 --> 00:07:29,803 they would organise themselves into Al-Qaeda in Iraq. 107 00:07:33,323 --> 00:07:37,243 Zarqawi was a bloodthirsty psychopath 108 00:07:37,243 --> 00:07:40,923 but, man, he knew had to run a group like Al-Qaeda. 109 00:07:40,923 --> 00:07:44,643 He set up this kind of a perfect organism. 110 00:07:44,643 --> 00:07:46,803 Very few people who were in Al-Qaeda 111 00:07:46,803 --> 00:07:49,203 knew other people who were in Al-Qaeda. 112 00:07:49,203 --> 00:07:51,043 You could kill individual parts of it, 113 00:07:51,043 --> 00:07:52,843 but the rest of it would just continue. 114 00:07:52,843 --> 00:07:57,243 He kind of turned this thing loose, this perfect organism, 115 00:07:57,243 --> 00:08:00,843 on Iraq and it was just a gigantic killing machine. 116 00:08:02,963 --> 00:08:04,763 By November 2004, 117 00:08:04,763 --> 00:08:07,443 al-Zarqawi had taken control of the city of Fallujah. 118 00:08:09,483 --> 00:08:11,123 For the Americans, 119 00:08:11,123 --> 00:08:15,643 an Al-Qaeda base just 40 miles from Baghdad was a propaganda disaster. 120 00:08:20,123 --> 00:08:23,123 If our country shows any uncertainty or weakness 121 00:08:23,123 --> 00:08:26,763 in this decade, the world will drift towards tragedy. 122 00:08:26,763 --> 00:08:29,523 This is not going to happen on my watch. 123 00:08:29,523 --> 00:08:31,523 CHEERING 124 00:08:33,883 --> 00:08:36,203 Buoyed up by an election victory, 125 00:08:36,203 --> 00:08:39,723 the Bush administration began making preparations 126 00:08:39,723 --> 00:08:42,483 for a full frontal attack on Fallujah. 127 00:08:57,443 --> 00:08:59,403 Civilians mostly cleared out, 128 00:08:59,403 --> 00:09:02,243 I mean, certainly from what I witnessed. 129 00:09:02,243 --> 00:09:06,483 It's very strange because usually when an army attacks, 130 00:09:06,483 --> 00:09:09,363 it wants to have surprise. 131 00:09:09,363 --> 00:09:12,323 You're not going to announce when the attack begins. 132 00:09:12,323 --> 00:09:14,163 The Americans essentially did that. 133 00:09:14,163 --> 00:09:19,003 They were like, on the bullhorns, we are going to attack. 134 00:09:19,003 --> 00:09:20,563 The city will not be safe. 135 00:09:21,923 --> 00:09:24,843 There's a good chance you will die if you stay. 136 00:09:24,843 --> 00:09:27,203 ANNOUNCEMENT IN ARABIC 137 00:09:27,203 --> 00:09:29,963 BOYS SHOUT 138 00:09:33,083 --> 00:09:34,243 TRANSLATION: 139 00:09:51,443 --> 00:09:54,763 Nidhal Abed, a young wife and mother, 140 00:09:54,763 --> 00:09:58,163 was one of 50,000 citizens who didn't leave Fallujah. 141 00:09:59,843 --> 00:10:04,043 Like many other working-class families, hers was too poor to go. 142 00:10:44,443 --> 00:10:46,483 CHEERING 143 00:11:19,523 --> 00:11:21,003 Action! 144 00:11:21,003 --> 00:11:22,683 What do you want me to do? 145 00:11:22,683 --> 00:11:26,083 ..admire my dress? Yeah. 146 00:11:26,083 --> 00:11:28,363 Do you like my dress? Yes. 147 00:11:28,363 --> 00:11:29,963 Why are we whispering? 148 00:11:29,963 --> 00:11:32,043 Billy's still asleep. 149 00:11:32,043 --> 00:11:33,683 Billy! 150 00:11:36,043 --> 00:11:38,163 Did you have a good night? Huh? 151 00:11:45,203 --> 00:11:47,643 Oh. Oh, you want to get in the pictures too? 152 00:11:47,643 --> 00:11:50,523 Smile. Come on, smile. 153 00:11:50,523 --> 00:11:52,443 You're on candid camera. 154 00:11:54,563 --> 00:11:59,083 Billy was born on November the 24th, 1981. 155 00:11:59,083 --> 00:12:02,083 He just sort of popped out. 156 00:12:02,083 --> 00:12:04,963 I was in labour for 53 painful hours with Sabrina 157 00:12:04,963 --> 00:12:08,043 so this one was like a cakewalk. 158 00:12:08,043 --> 00:12:11,723 I was excited. He was excited because it was a boy. 159 00:12:11,723 --> 00:12:15,363 A man always wants a boy, carry on the namesake. 160 00:12:16,443 --> 00:12:20,923 I think he's Mom's favourite. She'll say no, but...he was. 161 00:12:20,923 --> 00:12:22,163 Hi! 162 00:12:23,363 --> 00:12:27,403 He was very outgoing, very busy. 163 00:12:27,403 --> 00:12:29,763 He always looked for adventure. 164 00:12:29,763 --> 00:12:31,923 He was always pushing his limits. 165 00:12:33,683 --> 00:12:37,043 He definitely wasn't college material. 166 00:12:37,043 --> 00:12:38,803 You know, he struggled in school 167 00:12:38,803 --> 00:12:42,443 and that would have been good for him, you know, 168 00:12:42,443 --> 00:12:44,083 to go into the Marines. 169 00:12:48,803 --> 00:12:51,203 Miller was a great guy. 170 00:12:51,203 --> 00:12:54,883 He was someone that could talk to you without the typical marine 171 00:12:54,883 --> 00:12:57,563 yelling and calling you an idiot, you know. 172 00:12:57,563 --> 00:13:01,923 Christian Dominguez joined the same company of Marines as Billy Miller. 173 00:13:03,243 --> 00:13:04,883 I was really scrawny. 174 00:13:04,883 --> 00:13:09,323 I was 130lbs and I thought that I was just going to become tough. 175 00:13:10,643 --> 00:13:12,923 I was one of the first people from my high school 176 00:13:12,923 --> 00:13:15,163 to join the Marine Corps and it was really great. 177 00:13:15,163 --> 00:13:16,803 MILITARY MUSIC PLAYS 178 00:13:16,803 --> 00:13:19,403 APPLAUSE 179 00:13:19,403 --> 00:13:22,643 I was proud of the fact that this was what he wanted to do. 180 00:13:22,643 --> 00:13:24,643 I was also very scared. 181 00:13:24,643 --> 00:13:29,483 When he joined, it was just a peaceful little world. 182 00:13:29,483 --> 00:13:33,123 It wasn't a peaceful little world any more so... Yeah. 183 00:13:33,123 --> 00:13:38,403 ..just over a week after 9/11 when he graduated from Boot Camp. 184 00:13:38,403 --> 00:13:41,563 After he graduated and he left us, he went to Spain. 185 00:13:41,563 --> 00:13:45,723 He came home December 2003 and we surprised my parents. 186 00:13:45,723 --> 00:13:49,443 Is Billy in that box? No. 187 00:13:49,443 --> 00:13:52,003 And I said, "Is Billy in that box?" 188 00:13:52,003 --> 00:13:53,403 She said, "No, Mother." 189 00:13:53,403 --> 00:13:55,963 I said, "Did y'all buy me a dog or some animal 190 00:13:55,963 --> 00:13:57,843 "because I don't want any animals?" 191 00:13:57,843 --> 00:14:00,803 "No, Mother, we didn't buy you any animals 192 00:14:00,803 --> 00:14:02,683 "but you need to open it up now." 193 00:14:05,283 --> 00:14:09,363 SHE SQUEALS HAPPILY 194 00:14:14,243 --> 00:14:17,643 It was probably her best Christmas ever and her last Christmas... 195 00:14:19,243 --> 00:14:20,723 ..with him. 196 00:14:24,683 --> 00:14:27,723 In October 2004, Billy Miller 197 00:14:27,723 --> 00:14:30,323 and Christian Dominguez were deployed with 198 00:14:30,323 --> 00:14:32,043 the 1/8 Marine Battalion, 199 00:14:32,043 --> 00:14:35,483 just outside Fallujah, to prepare for the assault on the city. 200 00:14:38,763 --> 00:14:42,803 Accompanying them would be Ashley Gilbertson and Dexter Filkins, 201 00:14:42,803 --> 00:14:44,683 representing the New York Times. 