Navy SEALS Charged for Asault?

[charlielima 328]

What a load of Bull S&!T.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576646,00.html

CL

Edited November 26, 2009 by charlielima

[Ruggbutt 45]

If the military keeps doing crap like this no one will want to do their jobs.

[+Muesli 2,157]

Something similar happened to a Dutch Marine who was

prosecuted for the acidental death of an Iraqi. The Iraqi

ignored warnings of the marine, who then fired a round

to the ground, it ricocheted and mortally wounded the Iraqi.

IMHO a case of bad luck combined with the idea "if he would

have listened the marine wouldn't have had to fire the warning

shot" but the civvy prosecutor thought otherwise.

It took too long, got too much media coverage and made me

angry. Why does a desk jockey in some safe office

have so much power and authority over some things happening

in the a#$-hole of the world, where good people do things to

make them safely go to bed every night.

Those people should be sent to a war zone with a big

"kick me" sign.

[Fubar512 1,350]

Since the link is not working, here's the story, from Fox News:

 

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

 

The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called a captain's mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

 

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

 

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

 

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

 

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

 

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

 

Neal Puckett, an attorney representing McCabe, told Fox News the SEALs are being charged for allegedly giving the detainee a “punch in the gut.”

 

“I don’t know how they’re going to bring this detainee to the United States and give us our constitutional right to confrontation in the courtroom,” Puckett said. “But again, we have terrorists getting their constitutional rights in New York City, but I suspect that they’re going to deny these SEALs their right to confrontation in a military courtroom in Virginia.”

 

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

 

FoxNews.com obtained the official handwritten statement from one of the three witnesses given on Sept. 3, hours after Abed was captured and still being held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia. He was later taken to a cell in the U.S.-operated Green Zone in Baghdad.

 

The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.

 

"I gave the detainee a glance over and then left," the SEAL wrote. "I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health."

 

Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, spokeswoman for the special operations component of U.S. Central Command, confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that three SEALs have been charged in connection with the capture of a detainee. She said their court martial is scheduled for January.

 

United States Central Command declined to discuss the detainee, but a legal source told FoxNews.com that the detainee was turned over to Iraqi authorities, to whom he made the abuse complaints. He was then returned to American custody. The SEAL leader reported the charge up the chain of command, and an investigation ensued.

 

The source said intelligence briefings provided to the SEALs stated that "Objective Amber" planned the 2004 Fallujah ambush, and "they had been tracking this guy for some time."

 

The Fallujah atrocity came to symbolize the brutality of the enemy in Iraq and the degree to which a homegrown insurgency was extending its grip over Iraq.

 

The four Blackwater agents were transporting supplies for a catering company when they were ambushed and killed by gunfire and grenades. Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph.

 

Intelligence sources identified Abed as the ringleader, but he had evaded capture until September.

 

The military is sensitive to charges of detainee abuse highlighted in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The Navy charged four SEALs with abuse in 2004 in connection with detainee treatment.

[MaverickMike 10]

Thats absoloutely shocking. It just goes to show that its not just the British legal system which is a joke.

 

Mike

[Slartibartfast 153]

Hell I hope they get off... most likely the guy punched himself and then reported it. Hell I got a rocket once from my boss when in Bosnia for disarming a guy of his AK-47 after he loosed of the magazine while in his other hand he had a bottle of the local moonshine and he was worse for wear... It would have been easier to shoot the guy... but no I took the rifle stripped it and scattered the parts around the area. He then reported to the UN guys and they told my boss to give me a rocket and not to do it again!!! The guy was drunk as a skunk and was wandering around with a loaded weapon.

 

What the higher up behind the desk (Not my Boss) couldn't comprehend was it could have ended a lot differently ie I could have been shot or I could have shot him...

[firehawkordy 34]

If this is what has happened to the US Navy and the military in general I am so glad I retired. Having worked with SEAL Teams in the past through HAL-5/HCS-5 I have nothing but absolute and unconditional respect for the operators. They are by far the the most professional group of young men I ever worked with. One thing FOX News failed to report, one of the Blackwater employees who was killed was Scott Helvenston, a former SEAL. The [insert derogatory epitaph here] should be glad it was only a split lip, imagine what could have happened if it was Blackwater that got him.

 

Anyway I doubt that the bastard was assaulted, more likely he tripped on a bar of soap.

[+hgbn 91]

What a world we live in. Those guys should be decorated instead...

[charlielima 328]

If this is what has happened to the US Navy and the military in general I am so glad I retired. Having worked with SEAL Teams in the past through HAL-5/HCS-5 I have nothing but absolute and unconditional respect for the operators. They are by far the the most professional group of young men I ever worked with. One thing FOX News failed to report, one of the Blackwater employees who was killed was Scott Helvenston, a former SEAL. The [insert derogatory epitaph here] should be glad it was only a split lip, imagine what could have happened if it was Blackwater that got him.

 

Anyway I doubt that the bastard was assaulted, more likely he tripped on a bar of soap.

 

Hear Hear AO1!

I was just a bit concerned this morning that I might get recalled to active duty for using my fists behind the line shack in an old school leadership session for assault and battery and worse for dereliction of duty when directed to do so and I solved the problem at the PO Club with a couple drafts. Oh thats right those where only American Sailors.

CL

[Rambler 1-1 9]

Soldiers with clipped wings become sitting ducks.

[ezlead 42]

Makes me wonder what the details of the capture were?

I doubt they picked him up walking out of the local 7/11.

They're SEALS,that means more than likely black ops.

He's lucky they didn't just Cap him and bring in the body.

"We tried Sir,he wanted to fight it out."---end of story.

[Lt. James Cater 62]

PC ROEs at work.

 

Absolutly designed to give the OPFOR every advantage in the book.

[Dave63 13]

Glad I'm out...That just makes me realize that this is what it's come down to. Dead men don't complain about split lips

[shotdown 8]

Perhaps next time soldiers should not detain whatever terrorist they're after. Instead, give him a ticket to Washington and ask very politely to use it to show on court for his trial.

[+Brain32 265]

People should understand and apply one simple rule:

You either send the military or you don't send it, but if you do, the game is played by military rules.

 

This is so silly I would laught if it wasn't actually pretty sad.

[Abhi 3]

man, and i thought these f***ing things only happen in my country.

what they did was nothing compared to the things these terrorists do.

in my opinion,the modern electronic media is a agent of chaos,they show what they like.someone has rightly said "half truth is more lethal than a lie".

[+Brain32 265]

[+Typhoid 231]

so the alleged abuse was not discovered until the prisoner had been in Iraqi Army custody.........?

 

this case is so full of holes, based on the article, that a law school student should be able to beat it.

 

something the lunatics in charge should keep in mind - if they pull this sort of after action back-stabbing of the troops when they take a prisoner, they just won't take any prisoners......

 

I don't think that's the choice we want to force on our troops.

[Dave63 13]

The true problem here is why nobody in the chain of command went "Who gives a F*&k" and threw the whole pile of crap in the trash. And you are correct, they will stop trying to take them alive...