Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

[darrels joy]

Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

Tuesday , November 24, 2009
By Rowan Scarborough



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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 an admiral'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.

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.

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

[sn-e3]

for me i see nothing wrong with this except seals doing their jobs. this touchie feelie shit has to stop. dead enemys can't press bogus charges

[Whale]

Should have capped him.

[revwardoc]

Originally Posted by Whale

Should have capped him.

Couldn't agree more.

Ahmed Abed: "Wwwaaa! The big bad Seals hit me! And all I did was to mastermind terrorist activities!"

Geez! What a disgusting wus! What's even more disgusting is that charges have been brought against the Seals when they should be getting a friggin' commendation. WTF is wrong with the mentality of our upper echelon?! They send our guys on dangerous missions then chastize them for harming the enemy?! This is 10 steps beyond ludicrous!

[DMZ-LT]

What Whale said. No one in my platoon was ever taken prisoner and we never took one.

[reconeil]

Here we go again. Screw The U.S. Military and all their Blood, Sweat & Tears lost & expended abroad,...for Liberty, Freedom, America & We Americans.

Let US (both ways) SOLELY be concerned that captured Terrorist Mass-Murderers be accorded all Rights & Priviledges which Constitutionally SOLELY apply to United States Citizens.

What an absolutely mindboggling Current American Norm!!! Islamic Terrorists worldwide no doubt are all rolling over with laughter. And,...why not? O.J. Trials & "Exit Strategies" always mean "THEY" WILL WIN!!!

Besides,...isn't it just plain stupidly National-Suicidal to cloth, feed, medicate, console & protect Terrorist Killers, while quite dictatorially & cavalierly Hanging Navy SEALS out to dry?

Have even some Navy Admirals & Captains ALSO gone bonkers or become quite asininely and/or actually enemy-helpfully Politically Correct, such as is quite common of MANY Political Leaders insisting upon & acting accordingly?

Such daily lunacies sure-as-hell seem so since so-damn-obvious...to this similarly & unfortunately likely future: "Target of Opportunity for Mass-Murderous MUSLIM KILLERS of non-combatant men, women & children (babies also)". Truly dread being quite stupidly Politically-Corrected to Death. Any others feel that way?

Still, it's really too bad that America's current leaders aren't just as concerned about their Combat Troops' Missions,...as Mullahs are obviously concerned about "THEIRS".

Sure hope We Americans stay lucky? Muslims obviously & quite differently take this Warfare Business quite seriously. They behead their captives,...whether civilian or military Infidels.

Whereas USA treats Captured Muslims BETTER THAN: "America's Finest" and/or The U.S. Military. We Americans most certainly need an: "Exit Strategy" FROM THAT LUNACY!!!

Neil

[Keith_Hixson]

Originally Posted by sn-e3

for me i see nothing wrong with this except seals doing their jobs. this touchie feelie shit has to stop. dead enemys can't press bogus charges

Couldn't agree with you more. Just pure stupidity.

[darrels joy]

Giving Thanks To The Necessary Men

posted at 1:07 pm on November 25, 2009 by Doctor Zero


It’s traditional to welcome the Thanksgiving holiday by expressing gratitude for the great people in our lives. I had a sizable list of such sentiments prepared for a Thanksgiving essay, but last night I set it aside. Recent events have given me two specific expressions of gratitude to focus on.

First, thank God for the Navy SEALs accused of punching out that Iraqi terrorist.

Soldiers have to follow the rules of engagement. The discipline of our soldiers is one of the things that makes them so vastly superior, both operationally and morally, to the terrorist murderers they’re fighting.

However, the pursuit of discipline can pass from the realm of common sense, and become a fetish. Common sense tells us that fighting an enemy defined by its refusal to honor any rules of conduct, or standards of human decency, will require us to get a little dirty. Navy SEALs are not cops, and al-Qaeda terrorists are not street criminals. The refusal to understand this simple truth produces a cognitive dissonance that will soon blossom into a lunatic circus, in the courtrooms of New York. Soldiers in the field cannot afford that kind of dissonance. The civilian command owes them the logic and dignity of setting rules of engagement that sane men can follow.

What is needed, in our appraisal of military actions, is a sense of proportion. Even if the fat lip of that Iraqi terrorist is definitively traced back to a Navy fist, the idea that we might pull vitally needed special operators out of the field over something like this is insane. If our system of discipline and military justice would threaten the careers of these SEALs because they punched a terrorist they had every right to vaporize, the problem is with the system, not the SEALs.

Very few men have what it takes to become members of special forces units. I had lunch with a SEAL a couple of years ago, and based on what he was allowed to tell me, I sure as hell couldn’t do it. My sleep is untroubled by this knowledge, because it says more about him than it says about me. Every soldier in the field is the product of dedication and courage multiplied by training. Those who make it through special forces training have succeeded where plenty of good men gave honorable efforts that didn’t quite make the grade. SEAL training is not like public school, where everybody gets a B as long as they show up at least half the time, and remember all the words to the Obama worship song. You can be a fine man of extraordinary courage and superhuman will, and still wash out before graduation.

