Apple TV+ released its first trailer on Tuesday for a documentary series featuring the story of former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder charges of 17-year-old ISIS fighter Khaled Jamal Abdullah during a 2017 deployment.
Entitled “The Line,” the four-part limited documentary series “examines the moral ambiguities of war,” according to the Apple TV+ website. All four parts of “The Line” will be available globally on November 19, 2021 on Apple TV+.
“In covert modern warfare, the line between right and wrong has blurred,” the website states. “This docuseries examines the moral ambiguities of war as embodied by the 2018 case in which a U.S. Navy SEAL platoon accused its chief, Eddie Gallagher, of war crimes.”
A press release explains that the new series includes exclusive interviews with Gallagher, his wife Andrea, members of SEAL Team 7 who accused their chief of war crimes, journalist Dave Phillips, former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, and others.
Apple TV+ describes “The Line” as “a raw look inside Seal Team 7 and the deployment that pushed the bonds of brotherhood to their limits.”
“Told through first-person accounts and never-before-seen footage gathered by the SEALs during their controversial tour in Mosul, Iraq, ‘The Line’ hunts for the truth behind the events that led to one of the highest profile war crimes trial in recent history, revealing a nation deeply divided over how we fight war,” the release stated.
The documentary is based on the Apple TV+ Original podcast of the same name: “The Line,” which “takes an unflinching deep dive into moral ambiguities of forever wars and their impact on special operators through the lens of the Gallagher war crimes trial.” All episodes of “The Line” podcast are available now on Apple Podcasts.
American Military News previously reported that Gallagher maintains his innocence in the death of the teen ISIS fighter. During an appearance on the podcast “The Line” in May, Gallagher discussed the case and said, “The grain of truth in the whole thing is that that ISIS fighter was killed by us [Gallagher’s unit] and that nobody at that time had a problem with it.”
“I didn’t stab that dude,” Gallagher said at the time. “That dude died from all the medical treatments that were done and there’s plenty of medical treatments that were done to him.”
Petty Officer Corey Scott had revealed under oath — and immunity — during the 2019 trial that he killed the ISIS fighter by covering the fighter’s breathing tube and causing him to suffocate.
Following his acquittal on July 2, 2019, Gallagher retired from the Navy. Gallagher has since gone on to found the Pipe Hitter Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to provide financial and legal support, advocacy, and public affairs support for accused military service members and first responders.
