Posted on 12/14/2009 7:29:11 PM PST by 444Flyer
Forty members of Congress are calling on the military commander who ordered the court martial of three Navy SEALs over the alleged punching of a terrorist to dismiss the charges.
The letter, circulated by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), was sent Thursday to Army Major Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, commander of Special Operation Command Central. Gen. Cleveland ordered the prosecution of the three SEALs.
“In our opinion, prosecutorial discretion should have been exercised,” the 40 congressmen said. “Failing that, we respectfully and strongly urge you to exercise your leadership authority, stop the impending court martial and exonerate these men.”
Earlier, 33 House Members had signed a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to intervene in the case. That letter had been circulated by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). Military law experts told CNSNews.com, however, that the Defense secretary’s ability to intervene in a court martial could be limited.
U.S. congressmen representing two of the SEALs’ home districts signed the letters. Only Republican members signed the letters.
Rep. Bob Latta, who represents the Ohio's 5th Congressional District that includes Perrysburg, Ohio, signed both of the letters. Perryburg is the hometown of one of the three SEALs, 24-year-old Petty Officer Second Class Mathew McCabe.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Illuminating, but not surprising.
This is because the democrats are traitors who seek to weaken us and destroy our sacred values.
Heaven forbid they should come out on the side of America and not the enemy combatant's.
ping
If instead of a bloody lip, they had killed this terrorist scum, how would these brave SEALs be treated? This is a travesty of justice in many ways (only 40 Republican reps and no Dems? and why is anybody wasting time to charge soldiers for doing what police do every day?). Scum break laws, you break them up a bit in apprehension. Cost of breaking laws.
Release the SEALs.
...I only see 33 or so signatures on this.
My brother, an Army private three times, rose to command a battalion on the Cambodian border before retiring as an Airborne Infantry Lt-Col.
He was one hell of a good man.
“Only 40?”
Yes, because most democrats do not support the military, and I suspect it goes even deeper with the elite units as follows. Democrat politicians have morphed, for the most part, into elitist wrist-wringers who have, at least the “men”, masculinity problems that men such as those in the SEAL teams threaten. It’s sort of a penile size thing with democrat males...
...”The commander chose the Article 15 route, the SEALS chose the Courts Martial.”...
No surprise there. Every member of a SEAL team has been through hell and back, and knowing he is innocent of wrongdoing would never take the easy way out. It goes with the territory.
I was content being a leg. As my Senior Drill Sergeant said in basic training, “Only two things fall from the sky, bird $hit and fools!”
Click DONATE to help run ads. Otherwise click "Be Heard" for the best organized contact info. They also have a petition with 30k sigs.
My pleasure. It was getting obvious from some of the posts in several threads that some of the “barracks lawyers” were pretty uninformed about the process.
illegitimi non carborundum
I am so glad they have done this!
Exactly...
bump
I know. I think they recently signed more congressmen to it, but this was the latest letter I could find.
We will soon find out...
I stand corrected. Prior to my retirement in ‘99, an AR-15 was a career stopper, especially in 1/10 SFG(A).
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