202 00:14:46,203 --> 00:14:49,723 No journalist likes to embed with military, it's too confining. 203 00:14:49,723 --> 00:14:52,683 You know, imagine you're walking through an Iraqi village. 204 00:14:52,683 --> 00:14:54,243 You know, I'm a journalist, 205 00:14:54,243 --> 00:14:57,163 I want to know what's going on inside people's heads, 206 00:14:57,163 --> 00:15:01,803 in their hearts, like what are you feeling over there, you Iraqis? 207 00:15:01,803 --> 00:15:04,163 Um, and you're standing with a group 208 00:15:04,163 --> 00:15:07,243 of 19-year-old Americans with giant guns. 209 00:15:07,243 --> 00:15:11,003 And you ask an Iraqi guy, "Hey," you know, "How's it going?" 210 00:15:11,003 --> 00:15:12,843 You're not going to get a real answer. 211 00:15:12,843 --> 00:15:17,563 But what happened in Iraq was it became essentially impossible 212 00:15:17,563 --> 00:15:21,643 to work unless you embedded with the military 213 00:15:21,643 --> 00:15:23,923 for the simple reason that you would get killed. 214 00:15:28,083 --> 00:15:32,243 If you could picture young buck warriors, we're very tribal. 215 00:15:32,243 --> 00:15:34,803 And anybody's who's not in our tribe is basically the enemy 216 00:15:34,803 --> 00:15:37,483 as far as we're concerned, you know, just to varying degrees. 217 00:15:37,483 --> 00:15:41,683 Sam Williams was Sergeant of 1/8 Bravo Company. 218 00:15:41,683 --> 00:15:45,643 Sure enough, when the press starts showing up, we didn't like 'em. 219 00:15:45,643 --> 00:15:48,683 Turns out they're sleeping in our squad bay with us. 220 00:15:48,683 --> 00:15:51,603 And when I first saw Ashley, he had one of those... 221 00:15:53,443 --> 00:15:57,763 ..sleep things that covers your eyes, like a sleep mask? 222 00:15:57,763 --> 00:15:59,523 He's got long curly hair. 223 00:15:59,523 --> 00:16:02,043 I was just, like, "Really?" 224 00:16:02,043 --> 00:16:04,563 You know, "Who's this guy, and why is he even here?" 225 00:16:04,563 --> 00:16:07,523 And you see Dexter, Dexter looks like a frat boy 226 00:16:07,523 --> 00:16:11,043 who just woke up from the biggest party ever, you know? 227 00:16:11,043 --> 00:16:14,523 Just kind of this blown-away look on his face all the time. 228 00:16:14,523 --> 00:16:17,523 So we were all just, like, super judgy, 229 00:16:17,523 --> 00:16:20,683 and like, "Look at these guys. I'm not talking to them." 230 00:16:20,683 --> 00:16:25,123 You see right here, I'm standing on a model of our battle space. 231 00:16:25,123 --> 00:16:26,883 Whenever, like, something changes 232 00:16:26,883 --> 00:16:30,323 or there's gonna be, like, a significant operation, 233 00:16:30,323 --> 00:16:33,243 the military gets a briefing from a legal officer 234 00:16:33,243 --> 00:16:36,763 who will tell you, essentially, "Here are your rules of engagement," 235 00:16:36,763 --> 00:16:39,683 which is to say, "Here's when you can pull the trigger. 236 00:16:39,683 --> 00:16:41,563 "Here's when you can't." And... 237 00:16:43,003 --> 00:16:45,483 ..I had never been invited into one of those. 238 00:16:45,483 --> 00:16:47,403 I think they brought us in because they thought, 239 00:16:47,403 --> 00:16:49,123 "We're going to be killing a lot of people, 240 00:16:49,123 --> 00:16:51,203 "so we're going to want the reporters 241 00:16:51,203 --> 00:16:53,683 "to kind of understand what the rules are here." 242 00:16:53,683 --> 00:16:55,363 So normally rules of engagement 243 00:16:55,363 --> 00:16:58,123 would be, "Don't shoot unless you're being shot at." 244 00:17:00,163 --> 00:17:02,723 That's a general conflict rule of engagement. 245 00:17:03,843 --> 00:17:05,323 These ones were really different. 246 00:17:05,323 --> 00:17:06,643 The rules were like... 247 00:17:07,883 --> 00:17:11,523 ..dialled really far back. Like, really loose, you know? 248 00:17:11,523 --> 00:17:14,683 Guy picks up a cellphone, you can kill him. 249 00:17:14,683 --> 00:17:17,243 If, you know, if you fire one warning shot at a car, 250 00:17:17,243 --> 00:17:19,523 if it doesn't stop coming at you... 251 00:17:19,523 --> 00:17:20,923 ..you can kill. 252 00:17:20,923 --> 00:17:23,923 The expectation was, and I think it was correct, 253 00:17:23,923 --> 00:17:25,563 "We're going in to attack 254 00:17:25,563 --> 00:17:28,603 "and anybody who resists us is going to be an enemy. 255 00:17:28,603 --> 00:17:31,443 "It's not going to be a civilian, because the civilians are gone." 256 00:17:31,443 --> 00:17:33,803 Hey, how you doing? 257 00:17:31,443 --> 00:17:33,803 THEY SHOUT 258 00:17:33,803 --> 00:17:36,083 How you doing, soldiers? 259 00:17:33,803 --> 00:17:36,083 THEY SHOUT 260 00:17:36,083 --> 00:17:38,163 How you doing, sailors? 261 00:17:36,083 --> 00:17:38,163 THEY SHOUT 262 00:17:38,163 --> 00:17:42,803 RECORDING: This is a whole can of whoop-butt, all combined, OK? 263 00:17:42,803 --> 00:17:45,723 And I'm going to tell you one thing. It is an honour 264 00:17:45,723 --> 00:17:49,563 for me to be able to serve with each and every one of you hard chargers. 265 00:17:49,563 --> 00:17:53,923 I mean, I look out here and it's no different than when we took... 266 00:17:55,323 --> 00:17:57,243 ..the damn war over in Korea. 267 00:17:57,243 --> 00:18:01,243 We raised the flag in Iwo Jima. It's no different. 268 00:18:01,243 --> 00:18:03,643 I'd go to Fallujah right now after hearing that speech. 269 00:18:03,643 --> 00:18:06,163 I mean, this stuff was... It was motivating. 270 00:18:06,163 --> 00:18:09,723 But it's disheartening, at the same time, looking at it now. 271 00:18:09,723 --> 00:18:11,563 And, you know, one part they don't show is, 272 00:18:11,563 --> 00:18:14,203 oftentimes they start off with the speech and saying, 273 00:18:14,203 --> 00:18:15,883 "I want you to look to your brothers 274 00:18:15,883 --> 00:18:18,683 "to the left and the right, and behind you, and realise that 275 00:18:18,683 --> 00:18:21,083 "some of them aren't going to make it out of there." 276 00:18:21,083 --> 00:18:22,803 And you don't really look, right? 277 00:18:22,803 --> 00:18:24,003 Like, it's part of a speech, 278 00:18:24,003 --> 00:18:26,483 and you're just sitting there like, "OK, yeah, we get it." 279 00:18:26,483 --> 00:18:29,323 And I just watch that video now and I can point out 280 00:18:29,323 --> 00:18:30,923 everyone that was killed. 281 00:18:30,923 --> 00:18:32,763 And they were almost in every clip. 282 00:18:32,763 --> 00:18:35,523 Kick some butt. All right? 