meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Reveal

An Atrocity of War Goes Unpunished

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

News

4.7 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In November 2005, a group of US Marines killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. The case against them became one of the most high-profile war crimes prosecutions in US history—but then it fell apart. Only one Marine went to trial for the killings, and all he received was a slap on the wrist. Even his own defense attorney found the outcome shocking. 

“It's meaningless," said attorney Haytham Faraj. “The government decided not to hold anybody accountable. I mean, I don't know, I don't know how else to put it.”

The Haditha massacre, as it came to be known, is the subject of the current season of The New Yorker’s In the Dark podcast and this week’s episode of Reveal. Reporter Madeleine Baran and her team spent four years looking into what happened at Haditha and why no one was held accountable. They also uncovered a previously unreported killing that happened that same day, a 25th victim whose story had never before been told. 

Photos from this story, as well as a searchable database of military war crimes, can be found at newyorker.com/season-3.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

It's one of Britain's most notorious crimes, the killing of a wealthy family at White House

0:06.3

Farm. But I got a tip that the story of this famous case might be all wrong.

0:13.7

I know there's going to be a twist, one day a massive twist.

0:16.6

At every level of the criminal justice system, there's been a cover-up in this case.

0:20.5

I'm Heidi Blake. Blood Relatives is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker.

0:26.1

Find it now in the In-the-Dark podcast feed.

0:30.7

From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al Leadsden.

0:37.6

In June of 2022, investigative reporter Madeline Barron traveled to Iraq to talk to a man who survived a terrible tragedy during the Iraq war.

0:53.3

Khalid Salman-Raseef lives in the town of Hadifa.

0:59.0

On a November morning in 2005, a convoy of U.S. Marines was driving through his neighborhood

1:05.0

when an IED exploded under one of their Humvees.

1:09.0

One Marine, Lance Corporal Miguel Tarazas, was killed. Two other

1:14.4

Marines were seriously injured. What happened next was a troubling chapter in the Iraq War,

1:20.9

and a warning, this story describes acts of violence that may disturb some listeners.

1:34.3

After the bombing, several U.S. Marines opened fire on Iraqi civilians.

1:40.0

They entered houses and killed Khalid's sister, his aunt, his uncle, his four-year-old nephew, and more people, too.

1:43.2

Their deaths were part of what became known as the Haditha Massacre, the killing of 24 civilians.

1:51.0

In a war filled with horrors, this was one of the most shocking, an attack last year in the smaller

1:57.0

rocky town of Aditha that left dozens of civilians dead. The oldest victim was a 76-year-old grandfather, and the youngest, a three-year-old girl.

2:07.6

Some are comparing the Haditha killings to the Vietnam Massacre at Me Live.

2:12.6

Four Marines were charged with murder. They faced the possibility of life in prison, and for a while,

2:19.3

it seemed like there would be some accountability for the killings. But over the years, the media

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.