Posted on 11/27/2009 8:32:10 AM PST by Irisshlass
The military is throwing the book at three terrorist-hunting Navy SEALs who captured one of the most wanted in Iraq.
It seems one of the commandos may have punched Ahmed Hashim Abed, who intelligence reports said planned the bloody ambush of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah, Iraq, five years ago.
Instead of plaudits, three SEALs face court-martial in January. And conservatives are expressing outrage to HUMAN EVENTS.
Abed, whom the U.S. command designated "Objective Amber," was nabbed in darkness Sept. 3 by a platoon of commandos from SEAL Team 10, based in Norfolk.
The next few hours proved a bit comical. The SEALS took him to an Iraqi police station to enter the country's judicial system. But when the higher-ups were notified, they told the sailors to get him back. He was too valuable. After hours of negotiations, the Iraqis gave him back and Abed ended up in a cell inside the U.S.-secured Green Zone.
Sometime along the way Abed alleged he was punched and showed a bloody lip to prove it.
The military is hypersensitive to any charge of prisoner abuse or any hint of a coverup. A SEAL officer immediately notified the chain of command. Next thing the SEAL platoon knew, they were writing out statements and being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
The SEALs were sent packing back to Norfolk. They will be arraigned next Monday and face separate special courts-martial. The case was first reported Tuesday by FoxNews.com.
Three other SEALs -- two officers and an enlisted man -- in the unit have given statements as witnesses. According to one statement obtained by Fox, the SEAL told investigators he looked in on the detainee and did not see any injuries.
The charges were brought by the commander of the special operations component of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
The three SEALs charged:
Matthew McCabe, special operations petty officer second class (SO-2). Offenses: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee; making false official statement; and assault.
Jonathan Keefe, SO-2. Dereliction of performance of duty and making false official statement.
Julio Huertas, SO-1. Dereliction of duty; making false statement and impediment of an investigation.
The March 2004 Fallujah atrocity was a turning point in the war. Insurgents ambushed four Blackwater agents, all former commandoes. They died in a hale of gunfire and grenades. Insurgents then burned the bodies and dragged them through town. Two were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River, for the world media to see.
The gruesome picture was a wake up call to the U.S. military. It now knew it faced a vicious enemy able to spring attacks throughout the country.
Conservative bloggers are ridiculing the military for filing criminal charges against three brave warriors.
"Navy SEALs betrayed by our own government! Who will be next," one blared.
Another website said, "PC rubbish at its worst."
Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness and fights against a political corrected armed forces, said she is appalled.
“This prosecution is a disturbing vision of the demoralizing legal entanglements that our soldiers will face in the future if they capture murderous enemies in a war zone," she told HUMAN EVENTS. "Now that the Obama Administration has decided to play along with terrorists who demand an undeserved show-trial in New York City, terrorists know exactly how to exploit for their own benefit military regulations as well as civilian law. The prosecuting authorities’ thoughtless lack of judgment in this case reminds me of the canary in the coal mine, an unmistakable sign of dangers to come."
Obama and Co don’t have any brains.
Hate to say it, but the SEALs deserve punishment if they acted unprofessionally in their duties. I just hope the guy resisted in order to justify the punch.
I wonder how many of our best and brightest in the military are going to simply say "f-this" and quit as soon as they legally can? Why put up with taking bullets for this country if the same country isn't going to back you up when you do right?
The inevitable result with the treasonous Kenyan Poseur and his policies is that no prisoners will be taken. This traitor muct be gotten out of office.
Insanity, this is pure insanity.
Sure they do, their own agenda. Calculated and planned.
Demoralization of the CIA and the Military!
So much for our security!
Sure they do, their own agenda. Calculated and planned.
Demoralization of the CIA and the Military!
So much for our security!
The guy hit his face against a bar on the Humvee and blamed it on the SEALs. Big deal.
These men have dedicated years of sweat and toil to this country and are repaid with our government taking the side of a terrorist that wants us DEAD against men that want our country’s enemies dead. We need to take this a****le and waterboard him until he forgets about that split lip and then tells us the Taliban’s and Al Qaeda’s attack strategy.
They should have killed the bastard and left it at that.
I suspect there is much more to this story than the folks who are telling the story are letting on. First clue, as always: we only hear one side of it, and from what I can tell from the coverage I’ve seen, all of the reports are third-hand at best.
These terrorists and our guys are both trained to hit their head against the wall and draw some blood to make it hard on the enemy. It is hard to have someone make a propaganda tape if he looks beat up.
It would be nice to have full information on this story ... we're only getting it from one side, though.
Please consider the problem the military now faces...if some dirt-bag is finally captured, all the dirt-bag has to do is slam his face into the nearest wall and claim he was “punched”.
This will immediately remove the highly trained, and highly skilled soldiers who arrested him from the area. Thus the other dirt-bags will have fewer adversaries chasing them and indanger the remaining U. S. Troops.
I’m sure the morons in charge of this idea will get a thank you card from the enemy for this latest gift.
Commanders lost their common sense. Remember a scene from the movie “A Bridge Too Far”. James Caan played this sergeant who brought his wounded lieutenant to an Army surgeon in a forward area hospital. The surgeon briefly looked at the wounded man and declared him dead. The sergeant did not agree so he went after the surgeon and forced him at gunpoint to examine the wounded officer again. This time the surgeon did a more thorough examination and discovered that the lieutenents pupils were still dilating, meaning he was still alive despite the head wound. The surgeon immediately beckoned his staff for surgery. The lieutenant survived. The sergeant offered to be arrested, and the surgeon a full colonel in rank called the MP. He told the MP’s that the sergeant threatened him with a pistol and will be arrested. The MP complied. The sergeant was about to resign to his fate, then the colonel told the MP to hold the sergeant for only 12 seconds and ordered them to release him. Surprised, the MP’s complied for 12 seconds and left. Technically the sergeant did break the rules, but the surgeon understood the field situation why the sergeant did what he did. So he opted to “enforce” the rules, and in his way apologized to the sergeant without destroying the discipline of chain of command. In the end the sergeant returned to the fighting and the surgeon took in the humbling lesson of the day. Hopefully officers like the surgeon still exists in our military.
This is sick....too many in leadership roles value the rights of Islamic Terrorists over the rights of our American servicemen
The courts-martial should be done on the military leadership that has zero backbone.
Bet that Michael Savage will be making an issue of this, and raising some money for their defense. Wish that other “conservative” hosts would do the same
After reading this I am convinced that we are past the point of no return folks. Political correctness has destroyed our nation.
Only a moron didn’t see this coming. The Zero’s policies clearly do not reflect the best interest of the old USA.
These guys refused a Captains Mast (Article 15) on advice of their attorney. They can win in a Courts Martial, but my guess is that the charges will be dropped before then.
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