283 00:18:32,763 --> 00:18:35,523 THEY SHOUT 284 00:18:38,803 --> 00:18:41,443 You're always worried about your child, 285 00:18:41,443 --> 00:18:47,043 but knowing that he's in a war zone 286 00:18:47,043 --> 00:18:49,963 is a different kind of worry. 287 00:18:49,963 --> 00:18:53,883 But it's not a worry that you can... 288 00:18:53,883 --> 00:18:58,283 At least, I couldn't allow, myself, to overwhelm me. 289 00:18:58,283 --> 00:19:01,043 Being a police officer for 32 years, 290 00:19:01,043 --> 00:19:05,243 you have to live every day at a time, as you live it. 291 00:19:06,323 --> 00:19:08,003 And you can't worry about it. 292 00:19:08,003 --> 00:19:10,643 If you worry yourself, it'll just worry you sick. 293 00:19:16,203 --> 00:19:20,963 After a month of waiting, on the 7th of November, 2004, 294 00:19:20,963 --> 00:19:25,003 1/8 Bravo Company were given the order to move into Fallujah. 295 00:19:31,043 --> 00:19:34,523 As we were assembling, they opened fire. 296 00:19:34,523 --> 00:19:36,043 GUNFIRE 297 00:19:36,043 --> 00:19:38,683 It was just...like a symphony. 298 00:19:40,283 --> 00:19:45,083 Then the voices came over from the mosques, which were... 299 00:19:45,083 --> 00:19:49,403 ..in Arabic, "Come to the fight." You know, "Come. Defend the city." 300 00:19:50,683 --> 00:19:53,163 And there were so many mosques and so many loudspeakers, 301 00:19:53,163 --> 00:19:54,923 the intensity of their voices - 302 00:19:54,923 --> 00:19:57,123 they were screaming into the loudspeakers. 303 00:19:57,123 --> 00:19:59,843 Um, "God is great, God is great," like, "Come to the fight." 304 00:19:59,843 --> 00:20:02,083 Um, "They're here. The Americans are here." 305 00:20:02,083 --> 00:20:04,003 OVERLAPPING VOICES 306 00:20:07,203 --> 00:20:09,083 I could see the tracers coming out. 307 00:20:09,083 --> 00:20:10,443 OK. They're shooting at us, 308 00:20:10,443 --> 00:20:12,763 just kind of spraying machine-gun fire at us. 309 00:20:12,763 --> 00:20:16,563 You know, and it felt a lot like, if you've ever seen Star Wars, 310 00:20:16,563 --> 00:20:18,643 where they're attacking the Death Star, 311 00:20:18,643 --> 00:20:20,763 where they're flying through this trench 312 00:20:20,763 --> 00:20:23,483 and there's, like, laser guns just shooting at them 313 00:20:23,483 --> 00:20:25,083 from all over the place. 314 00:20:25,083 --> 00:20:27,643 MACHINE-GUN FIRE 315 00:20:31,083 --> 00:20:34,723 It never looks or feels like what you imagine. 316 00:20:36,483 --> 00:20:40,203 But in this case, it looked remarkably like a movie. 317 00:20:41,643 --> 00:20:44,563 I was on the ground and I was kind of looking up 318 00:20:44,563 --> 00:20:47,523 and I thought, you know, "That looks like a bottle rocket." 319 00:20:47,523 --> 00:20:51,003 You know, it looks like fireworks from 4th of July. 320 00:20:56,763 --> 00:20:58,163 And then from out of nowhere... 321 00:20:59,563 --> 00:21:02,763 ..we hear these pops above our head. 322 00:21:02,763 --> 00:21:05,843 And you look up, and it's these shells that have exploded, 323 00:21:05,843 --> 00:21:09,163 and it's like an octopus and tentacles coming down from the sky. 324 00:21:13,403 --> 00:21:15,243 This bright white light, 325 00:21:15,243 --> 00:21:17,523 with a trail on it, like a comet, 326 00:21:17,523 --> 00:21:21,523 comes sailing in and then it explodes right above us. 327 00:21:21,523 --> 00:21:26,923 And... And these flaming sort of chunks of rock 328 00:21:26,923 --> 00:21:29,683 were coming off, and they were... 329 00:21:29,683 --> 00:21:32,803 People were just scrambling and, like, trying not to get hit, 330 00:21:32,803 --> 00:21:35,123 and, you know, "What the hell is that?" 331 00:21:37,283 --> 00:21:40,683 I got hit in the back, in my pack, 332 00:21:40,683 --> 00:21:42,723 and it just burned right through my pack. 333 00:21:42,723 --> 00:21:44,803 It burned through my sleeping bag. 334 00:21:47,883 --> 00:21:50,363 As I learned later, it was phosphorous, white phosphorous, 335 00:21:50,363 --> 00:21:54,043 and those are our - meaning American - rounds. 336 00:21:54,043 --> 00:21:57,083 I mean, those were fired by American guys. 337 00:21:58,963 --> 00:22:01,323 Like, at what? For what? 338 00:22:01,323 --> 00:22:04,203 Uh, at whom? Like, I had no idea. 339 00:22:08,443 --> 00:22:10,323 We go from there, 340 00:22:10,323 --> 00:22:13,643 still on this road, like, 200 metres into Fallujah. 341 00:22:13,643 --> 00:22:18,203 We're right on the edge of the city, and it's... It's a big city. 342 00:22:21,603 --> 00:22:25,163 And then they get to this road that they called Phase Line Cathy, 343 00:22:25,163 --> 00:22:28,403 and it's this big east-west road that crosses Fallujah. 344 00:22:28,403 --> 00:22:31,403 And just to get to that road, 345 00:22:31,403 --> 00:22:33,163 it took them all morning. 346 00:22:33,163 --> 00:22:34,603 Hours and hours of fighting. 347 00:22:34,603 --> 00:22:37,003 Like, every step of the way, they had to fight. 348 00:22:38,283 --> 00:22:41,083 Spread out, squallers! Spread them out! 349 00:22:41,083 --> 00:22:42,723 Like, you're running down the street, 350 00:22:42,723 --> 00:22:45,283 and you can hear the bullets ricocheting around you, like, 351 00:22:45,283 --> 00:22:47,483 bouncing off the street, coming off the concrete. 352 00:22:47,483 --> 00:22:49,403 GUNFIRE, BULLETS RICOCHET 353 00:22:51,923 --> 00:22:53,603 And then it stops. 354 00:22:53,603 --> 00:22:57,123 And you get up to this area that the fire was coming from, 355 00:22:57,123 --> 00:22:58,883 and there's the Marine Scout team up there 356 00:22:58,883 --> 00:23:01,003 and three dead insurgents on the road. 357 00:23:08,443 --> 00:23:10,283 Whoo, yeah! 358 00:23:10,283 --> 00:23:12,443 EXPLOSION 359 00:23:15,283 --> 00:23:18,043 The first house we cleared was a little bit of chaos. 360 00:23:18,043 --> 00:23:20,083 A lot of adrenaline rushing. 361 00:23:20,083 --> 00:23:22,643 Fortunately there was no insurgents in that house. 362 00:23:22,643 --> 00:23:26,123 But it wasn't exactly how we planned. There was a lot of people 363 00:23:26,123 --> 00:23:29,443 in there, we were congested, and it's not how we do things. 364 00:23:29,443 --> 00:23:31,843 But we wanted to make entry, and... 365 00:23:32,923 --> 00:23:36,083 ..in Fallujah, the safest place you can be is inside a cleared house. 366 00:23:38,163 --> 00:23:41,123 And now we're in this house on a corner 367 00:23:41,123 --> 00:23:43,203 and we had to cross this road to get to the cultural, 368 00:23:43,203 --> 00:23:45,043 what they were calling the cultural centre - 369 00:23:45,043 --> 00:23:47,363 this big, like, five-storey, four-storey building 370 00:23:47,363 --> 00:23:48,803 on the other side of the street. 