Navy SEAL cleared in Iraq prisoner abuse case

AP via Pilotonline ^ | 22 April 2010 | AP

[csvset]

A U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL Thursday of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors.

The contractors' burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the former insurgent hotbed of Fallujah, in what became a turning point in the Iraq war

[dools007]

I should think the Seal community would embrace him. As long as he stays on that track I would hope he serves to retirement. I think it will be entirely his decision as to how he moves his life forward.

The swiftness of the verdict will also bode well for him. One hopes the Navy, and other military branches, have finally grown beyond their adolescent, and destructive PC culture goofiness. I won’t hold my breath. The collective wisdom of this particular court martial board may be an aberration in the PC world of Adm. Mullen and Gen. McCrystal.

But that does not diminish my joy for this warrior—whose country came within an eyelash of disrespecting his service.

[jazusamo]

Outstanding!

This quick verdict should give pause to his chain of command through Mabus, Gates to Obama but it’s very doubtful.

[Repeat Offender]

Not all JAG-Os are bad. I’ve met some really really good ones in the Marine Corps that come through when it counts.

[stephenjohnbanker]

PING

[vaudine]

Notice the intelligence in the expression of thhis perp and his big ears. Wonder if he has since been recruited by this WH. He would fit right in.

vaudine

[Outlaw Woman]

Put the SOB President, vice president, senate majority leader, speaker of the house, what the hell all damn democrats in jail, have a one day mass hearing on each and every spineless democrat, seize their assets and than hang their sorry carcasses out to dry HEAR HEAR!

[Blueflag]

Agreed. That’s why I wrote “some.” Did not intend to apply a broad brush.

SF

[eleni121]

Bears repeating.

[amom]

Good news indeed!

[Candor7]

NEXT TIME, HIT THE TANGOS EVEN HARDER. BLOODY THEIR NOSES AND BLACKEN THEIR BALLS.

[444Flyer]

Ping

Good. NOW FREE THE OTHER TWO!

[onyx]

I heard this great news on Fox ‘n Friends first thing this morning.

Less than 2 hours for the verdict.

A trial that never should have taken place.

[cyberaxe]

الأحمر هو إيجابي ، الأسود هو سلبي ، وتأكد له المكسرات هي الرطب

[444Flyer]

4/22

“Justice for Accused Navy SEALs?”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2498328/posts

“....Unfortunately, the tendency of commanders and Judge Advocates (JAGs) is often to charge suspect servicemembers first and ask questions later.

Part of the rationale for this approach is the versatile Article 32 hearing. Commanders and JAGs figure that due to their extraordinary fairness, Article 32 proceedings will shake out the bad cases from the good, while protecting the command from charges of coddling abusive soldiers or tolerating war crimes.

This pretty much happened in the infamous Haditha cases. When news broke of the battle between Marines and insurgents in that Iraqi town, left-leaning politicians and media outlets were quick to launch fevered claims of a massacre. Most outrageous was the early accusation of Democrat Representative John Murtha that the charged Marines had killed Iraqi civilians in “cold blood.” Although a number of Iraqi civilians were killed in the battle, the reality was much different.

Nonetheless, several enlisted Marines were initially charged with murder, while their officers, including the battalion JAG officer, were charged with a variety of lesser offenses. At the conclusion of Article 32 hearings, conducted by a variety of hearing officers, almost all the cases were dismissed, and the murder charges were dropped (or replaced in the case of Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the last remaining defendant, with charges of manslaughter).

The Haditha cases are the best-known, but hardly the only examples of servicemen falsely accused of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even when exonerated, the careers and reputations of promising officers are ruined. The military justice system is pilloried on both the left (for coddling war criminals) and the right (for persecuting innocents). Mostly, the initial reports of alleged war crimes are trumpeted in front pages of the media and at the top of the evening news, besmirching the country and the honor of the individuals involved — while the eventual outcomes disproving the charges are relegated to side stories, or not reported at all.

The SEALs were offered non-judicial punishment for their alleged crimes (called a Captain’s Mast in the Navy), but they turned it down in favor of courts-martial. While technically not an admission of guilt, accepting a Captain’s Mast is generally tantamount to one. Presiding officers very rarely find the accused sailors innocent, and they often impose effectively career-ending punishment instead...”

[Saoirise]

Amen. The jury should render the same verdict when Jonathan Keefe’s case goes to trial Friday.

[madison10]

Great news!

[Java4Jay]

“Thank you Father”

[mojitojoe]

Yep

[Candor7]

والتأكد من أنه سيكون من 100 أمبير!

[cyberaxe]

.....ha ha ha.....

.....I'm an electrician......

.....and it ain't the volts that get you.....

.....it's the Amps!.....

هذا لن ينتهي ما يرام بالنسبة لك