THE WEEKLY REVEAL

Hello! In this issue:

• Twenty years after the Battle of Fallujah, Marines still wrestle with what they were asked to do there.
• With Joe Biden's surprise pardon of his son and Donald Trump’s pledge to free January 6ers, we look at this controversial presidential power.  

THIS WEEK’S PODCAST

In Fallujah, We Destroyed Parts of Ourselves

It’s been 20 years since the Battle of Fallujah, a bloody campaign in a destructive Iraq War that we now know was based on a lie.

But back then, in the wake of 9/11, the battlefield was filled with troops who believed in serving and defending the country against terrorism.

“Going to Fallujah was the most horrific experience of our lives,” said Mike Ergo, a team leader for the US Marines Alpha Company, 1st Battalion. “And it was also, for myself, the most alive I've ever felt.”

This week, we’re partnering with the nonprofit newsroom The War Horse to join Ergo’s unit as they reunite and try to make sense of what they did and what was done to them. Together, they remember Bradley Faircloth, the 20-year-old lance corporal from their unit who lost his life, and unpack the mental and emotional battles that continue for them today.

One Number to Know

During his first term, President Donald Trump used his clemency power 238 times, and many of those cases were controversial. President Joe Biden used his power to pardon his son Hunter before commuting the sentences of about 4,000 people and pardoning another 39. Now, Trump plans to wield his power in this second term to free people who are serving time for storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Listen: All the President’s Pardons

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