371 00:23:50,363 --> 00:23:54,043 And so one of the lieutenants stands at the gate and says, 372 00:23:54,043 --> 00:23:56,763 "All right, go. First platoon go." 373 00:23:56,763 --> 00:23:59,283 And these 40 guys like, 374 00:23:59,283 --> 00:24:02,083 stacked, stream out and just run across this street 375 00:24:02,083 --> 00:24:03,763 and then it begins. 376 00:24:03,763 --> 00:24:05,403 GUNFIRE 377 00:24:07,883 --> 00:24:10,363 All of this gunfire starts. 378 00:24:10,363 --> 00:24:12,603 A guy falls on the street. 379 00:24:12,603 --> 00:24:15,283 Second platoon goes out. 380 00:24:15,283 --> 00:24:18,963 Some guys drag this guy out of the street... 381 00:24:18,963 --> 00:24:21,243 ..and another guy gets dropped. 382 00:24:31,723 --> 00:24:34,243 And then I'm with this last platoon sitting in this house 383 00:24:34,243 --> 00:24:37,643 and I remember saying to Dexter, like, "I really... 384 00:24:37,643 --> 00:24:39,403 "I don't know if I can do this." 385 00:24:39,403 --> 00:24:41,803 Like, you're running straight into gunfire. 386 00:24:43,643 --> 00:24:45,763 And I don't remember what he said, but... 387 00:24:45,763 --> 00:24:48,963 I remember them just shouting, like, "Third platoon, go, go, go!" 388 00:24:48,963 --> 00:24:51,643 so I watched everybody go out and then just ran. 389 00:24:51,643 --> 00:24:56,203 And they say time slows down, but it really, it really does. 390 00:24:56,203 --> 00:25:00,843 Like, you can feel every step that you're taking. 391 00:25:00,843 --> 00:25:04,363 You can see everything taking place in slow motion around you. 392 00:25:07,563 --> 00:25:12,043 I saw so many bodies and I saw so many marines go down, 393 00:25:12,043 --> 00:25:14,803 but I never saw an insurgent. 394 00:25:14,803 --> 00:25:18,083 Like, I never saw an insurgent alive, with a gun. 395 00:25:18,083 --> 00:25:19,443 They were ghosts. 396 00:25:19,443 --> 00:25:21,083 GUNSHOT 397 00:25:21,083 --> 00:25:24,523 They blended in with this environment so perfectly. 398 00:25:25,723 --> 00:25:27,083 GUNFIRE 399 00:25:28,883 --> 00:25:30,043 Where is it? 400 00:25:30,043 --> 00:25:32,763 It's coming from in there. 401 00:25:32,763 --> 00:25:33,963 Aah! 402 00:25:36,883 --> 00:25:38,803 Is he inside? 403 00:25:36,883 --> 00:25:38,803 GUNFIRE 404 00:25:38,803 --> 00:25:40,083 Watch out! 405 00:25:41,363 --> 00:25:42,843 GUNFIRE 406 00:25:42,843 --> 00:25:44,123 You got him! 407 00:25:44,123 --> 00:25:46,443 GUNSHOTS 408 00:25:50,243 --> 00:25:54,323 Hey! He's wounded, in between these two houses. 409 00:25:54,323 --> 00:25:56,363 GUNSHOT 410 00:25:56,363 --> 00:25:57,563 He's done. 411 00:25:57,563 --> 00:25:58,963 Hold on, I got one! 412 00:26:03,923 --> 00:26:07,963 Our mission was to clear the city of insurgents. 413 00:26:07,963 --> 00:26:12,123 It's not right to use the term seek and destroy, but... 414 00:26:12,123 --> 00:26:14,563 ..it was a full-on frontal assault, 415 00:26:14,563 --> 00:26:16,523 into the city of Fallujah, 416 00:26:16,523 --> 00:26:19,883 and you don't stop until everybody stops shooting. 417 00:26:24,403 --> 00:26:27,323 EXPLOSION 418 00:26:29,083 --> 00:26:31,443 When you have 8,000 of them 419 00:26:31,443 --> 00:26:34,723 moving into a town like that with all their firepower, 420 00:26:34,723 --> 00:26:37,763 it's a terrifying, uh, force. 421 00:26:37,763 --> 00:26:43,123 I mean, 50 marines is a terrifying force. 422 00:26:43,123 --> 00:26:45,483 8,000 is just a massive killing machine. 423 00:27:03,923 --> 00:27:05,123 Target! 424 00:27:26,883 --> 00:27:29,043 TRANSLATION: 425 00:28:32,843 --> 00:28:34,603 EXPLOSION 426 00:28:35,803 --> 00:28:40,523 For a few long days, Ashley and Dexter moved with 1/8 Company 427 00:28:40,523 --> 00:28:42,843 as they pushed deep into Fallujah, 428 00:28:42,843 --> 00:28:45,843 clearing houses and coming under sustained attack. 429 00:28:45,843 --> 00:28:48,003 GUNFIRE 430 00:28:48,003 --> 00:28:50,683 Once you start getting shot at, it all changes. 431 00:28:50,683 --> 00:28:53,083 Once you start getting shot at and don't run for the hills, 432 00:28:53,083 --> 00:28:55,363 then you start building trust really quickly. 433 00:28:55,363 --> 00:28:56,643 Because they realise... 434 00:28:56,643 --> 00:28:59,283 And I heard this from multiple different military units - 435 00:28:59,283 --> 00:29:02,563 they think that the way we work as journalists, 436 00:29:02,563 --> 00:29:06,443 is we have a template, an idea of what they're doing, 437 00:29:06,443 --> 00:29:08,923 and we are going out there to show how bad they are. 438 00:29:10,363 --> 00:29:12,563 But once you cross the wire with them, 439 00:29:12,563 --> 00:29:15,523 then they start saying, "Ah, OK. 440 00:29:15,523 --> 00:29:18,203 "You're here to see how it really is." 441 00:29:18,203 --> 00:29:22,963 And I think that as the war dragged on, 442 00:29:22,963 --> 00:29:25,723 the marines, and, like, the grunts, 443 00:29:25,723 --> 00:29:27,843 these door-kickers, the trigger pullers, 444 00:29:27,843 --> 00:29:31,043 they realised nobody gave a shit what they were doing in Iraq. 445 00:29:31,043 --> 00:29:35,203 So we would come out and actually tell stories, their stories. 446 00:29:36,483 --> 00:29:39,523 Well, it turns out Dex and Ash held their ground pretty well. 447 00:29:39,523 --> 00:29:42,963 They kept themselves out of as much trouble as they could 448 00:29:42,963 --> 00:29:45,563 and the times where they got themselves into trouble 449 00:29:45,563 --> 00:29:46,883 we were there to help them, 450 00:29:46,883 --> 00:29:49,683 and it was never really a burden on us to have them there. 451 00:29:49,683 --> 00:29:53,003 I mean, these guys were, like, in the thick of it, 452 00:29:53,003 --> 00:29:54,643 terrified just like we were. 453 00:29:54,643 --> 00:29:56,283 We'd been trained for it. 454 00:29:56,283 --> 00:29:58,123 We have weapons to defend ourselves 455 00:29:58,123 --> 00:30:00,163 and body armour and that type of stuff. 456 00:30:00,163 --> 00:30:03,363 Those guys were just... thrown right into it, 457 00:30:03,363 --> 00:30:06,043 like, "Go get 'em." You know? "Go tell the story." 458 00:30:07,403 --> 00:30:11,603 Ashley and I just... It was so hard trying to file our stuff, you know, 459 00:30:11,603 --> 00:30:13,363 like, I'm trying to write my story 460 00:30:13,363 --> 00:30:15,883 and Ashley is trying to file his pictures, 461 00:30:15,883 --> 00:30:17,963 and I was always looking for electricity. 462 00:30:17,963 --> 00:30:20,003 And so I remember, it was like the first day, 463 00:30:20,003 --> 00:30:22,563 I don't know what I was thinking, but I ran into the street 464 00:30:22,563 --> 00:30:25,483 because there was a car out there, and, you know, pulled the lid up 465 00:30:25,483 --> 00:30:28,643 and tried to put my little battery clips on the car battery. 