This doesn’t mean we should give valuable special forces soldiers free reign to do whatever they want. I’ve never met a single military man who thinks we should. It does mean we should view their actions with care, and give them the benefit of the doubt… and I don’t mind saying I’ve got plenty of doubt about anything said by anyone affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Even if the Iraqi terrorist is telling the truth about getting punched out, treating the SEALs as if they had randomly opened fire on the Baghdad peewee soccer team is ridiculous. At the dinner table of warfare, eating your salad with the wrong fork is not the same as stuffing the turkey with a live grenade.

SEALs belong on dangerous beaches. Terrorists belong somewhere other than civilian courtrooms. If civilian support for these SEALs can help to restore sanity and protect their careers, I offer mine without hesitation or reservation.

My second Thanksgiving blessing is for Allahpundit.

Allahpundit is the reason I know what blogging is. A friend sent me a link to his blog during the 2004 presidential campaign. I devoured every post he had written, then found Ace of Spades through his blogroll, and ended the evening in tears of laughter after reading Ace’s thoughts on which D&D character would be played by each of the Democratic presidential hopefuls. I remember visiting Allah’s old blog site after he abandoned it, disappointed that nothing new would appear.

I disagree with his take on many issues. In fact, I guess I’ve ended up with the exact opposite opinion, as often as not. I really hate the notion that total agreement is required to find someone’s writing interesting, or that supporting someone’s position on a single issue means complete solidarity with everything they ever write. I wouldn’t want anyone reading this to believe their only options are complete agreement with me, or absolute contempt.

I’m not going to challenge anyone’s anger over the post Allahpundit wrote on the Navy SEAL situation. People are entitled to their feelings, and getting mad at people for being angry creates the kind of whirlpool that swiftly drowns reason. I’m not going to defend Allah either, because he doesn’t need me for that. I will say that I don’t see the point of choosing insults when reason is available. I’ve learned a lot by reading the responses to Allah’s post from active and retired military people.

I write as often as I can, and hope to post four or five times a week.

Allahpundit cranks out more than twice that much in a single day, sometimes within minutes of a major event. Is it unreasonable to make generous allowances for error on such a blistering schedule, for a perspective offered in real time? Besides, what’s more stimulating than a well-written opinion you disagree with, prompting your own heartfelt response? A lot of my essays began that way, because Allahpundit got there first. I never understood the point of mocking him as an “Eeyore.”

Nothing makes my optimism flare up faster than a dose of someone else’s pessimism. Look at it this way: if you have to take the Hundred Acre Woods gang through SEAL training and lead them on a mission, you’re going to trust Eeyore with the explosives. You’re certainly not going to let Tigger carry them. That’s just crazy talk.

Anyone who finds merit in anything I have written should consider that you probably wouldn’t have read it, had I not followed the trail Allahpundit laid to Hot Air. In this place, among its remarkable writers and amazing readers, I have discovered something of great importance to my life: a joy I can only hope to receive with proper humility,. I have Ed, Michelle, and Allahpundit to thank for this opportunity. I spent far too much of last night listening to one of those people called a douchebag.

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have become irritated when told he was “necessary,” because the necessary men are the first ones lined up and shot after a crisis passes. We should treat them better than that. I know he’s an atheist, but I hope somehow, tomorrow evening… as he roasts his turkey over a pile of flaming Yankees fungo bats, and a quivering Humbot plugs in its carving knife accessory… Allahpundit hears the toast I plan to raise in his name. Well, his alias. I hope the one I raise to you reaches your heart, as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives...necessary-men/

[Arrow]

Thanks guys for speaking my mind.

Push back and express your disgust. Below find the links to contact those that are so quick to put our warriors at risk but so slow to give them what they need including a stated purpose and strategy to win, cuffing them with rules of engagement that will get them killed, wounded for life or sent to Leavenworth.

Our troops in the field need a lot of things but the one thing they need more than anything right now is their older brothers in arms defending them from all corners of this nation! Let them fight or send them home! It is more than evil to insult and demoralize and handcuff our bravest and best when they are so capable of accomplishing victory in any war handed to them.

http://armed-services.senate.gov/members.htm

http://armedservices.house.gov/list_of_members.shtml

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

http://www.defense.gov/landing/comment.aspx

[Whale]

Originally Posted by sn-e3

for me i see nothing wrong with this except seals doing their jobs. this touchie feelie shit has to stop. dead enemys can't press bogus charges

Usually the cover up is worse than the crime - In this case a fat lip.

If they falsified reports and attempted to cover up as charged they are in deep Kimchee. The penalty for the fat lip alone would probably have been an a$$ chewing of the leader.