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The predictable elite wailing and gnashing of teeth over President Trump’s pardons of various American warriors accused or convicted of alleged war crimes is typically tiresome. To our elite, the only good soldier is one who goes full Deep State – never go full Deep State – and collaborates with the ruling caste, or one who is in jail. That’s it. The rest are expendable pawns to be deployed to protect vital American interests like [Kurt consults his notes to make sure he has this right] obscure border disputes between significantly communist militias and a NATO ally on the side of...

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Grant of Clemency (Full Pardon) for Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance, an Executive Grant of Clemency (Full Pardon) for Army Major Mathew Golsteyn, and an order directing the promotion of Special Warfare Operator First Class Edward R. Gallagher to the grade of E-7, the rank he held before he was tried and found not guilty of nearly all of the charges against him. In early July 2012, only days after Lieutenant Lorance had taken command of his platoon in one of the most dangerous battle zones in Afghanistan, a motorcycle with three...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to intervene in three military justice cases involving service members charged with war crimes any day, issuing pardons or otherwise clearing them of wrongdoing and preventing the U.S. military from bringing the same charges again, three U.S. officials said Thursday. White House and Pentagon officials have been working out the details for days, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The details were not all clear, but the move is expected to involve executive clemency, in which Trump can pardon someone or shorten a...

President Donald Trump has tweeted that he plans to "review" the case of US soldier Mathew Golsteyn, charged with murdering an Afghan civilian in 2010. The Army Green Beret Major allegedly shot someone he described as a suspected Taliban bomb-maker during his deployment. He was charged with murder last week, allegations he denies. But President Trump has complicated proceedings with his tweet, saying he will now be "reviewing the case". Decorated US soldier 'admitted murder in CIA job interview' Maj Golsteyn "could face the death penalty from our own government", he wrote, saying he was getting involved in the case...

A former Green Beret who told Fox News in 2016 that he killed a suspected Taliban bomb maker nearly a decade ago during combat operations in Afghanistan is now being charged in the man’s death -- a move his lawyer says is an act of betrayal by the Army. The murder charge facing Maj. Matthew Golsteyn comes after years of on-and-off investigations by the Army following an incident said to have taken place during his 2010 deployment. A military tribunal that probed the killing years ago initially cleared Golsteyn -- but the investigation into him was re-opened after he spoke...

General rips military leaders: 'They should put their stars on the table and be prepared to resign' U.S. Army Special Forces (photo: Department of Defense) Rules of engagement that risk the lives of U.S. forces and harsh punishments over questionable charges have America’s elite Green Berets fuming at the Obama administration, and the former commander of all Green Berets says it’s just the latest symptoms of a military deliberately weakened by this administration and military officials more concerned about advancement than the good of their forces and their nation. The litany of Green Beret frustration was detailed this week by...

A Green Beret who was awarded the Silver Star, then saw it stripped away because he killed a Taliban bombmaker, is telling why he did it, as conveyed in a CIA job interview he conducted nearly four years ago. Maj. Matt Golsteyn said the insurgent was a known maker of improvised explosive devices (IEDS) and was in the presence of such components. He considered him an armed combatant, so he shot him. Army Secretary John McHugh, who revoked the award, told The Washington Times through a spokesman that Maj. Golsteyn “assassinated an unarmed Afghan.” The soldier’s words, and Mr. McHugh’s...

A former Green Beret officer who was stripped of one of the military’s top awards for heroism by the Army secretary will soon face a panel of officers that can throw him out of the service, according to the officer’s lawyer and Army officials. Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn will face an administrative hearing known as a board of inquiry the week of May 18, according to a memorandum sent March 26 by the panel’s top officer, Col. Stuart Goldsmith. It is believed the board will review evidence against Golsteyn in the 2010 death of a Taliban bomb maker that...

When President Obama draped the nation’s highest award for combat valor around the neck of an Afghan war hero at the White House in October 2013, a highly decorated Green Beret officer who sat nearby faced an ugly reality: The Army was investigating him on charges of murder and conspiracy. Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn was invited to the ceremony by William D. Swenson, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan four years earlier. Like Swenson, Golsteyn had braved enemy fire repeatedly, seen fellow soldiers die and voiced deep frustration with the ways he saw U.S. troops...

Green Beret saved soldiers under fireA group of House lawmakers is moving to strip the armed services’ civilian leaders of the power to revoke combat valor awards in response to Army Secretary John McHugh unilaterally canceling the Silver Star, one of the military’s highest honors, for a former Green Beret officer. Mr. McHugh took the action against Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who braved repeated enemy fire in Afghanistan, even though he has not been charged with any offenses. The Army now is seeking to release him with a less-than-honorable discharge. The officer plans to fight the move, his attorney says. The...

The secretary of the Army is defending his decision to strip awards for heroism from a former Green Beret officer, saying the soldier demonstrated a "lack of honorable conduct" after he earned the medals. Golsteyn was later investigated for an undisclosed violation of the military's rules of engagement in combat — a violation related to the killing of a known enemy bombmaker, according to officials familiar with the case. The investigation closed in 2014 without Golsteyn's being charged with a crime, but Army Secretary John McHugh made the rare decision to strip him of both awards anyway. (snip) In a...

A Green Beret officer who was stripped of a prestigious valor award and dropped from the Special Forces fell out of favor with Army officials after the CIA shared information it gathered about him while he was going through screening for a potential job, according to officials familiar with the case. Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn was investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command for an undisclosed violation of the U.S. military’s rules of engagement in 2010 that resulted in the death of a known enemy fighter and bombmaker in Helmand province, Afghanistan, according to the officials. The Army closed a...

Such is the quality of American military leadership that generals and political appointees like McHugh will send courageous soldiers like Golsteyn into incredibly difficult (some would suggest impossible) circumstances, then invest years in second-guessing their actions after the fact—and then, finding no evidence of wrongdoing, still publicly dishonor the man without giving him a chance to defend himself.