466 00:30:29,763 --> 00:30:31,483 I don't want to think about that, 467 00:30:31,483 --> 00:30:34,043 cos there were snipers everywhere. 468 00:30:34,043 --> 00:30:37,603 I remember thinking, like, "This dude is insane. That is crazy." 469 00:30:37,603 --> 00:30:39,883 Like, he's in the middle of... 470 00:30:39,883 --> 00:30:44,403 Like, so many guys have just been shot on this exact corner. 471 00:30:44,403 --> 00:30:46,203 The insurgents are everywhere. 472 00:30:46,203 --> 00:30:47,483 And Dexter's out there 473 00:30:47,483 --> 00:30:49,883 trying to pull a car battery out of a burnt-out car. 474 00:30:49,883 --> 00:30:51,403 Of course the battery doesn't work. 475 00:30:51,403 --> 00:30:53,683 Cos it's a fucking bombed, burnt-out car. 476 00:30:53,683 --> 00:30:55,243 But it... 477 00:30:56,483 --> 00:30:58,683 It was classic Dexter. 478 00:30:58,683 --> 00:31:00,963 Like, he will file, no matter what. 479 00:31:00,963 --> 00:31:02,403 GUNFIRE 480 00:31:02,403 --> 00:31:07,203 I remember one night I decided to sleep on the roof 481 00:31:07,203 --> 00:31:09,523 and a couple of hours later I woke up 482 00:31:09,523 --> 00:31:12,363 because there was something hot on my neck. 483 00:31:12,363 --> 00:31:15,083 I tried to brush it off and then it was hot in my hands, 484 00:31:15,083 --> 00:31:17,003 and it's brass casings. 485 00:31:17,003 --> 00:31:19,123 There was... While I was sleeping, 486 00:31:19,123 --> 00:31:21,683 a machine-gunner had come up above me. 487 00:31:21,683 --> 00:31:24,723 Somehow I'd slept through this machine-gun automatic fire. 488 00:31:26,283 --> 00:31:28,163 So, then, like, I stretch, I wake up, 489 00:31:28,163 --> 00:31:30,723 like, "OK, I gotta get out, gotta go, gotta work." 490 00:31:33,083 --> 00:31:37,363 And then I'm like, "Shit. My sleeping bag is wet. 491 00:31:37,363 --> 00:31:40,083 "Some asshole must have spilt water on me." 492 00:31:40,083 --> 00:31:44,243 No. I had also pissed myself in my sleep. 493 00:31:44,243 --> 00:31:47,683 And I get out of my sleeping bag, I was wearing blue jeans. 494 00:31:47,683 --> 00:31:50,323 And I had this, like, huge wet patch on my jeans and like... 495 00:31:51,643 --> 00:31:54,963 Why I'm embarrassed in front of all these marines, I don't know - 496 00:31:54,963 --> 00:31:57,763 I shouldn't give a shit. But I did. I was so embarrassed. 497 00:31:57,763 --> 00:31:59,923 So I went downstairs. 498 00:31:59,923 --> 00:32:01,803 "Morning, lads." 499 00:32:01,803 --> 00:32:03,643 Kept going downstairs to see what they were doing, 500 00:32:03,643 --> 00:32:05,203 like, what are they shooting at? 501 00:32:06,843 --> 00:32:09,683 And they've got these guys 502 00:32:09,683 --> 00:32:12,683 with no shirts on, who are coming in off the street. 503 00:32:12,683 --> 00:32:14,283 And the sun is rising. 504 00:32:15,763 --> 00:32:18,843 And it was in that moment that I shot the only picture 505 00:32:18,843 --> 00:32:20,803 of the Iraq war that I think 506 00:32:20,803 --> 00:32:23,083 even comes close to being a successful picture. 507 00:32:23,083 --> 00:32:25,563 Like, I regard the work that I did in Iraq as a total failure. 508 00:32:25,563 --> 00:32:28,443 People look at all my Iraq pictures like, "Wow, looks like a movie" - 509 00:32:28,443 --> 00:32:29,843 like, fuck you. 510 00:32:29,843 --> 00:32:31,723 Or fuck me. I failed. 511 00:32:31,723 --> 00:32:34,043 If you think that my work looks like a movie, 512 00:32:34,043 --> 00:32:35,603 it means that you're disassociating 513 00:32:35,603 --> 00:32:38,363 from the reality that is in those pictures. 514 00:32:38,363 --> 00:32:40,603 But this one picture that I made in that moment 515 00:32:40,603 --> 00:32:43,643 while I was trying to dry piss off my jeans so I wasn't embarrassed... 516 00:32:45,003 --> 00:32:48,603 ..is the only time that I think that I inched towards 517 00:32:48,603 --> 00:32:50,843 understanding how we fight. 518 00:32:50,843 --> 00:32:53,163 Which was what my intention was 519 00:32:53,163 --> 00:32:56,363 in spending that much time with angry men with guns. 520 00:32:58,363 --> 00:33:01,283 It's called The University Of Jihad, Motherfucker. 521 00:33:01,283 --> 00:33:02,963 Cos when the guys were detained, 522 00:33:02,963 --> 00:33:05,483 the marine said, "What are you doing here? 523 00:33:05,483 --> 00:33:08,283 And the detainee said, "We're here studying." 524 00:33:08,283 --> 00:33:11,683 And the marine said, "Yeah, University of Jihad, Motherfucker." 525 00:33:13,683 --> 00:33:15,523 A couple of days goes by, 526 00:33:15,523 --> 00:33:19,203 and, like, I settle into some rubble on another night, next to Dexter. 527 00:33:19,203 --> 00:33:23,323 And I say, "Goodnight," and he says. "Goodnight. 528 00:33:23,323 --> 00:33:25,163 "Don't piss yourself." 529 00:33:27,843 --> 00:33:29,763 Smart arse. 530 00:33:52,963 --> 00:33:55,483 SHELL FIRE 531 00:33:58,003 --> 00:34:00,243 EXPLOSION 532 00:34:00,243 --> 00:34:01,883 TRANSLATION: 533 00:35:00,603 --> 00:35:03,243 Many local men fled Fallujah, 534 00:35:03,243 --> 00:35:07,763 but Nidhal's husband Ahmed decided to stay with her and their son. 535 00:35:40,803 --> 00:35:43,923 EXPLOSION 536 00:36:43,323 --> 00:36:45,043 CHILD CRYING 537 00:37:31,483 --> 00:37:33,123 EXPLOSION 538 00:38:34,083 --> 00:38:35,923 GUNSHOT 539 00:38:46,363 --> 00:38:50,523 When I was 13 years old, I killed this deer 540 00:38:50,523 --> 00:38:54,963 in Centerville, Texas, and it was a real long shot. 541 00:38:56,323 --> 00:38:57,883 17 steps. 542 00:38:59,363 --> 00:39:01,763 17 steps! 543 00:39:01,763 --> 00:39:03,683 Why don't you go hunting any more 544 00:39:03,683 --> 00:39:05,923 and fishing any more like you used to? 545 00:39:05,923 --> 00:39:09,723 I don't know. It just doesn't do anything for me any more. 546 00:39:09,723 --> 00:39:13,363 And after Billy died, I just lost a lot of, um... 547 00:39:14,563 --> 00:39:15,963 ..get up and go. 548 00:39:17,043 --> 00:39:19,483 This is a Corsican ram. 549 00:39:19,483 --> 00:39:21,083 Billy killed that one. 550 00:39:23,003 --> 00:39:26,283 And Billy killed this one here. 551 00:39:29,443 --> 00:39:30,963 Look here, Billy. 552 00:39:34,723 --> 00:39:37,243 Look at it again. Billy. 553 00:39:37,243 --> 00:39:38,763 GIRL LAUGHS 554 00:39:51,363 --> 00:39:54,523 By the 15th of November, 2004, 555 00:39:54,523 --> 00:39:57,443 just a week after entering Fallujah, 556 00:39:57,443 --> 00:40:01,003 Bravo Company had almost finished the first part of their mission. 557 00:40:04,843 --> 00:40:08,003 Fallujah's this weird town. It looks like a movie set. 558 00:40:08,003 --> 00:40:10,323 And there's these very defined borders 559 00:40:10,323 --> 00:40:12,603 and then after those borders, it's just desert. 