How do repeated forays into murky gray areas impact a soldier's sense of themselves as moral actors?ĭAN TABERSKI: There's a thing that military ethicists talk about called the unlimited liability contract, that when you sign up to be a SEAL or any military service member, you're accepting that, yes, you could get hurt or lose your life because of what you're asked to do in this job. The concept of moral injury plays a heavy role into Taberski's examination. But 'The Line' is also interested in the bigger picture, in particular the tensions between what soldiers are made to understand about their role and what they're ultimately made to do. Through trial recordings and extensive interviews, including with Gallagher himself, Taberski takes on the role of outside investigator, piecing together what actually happened in Mosul and working through the question of Gallagher's guilt or innocence. It's a reliable framework to tell the story, the narrative parsing through the accusations levied against Gallagher, as well as the details of the defense. Much of 'The Line' takes the form of a courtroom drama. He was ultimately acquitted of all charges except one - posing for a photo of himself with the body. Gallagher was the subject of a highly publicized trial, sparked when a group of fellow SEALs broke ranks over concerns of Gallagher's erratic conduct in the field. The most prominent of these accusations involves the killing of a teenage ISIS fighter who was captured as a prisoner of war. At the center of 'The Line' is the case of one such soldier, Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL who, in 2018, was accused of committing war crimes during the battle of Mosul in Iraq. And as host Dan Taberski explores throughout a six-part series, that constant warping morality often leaves lasting destructive effects on the psyches of soldiers sent into war. NICK QUAH: The title of the new investigative podcast from Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions, 'The Line,' refers to the precarious moral boundaries that are distorted over and over in the heat of battle. Critic Nick Quah says it's a tremendous documentary about moral injury and the American military.

It's hosted by Dan Taberski and produced by Oscar award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney's production company. Last month saw the release of a new Apple original podcast series called 'The Line,' about Eddie Gallagher, the former Navy SEAL who was charged in 2018 with committing war crimes.

Navy seal commiting war crimes