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Fault Line: Haditha

iHeartPodcasts 4 Episodes Sep 21, 2026

Fault Line: Haditha is an investigative documentary podcast series about the 2005 Haditha massacre, in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by a squad of US Marines. The show reveals a years-long effort by the Marine Corps to conceal the truth, focusing on NCIS Special Agent Michael Maloney, who discovered that prosecutors hid a key eyewitness, sponsored perjured testimony, and granted immunity to guilty Marines. Based on over 100 hours of footage shot without government knowledge, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Michael Epstein recounts how Maloney faced intense political pressure when he tried to report the truth. The series exposes the controversy and the struggle for accountability surrounding one of the war's most notorious incidents.

Episodes

Episode 6: The Marine Corps Theory of Facts Sep 21, 2026 3138 NCIS Special Agent Mike Maloney prepares a forensic test to answer one question: was a three-year-old girl in the back bedroom of House 2 executed at point-blank range? But then his superiors inexplicably order Maloney to shut down his protocol before he can determine the truth. This isn't the only instance of the government interfering with Maloney’s findings. It isn’t even the worst.

Episode 5: Women and Children Sep 14, 2026 1808 Private First Class Humberto Mendoza is the first Marine to be granted immunity; his freedom traded for testimony. But once Mendoza takes the witness stand, his testimony not only contradicts the forensic evidence but also implicates a Marine other than Frank Wuterich for the murder of the women and children in House 2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 4: The Butcher of Haditha Sep 7, 2026 2041 Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich is charged with 18 counts of murder in Haditha. And yet, he maintains his innocence. “There’s no way I could go into a room and shoot women and children. Not a chance in hell,” he tells Epstein. But here’s the thing, when asked, “Who did it? If you didn’t shoot everyone, who did?” Wuterich claims he can’t remember, somet

Episode 3: Blood Spatter Aug 31, 2026 1402 NCIS Special Agent Mike Maloney spends four months living inside the crime scene photos of the back bedroom of House 2, an experience that will haunt him for years. Maloney examines the photos pixel by pixel, wound by wound, piecing together how a roomful of women and children were murdered by U.S. Marines. His conclusions will lead to SSgt Frank Wuterich being charged with the murder of five chil

Episode 2: The Photographs Aug 24, 2026 1803 A young lance corporal is handed a Sharpie and ordered to photograph the dead women and children. He does, holding onto the pictures alone for months, telling no one, waiting for an investigation that never comes. Eventually, the photos drive him mad, and he is medevac'd out of Iraq. When NCIS agents finally come calling, the photographs become the single most important piece of forensic evidence

Episode 1: The First Cover-Up Aug 24, 2026 2022 The Marine Corps reports that a roadside bomb killed fifteen Iraqi civilians in Haditha, but it is a lie — they were killed by U.S. Marines, and the government knew it. Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Michael Epstein finds a way to film inside the defense of the Marine at the center of the investigation without the government's knowledge. What he eventually discovers over the c

Introducing: Fault Line: Haditha Aug 17, 2026 132 For twenty years, the United States Marine Corps has tried to bury the truth about Haditha. In 2005, 24 civilians were killed by a squad of United States Marines in the Iraqi city of Haditha, a massacre that became one of the most notorious and controversial incidents of the war. What followed was a years-long battle over what really happened, who would be held accountable, and how far the Marine

Fault Line: Haditha

Episodes

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