560 00:40:13,843 --> 00:40:16,723 So, we went from the top of the city all the way to the bottom, 561 00:40:16,723 --> 00:40:19,443 one end to the other, and we got to the end, 562 00:40:19,443 --> 00:40:23,883 and, like, the street ended and then the desert started. 563 00:40:23,883 --> 00:40:26,683 MACHINE-GUN FIRE 564 00:40:28,203 --> 00:40:32,123 Fallujah is the City of Mosques. It's called the City of Mosques. 565 00:40:32,123 --> 00:40:34,403 And the insurgents knew that the Americans 566 00:40:34,403 --> 00:40:35,923 couldn't go into the mosque 567 00:40:35,923 --> 00:40:39,043 so they would use them to stage and attack the marines 568 00:40:39,043 --> 00:40:40,923 cos they knew that they had more safety there 569 00:40:40,923 --> 00:40:42,363 than they did in a regular place. 570 00:40:43,803 --> 00:40:48,283 So this mosque just short of the southern edge of Fallujah - 571 00:40:48,283 --> 00:40:51,243 a tank fired a shell through the minaret. 572 00:40:53,643 --> 00:40:57,643 And they apparently killed the insurgent who was inside, 573 00:40:57,643 --> 00:41:00,283 and I said, "I've got to go and see that." 574 00:41:00,283 --> 00:41:05,163 I needed...a photograph as evidence, as a reporter, 575 00:41:05,163 --> 00:41:08,323 to show that these mosques were being used as staging grounds. 576 00:41:08,323 --> 00:41:11,243 A picture of a dead insurgent inside a minaret 577 00:41:11,243 --> 00:41:13,323 showed that without question... 578 00:41:14,643 --> 00:41:16,403 ..these spaces were being violated 579 00:41:16,403 --> 00:41:19,683 and were therefore no longer protected by the Geneva Convention. 580 00:41:19,683 --> 00:41:23,683 So we went to the Captain and said, "Hey, man, can you please," 581 00:41:23,683 --> 00:41:25,363 you know, "radio everybody and tell them 582 00:41:25,363 --> 00:41:27,843 "that we're gonna be running up the street to this mosque 583 00:41:27,843 --> 00:41:29,763 "and just tell everyone not to shoot us." 584 00:41:31,283 --> 00:41:33,683 And this time Reed said, "No. 585 00:41:33,683 --> 00:41:36,123 "If you wanna go, this time you gotta go with the squad 586 00:41:36,123 --> 00:41:38,083 "because it's too dangerous out there." 587 00:41:38,083 --> 00:41:42,603 And I said, "No, I've got a policy against... 588 00:41:42,603 --> 00:41:44,203 "like, this non-intervention policy 589 00:41:44,203 --> 00:41:47,603 "where, like, stuff shouldn't happen on account of me." 590 00:41:51,883 --> 00:41:54,523 So, the Captain said, "Well, you can't go." 591 00:41:55,643 --> 00:41:57,523 And I said, "Well, I need the picture." 592 00:42:01,203 --> 00:42:03,803 Dexter and I agreed to it. 593 00:42:03,803 --> 00:42:05,523 That we would go with the squad. 594 00:42:08,123 --> 00:42:13,323 I was chosen to lead a patrol, along with my Lieutenant, 595 00:42:13,323 --> 00:42:18,083 out down to this minaret that was 400m away, maybe, 596 00:42:18,083 --> 00:42:20,203 that had this dead sniper in it. 597 00:42:20,203 --> 00:42:23,163 What did you think about doing this job? I was angry. 598 00:42:24,483 --> 00:42:26,923 I did not want to do it in the first place, 599 00:42:26,923 --> 00:42:29,083 because we were pretty much done with the city, 600 00:42:29,083 --> 00:42:31,843 so for me it was like that one last patrol thing 601 00:42:31,843 --> 00:42:34,043 and I'm just like, "I don't want to do this," you know, 602 00:42:34,043 --> 00:42:35,523 just so he could take a picture? 603 00:42:36,643 --> 00:42:39,403 You know, all right, if that's the job and that's the mission 604 00:42:39,403 --> 00:42:42,363 then that's what I'll do, but I don't agree with this at all. 605 00:42:42,363 --> 00:42:43,963 WHISTLES 606 00:42:47,243 --> 00:42:52,483 I remember the moment I thought, "Maybe this isn't a good idea." 607 00:42:52,483 --> 00:42:55,203 We were walking towards the minaret. 608 00:42:55,203 --> 00:43:00,003 And, you know, Fallujah had been so violent, 609 00:43:00,003 --> 00:43:02,563 so destructive, 610 00:43:02,563 --> 00:43:05,843 smoke and ruin everywhere. 611 00:43:05,843 --> 00:43:09,043 And we were walking to the minaret. 612 00:43:09,043 --> 00:43:13,043 And for the first time in a week. it was quiet. 613 00:43:13,043 --> 00:43:14,723 There was nothing. 614 00:43:20,883 --> 00:43:24,203 If you could picture, you kind of enter a compound 615 00:43:24,203 --> 00:43:30,883 and the main mosque is kind of to your direct front and left. 616 00:43:30,883 --> 00:43:34,523 The minaret is to your direct front and right. 617 00:43:34,523 --> 00:43:37,403 And there's two groups of auxiliary buildings. 618 00:43:39,923 --> 00:43:42,363 So we clear out these auxiliary buildings, 619 00:43:42,363 --> 00:43:43,923 we clear out the mosque... 620 00:43:46,443 --> 00:43:49,483 And the last building left is the minaret, 621 00:43:49,483 --> 00:43:51,523 so we're going to go clear the minaret, 622 00:43:51,523 --> 00:43:54,203 see if we can get up and find this sniper, dead sniper. 623 00:43:58,843 --> 00:44:00,963 And when we got to the base of the minaret, 624 00:44:00,963 --> 00:44:04,483 Lance Corporal Billy Miller was stacked at the door. 625 00:44:04,483 --> 00:44:07,403 And he said, "Hey, Dominguez, come stack on me." 626 00:44:07,403 --> 00:44:10,683 Stack means "get behind me and let's go up there together." 627 00:44:14,283 --> 00:44:16,643 Ashley Gilbertson was there 628 00:44:16,643 --> 00:44:19,083 and with his Australian voice he was trying to tell us, 629 00:44:19,083 --> 00:44:21,483 "Hey, you stay back, I'm just going to go run up there 630 00:44:21,483 --> 00:44:23,403 "and take a quick picture." 631 00:44:23,403 --> 00:44:25,523 I wanted to get the picture and just leave. 632 00:44:25,523 --> 00:44:28,523 Get out of there as soon as we could so that nothing happened. 633 00:44:29,843 --> 00:44:33,083 Before we went there, a marine stopped me 634 00:44:33,083 --> 00:44:35,883 and said, "I've got to go ahead and clear it." 635 00:44:35,883 --> 00:44:39,203 So...that was Lance Corporal William Miller. 636 00:44:39,203 --> 00:44:41,643 He went up first. 637 00:44:41,643 --> 00:44:45,203 He was followed by Christian Dominguez, 638 00:44:45,203 --> 00:44:46,763 then me, 639 00:44:46,763 --> 00:44:50,163 and Dexter was apparently behind me. I didn't turn around to see. 640 00:44:53,363 --> 00:44:55,443 Itself, the minaret was scary. 641 00:44:55,443 --> 00:44:57,443 It was dark, the stairs were creaky, 642 00:44:57,443 --> 00:44:59,603 you know, the bricks were... 643 00:44:59,603 --> 00:45:02,363 It just seemed like the whole thing was going to fall apart anyway. 644 00:45:03,763 --> 00:45:07,963 We're climbing and it's just the sound of rubble, 645 00:45:07,963 --> 00:45:11,403 like crunching concrete under our feet when we're climbing. 646 00:45:11,403 --> 00:45:15,083 There was a whole bunch of rubble on these stairs, 647 00:45:15,083 --> 00:45:17,363 like, it was such a confined area. 648 00:45:17,363 --> 00:45:19,963 I mean, it wasn't much wider than this chair. 649 00:45:19,963 --> 00:45:21,963 And we're walking up there and... 650 00:45:23,163 --> 00:45:26,963 The steps were pretty big in that Billy Miller was going up 651 00:45:26,963 --> 00:45:29,923 and he was almost a full step ahead of me. 652 00:45:31,323 --> 00:45:33,443 And we kept tripping, 653 00:45:33,443 --> 00:45:37,643 and he almost said something. He almost said... 654 00:45:37,643 --> 00:45:38,803 "Shit." 655 00:45:44,683 --> 00:45:49,403 And just as you start to get a little bit of light 656 00:45:49,403 --> 00:45:50,763 through a hole in the wall, 657 00:45:50,763 --> 00:45:53,563 from where the tank shell went through and killed this insurgent... 658 00:45:55,003 --> 00:45:58,683 ..and I'm thinking, "This is almost over. Get my picture and get out." 659 00:45:58,683 --> 00:46:00,563 Then there was a gunshot. 660 00:46:00,563 --> 00:46:03,763 Maybe multiple gunshots. 661 00:46:00,563 --> 00:46:03,763 GUNSHOT 662 00:46:05,763 --> 00:46:07,203 And I felt water all over me. 663 00:46:08,603 --> 00:46:11,603 You know, immediately I thought, shit, somebody released their rifle 664 00:46:11,603 --> 00:46:13,923 by accident and shot these CamelBaks that they all wear, 665 00:46:13,923 --> 00:46:16,763 it's like these little backpacks filled with water. 666 00:46:18,043 --> 00:46:19,843 Then I heard Dominguez screaming. 667 00:46:29,203 --> 00:46:31,723 We basically walked into this guy's muzzle. 668 00:46:33,523 --> 00:46:35,723 I saw a guy's hand laying down, 669 00:46:35,723 --> 00:46:38,563 and he was laying down the stairs 670 00:46:38,563 --> 00:46:42,123 and we basically walked right into his gun. 671 00:46:42,123 --> 00:46:44,643 He shot Miller in the face... 672 00:46:45,723 --> 00:46:48,963 ..and then Miller's body kind of turned and then he shot. 673 00:46:48,963 --> 00:46:51,923 And at this point Miller kind of fell down 674 00:46:51,923 --> 00:46:57,003 and I was standing just below Miller 675 00:46:57,003 --> 00:47:00,323 and the shots.... This guy was lighting up the wall, 676 00:47:00,323 --> 00:47:02,443 shooting relentlessly, 677 00:47:02,443 --> 00:47:04,523 and the rocks were exploding in my face, 678 00:47:04,523 --> 00:47:08,323 and it was so loud because of how confined the area was. 679 00:47:08,323 --> 00:47:09,923 And then I just remember, like, 680 00:47:09,923 --> 00:47:12,283 all of us starting to run down these stairs. 681 00:47:13,683 --> 00:47:15,763 And I remember falling 682 00:47:15,763 --> 00:47:17,323 and just rolling. 683 00:47:21,443 --> 00:47:23,083 We rolled out of this minaret... 684 00:47:25,763 --> 00:47:29,123 ..and I looked down at my camera 685 00:47:29,123 --> 00:47:30,483 and my hands... 686 00:47:32,323 --> 00:47:34,163 ..and it wasn't water. 687 00:47:34,163 --> 00:47:37,523 It was blood, and brain, and... 688 00:47:40,523 --> 00:47:42,163 It was Billy, like, just... 689 00:47:45,003 --> 00:47:46,163 ..all over me. 690 00:47:47,643 --> 00:47:50,723 Ashley was just, like, in a complete state of shock. 691 00:47:50,723 --> 00:47:56,603 He... I just remember him sitting there kind of mumbling to himself. 692 00:47:56,603 --> 00:48:00,083 His helmet was on crooked and he was just saying, 693 00:48:00,083 --> 00:48:02,323 "My fault, my fault, my fault, my fault, my fault..." 694 00:48:06,803 --> 00:48:08,603 I couldn't breathe. 695 00:48:08,603 --> 00:48:11,283 And Sam Williams was down there, 696 00:48:11,283 --> 00:48:14,123 and he said, "Dominguez, what happened?" 697 00:48:14,123 --> 00:48:17,523 And out of some... I remember hearing my voice was weird, 698 00:48:17,523 --> 00:48:20,363 and saying, "Miller's dead," 699 00:48:20,363 --> 00:48:23,723 and the look of confusion on his face, like, "What?" 700 00:48:23,723 --> 00:48:26,283 SHOUTING 701 00:48:26,283 --> 00:48:28,203 Everybody came running out of the building. 702 00:48:29,603 --> 00:48:31,123 Except Billy. 703 00:48:32,843 --> 00:48:36,043 So obviously we were going back in to get him. 704 00:48:36,043 --> 00:48:39,323 I don't care about that picture or anything at this point - 705 00:48:39,323 --> 00:48:40,843 we've gotta get Billy out of here. 706 00:48:40,843 --> 00:48:42,523 We've gotta get our wounded out of here. 707 00:48:42,523 --> 00:48:44,003 GUNFIRE 708 00:48:46,323 --> 00:48:48,963 And it was a relentless effort to go up there 709 00:48:48,963 --> 00:48:52,603 and retrieve Miller's body and take out the threat that was up there. 710 00:48:54,243 --> 00:48:55,963 SHELL FIRE 711 00:48:57,923 --> 00:49:00,243 They tried to go up there a couple of times. 712 00:49:01,723 --> 00:49:03,483 And on like the second or third time 713 00:49:03,483 --> 00:49:06,003 they were able to go up there and get his body out. 714 00:49:06,003 --> 00:49:07,363 They dragged Billy out. 715 00:49:09,043 --> 00:49:10,563 They put him onto a stretcher. 716 00:49:12,483 --> 00:49:14,363 And I remember thinking... 717 00:49:14,363 --> 00:49:15,763 "Don't look. 718 00:49:17,003 --> 00:49:18,683 "Because what you see will... 719 00:49:20,963 --> 00:49:24,243 "What you see, you did, and what you see will... 720 00:49:25,523 --> 00:49:27,163 "You can't look." 721 00:49:31,403 --> 00:49:33,083 So I turned around and looked. 722 00:49:40,563 --> 00:49:43,483 He said, you know, "Please tell me he's not dead, please tell me, 723 00:49:43,483 --> 00:49:45,763 "please tell me, please tell me he's not dead." 724 00:49:45,763 --> 00:49:48,403 And so it fell to me to tell him that he was. 725 00:49:51,643 --> 00:49:54,683 I had stashed Dexter and Ashley in the mosque 726 00:49:54,683 --> 00:49:56,643 because it was the most secure building. 727 00:49:56,643 --> 00:49:59,323 I tell the Lieutenant, "OK, we're getting out of here. 728 00:49:59,323 --> 00:50:02,683 "The mission's over. We're going home." 729 00:50:02,683 --> 00:50:06,443 I've got Billy's weapon in my hand and my weapon is slung, 730 00:50:06,443 --> 00:50:08,723 so I come around the corner into the mosque, 731 00:50:08,723 --> 00:50:12,443 and I was like, "You're gonna take this and hold it," 732 00:50:12,443 --> 00:50:14,083 I said, "And when I count to three 733 00:50:14,083 --> 00:50:17,443 "you and you are gonna run out this door and stay right behind me." 734 00:50:20,483 --> 00:50:22,403 GUNFIRE 735 00:50:22,403 --> 00:50:26,763 And we ran down the street back to the firm base. 736 00:50:26,763 --> 00:50:28,323 The second we started running, 737 00:50:28,323 --> 00:50:32,043 a machine-gun opened fire from insurgents behind us. 738 00:50:32,043 --> 00:50:34,003 MACHINE-GUN FIRE 739 00:50:37,483 --> 00:50:41,083 And at that point I felt like we were surrounded. 740 00:50:41,083 --> 00:50:43,043 There were shots coming from everywhere. 741 00:50:43,043 --> 00:50:45,403 We had been there for a little bit too long. 742 00:50:45,403 --> 00:50:48,723 And...I remember our tactics 743 00:50:48,723 --> 00:50:51,123 not living up to what they should have been at that moment 744 00:50:51,123 --> 00:50:53,963 and we kind of lost a little bit of discipline. 745 00:50:53,963 --> 00:50:57,283 MACHINE-GUN FIRE 746 00:50:59,003 --> 00:51:01,283 We made it back to the base. Nobody else was shot. 747 00:51:02,443 --> 00:51:03,603 Sam... 748 00:51:05,243 --> 00:51:06,723 ..told us.... 749 00:51:09,603 --> 00:51:11,763 ..that this is what happens in war. 750 00:51:16,123 --> 00:51:18,283 That it wasn't our fault. 751 00:51:18,283 --> 00:51:19,763 We went to the Lieutenant. 752 00:51:19,763 --> 00:51:21,883 I said, "I'm sorry, it's my fault, I know." 753 00:51:21,883 --> 00:51:23,443 He said, "Yeah, it's your fault." 754 00:51:30,083 --> 00:51:32,003 CRYING: And then I called my editor and said, 755 00:51:32,003 --> 00:51:33,403 "I have to get out of here." 756 00:51:47,083 --> 00:51:48,763 TRANSLATION: 757 00:52:04,483 --> 00:52:08,283 According to the UN, around 600 civilians 758 00:52:08,283 --> 00:52:10,803 died in the attack on Fallujah. 759 00:52:10,803 --> 00:52:12,923 Mustafa was one of the lucky ones. 760 00:52:16,923 --> 00:52:20,963 He was among ten children identified by a US NGO 761 00:52:20,963 --> 00:52:24,603 who paid for them to come and live in America for a few months 762 00:52:24,603 --> 00:52:29,003 so that they could receive treatment for their injuries. 763 00:52:29,003 --> 00:52:31,003 Get ready! You better get ready! 764 00:52:31,003 --> 00:52:32,643 Get ready, here it comes. 765 00:52:34,443 --> 00:52:36,323 Whoa! 766 00:52:36,323 --> 00:52:37,963 TRANSLATION: 767 00:52:47,443 --> 00:52:51,043 OK, so can you ask Mustafa to watch me? 768 00:52:51,043 --> 00:52:53,323 NIDHAL TRANSLATES 769 00:53:08,683 --> 00:53:10,323 MUSTAFA LAUGHS 770 00:53:45,563 --> 00:53:48,683 NEWSREADER: A private graveside service happening now 771 00:53:48,683 --> 00:53:50,803 with the closest of family 772 00:53:50,803 --> 00:53:54,683 as they bid their final farewell to their patriarch, 773 00:53:54,683 --> 00:53:56,843 President George HW Bush. 774 00:53:58,323 --> 00:54:01,203 "Let future generations understand 775 00:54:01,203 --> 00:54:04,443 "the burden and the blessings of freedom." 776 00:54:04,443 --> 00:54:09,963 It means that all the people in this country that don't understand 777 00:54:09,963 --> 00:54:15,043 what the men and women are dying for - they need to understand it. 778 00:54:15,043 --> 00:54:19,403 My son was one of the ones that didn't come back. 779 00:54:19,403 --> 00:54:22,083 But in some ways... 780 00:54:22,083 --> 00:54:24,443 ..he's better off, 781 00:54:24,443 --> 00:54:27,163 because he doesn't have to live with the guilt 782 00:54:27,163 --> 00:54:29,403 that so many of them are living with, 783 00:54:29,403 --> 00:54:33,243 because they did come back and their buddies didn't. 784 00:54:33,243 --> 00:54:37,243 I know that Ashley has a lot of guilt. 785 00:54:38,683 --> 00:54:43,083 But...he was doing what he was supposed to do, 786 00:54:43,083 --> 00:54:45,163 and Billy was doing his job. 787 00:54:45,163 --> 00:54:48,043 He loved being a Marine. He really, really did. 788 00:54:50,243 --> 00:54:53,243 ASHLEY: I waited so long. I was so scared to call the Miller family. 789 00:54:54,803 --> 00:54:57,163 I thought that they would be, understandably, 790 00:54:57,163 --> 00:54:58,843 really angry with me. 791 00:55:02,003 --> 00:55:04,523 So eventually I called and saw them. 792 00:55:06,403 --> 00:55:09,083 Lewis... 793 00:55:06,403 --> 00:55:09,083 SWALLOWS 794 00:55:09,083 --> 00:55:10,483 and Susie... 795 00:55:11,763 --> 00:55:13,683 ...were absolutely beautiful. Like... 796 00:55:14,643 --> 00:55:15,883 ..amazing people. 797 00:55:18,283 --> 00:55:20,243 I mean, I still love talking to Susie. 798 00:55:22,643 --> 00:55:24,923 E-mailing with her, calling her. 799 00:55:27,923 --> 00:55:31,443 And I wish it was easier than it is, but I feel like... 800 00:55:33,083 --> 00:55:34,323 ..I owe her... 801 00:55:37,443 --> 00:55:38,683 ..her son. 802 00:55:48,363 --> 00:55:51,603 Fallujah was the deadliest battle the Marines had fought 803 00:55:51,603 --> 00:55:54,043 since the Vietnam war. 804 00:55:54,043 --> 00:55:56,643 Billy was one of 71 servicemen 805 00:55:56,643 --> 00:56:00,403 who died in clearing the city of Al-Qaeda. 806 00:56:00,403 --> 00:56:02,323 At the time we took over the city 807 00:56:02,323 --> 00:56:05,523 and we did what our mission told us to do. 808 00:56:08,603 --> 00:56:10,443 On paper, it's a success. 809 00:56:11,723 --> 00:56:13,123 For me? 810 00:56:13,123 --> 00:56:14,443 It's difficult. 811 00:56:14,443 --> 00:56:17,763 Looking back, you know, 14, 15 years now, 812 00:56:17,763 --> 00:56:21,443 it's difficult for me to define that, 813 00:56:21,443 --> 00:56:24,563 because I hold on to my friends 814 00:56:24,563 --> 00:56:27,683 and the ones that were killed in our memories. 815 00:56:28,763 --> 00:56:30,403 And you look back at the instability 816 00:56:30,403 --> 00:56:32,283 of what's going on in Fallujah now... 817 00:56:33,403 --> 00:56:34,963 I'll take my friends back. 818 00:56:38,443 --> 00:56:39,803 Ten years after the Americans 819 00:56:39,803 --> 00:56:42,803 had declared the city free of insurgents, 820 00:56:42,803 --> 00:56:47,243 Fallujah would once again fall into the hands of Islamic extremists, 821 00:56:47,243 --> 00:56:50,923 when ISIS took over huge areas of Northern Iraq. 822 00:56:52,723 --> 00:56:54,723 For the next 18 months, 823 00:56:54,723 --> 00:56:58,323 Mustafa and his family lived through another occupation. 824 00:56:59,763 --> 00:57:01,523 TRANSLATION: 825 00:57:23,483 --> 00:57:25,403 MUSTAFA: 826 00:58:22,483 --> 00:58:25,283 Ladies and gentlemen, we got him. 827 00:58:25,283 --> 00:58:26,363 CHEERING 828 00:58:26,363 --> 00:58:29,043 The door opens. The first thought that came to my mind 829 00:58:29,043 --> 00:58:32,763 was, "Holy shit, it's Saddam. It's actually him." 830 00:58:32,763 --> 00:58:34,203 TRANSLATION: 831 00:58:39,243 --> 00:58:42,803 There was rumours that the Americans asked Saddam, 832 00:58:42,803 --> 00:58:47,163 "How much time do you need to make the situation in Iraq better?" 833 00:58:47,163 --> 00:58:48,963 He said, "I will need one hour. 834 00:58:48,963 --> 00:58:50,643 "45 minutes to shave, 835 00:58:50,643 --> 00:58:54,083 "and 15 minutes to say my speech on TV." 836 00:58:54,083 --> 00:58:55,563 He could do it.