Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Te

[Zee]

No one likes a swiftboating.

[The Annoyed Man]

No one likes a swiftboating.

Nor a "wintersoldiering."

[stevie_d_64]

I can't even say what I need to say here....

But you and I can think it...

The administration was looking for another Abu Graib to further hinder our efforts in these operations...

And throwing 30K more into the grinder will give them more chances to exploit other incidences, whther they are legit, or blown out of proportion...

[The Annoyed Man]

Six Important Facts About the Assault Charges Three Navy SEALs Face for Doing Their Jobs
by Bob McCarty
Big Government Blog

In recent years, I’ve published too many posts about members of the Armed Forces facing undeserved charges:

• First, it was the so-called “Haditha Marines” who faced trumped-up charges, thanks largely to idiots like Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) declaring them guilty before a mainstream media eager to paint them in a bad light.
• Next, it wasArmy Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna who was wrongly convicted of executing an Iraqi detainee, Ali Mansur, on May 16, 2008, and is now serving a 25-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
• Now, I’m following the case of three Navy SEALs facing assault charges related to their capture of Ahmed Hashim Abed. Who is Abed? He’s the alleged planner of the March 2004 ambush, killing and mutilation of four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, Iraq. The SEALS gave this enemy combatant piece of dirt a fat lip while apprehending him.

As my first investigative reporting effort related to the SEALs’ case, I offer six important facts about the case you’re likely not to read about in the mainstream media supplied to me by a source whom I cannot name inside the Pentagon:

1. The charges or accusations against the three Navy SEALs were not made from within the SEAL community. Sources tell me they came from someone within the Navy’s Master-at-Arm community.
2. The SEALs were presented with the option of going to Captain’s Mast for these charges but declined this form of non-judicial punishment and opted for court-martial instead. Why? Because they did not want to be judged by those outside of the SEAL community and believed the court-martial route would assure them the representation necessary to prove their innocence.
3. At no time did anyone within the Naval Special Warfare community have any control over these accusations or events other than providing advice or guidance to the accused SEALs.
4. The integrity of the chain of custody of the prisoner is at question.
5. There are extenuating circumstances that indicate there is questionable evidence in some of the accusations made.
6. Evidence will come out in a court-martial that might not have come out in a Captain’s Mast in favor of the accused SEALs.

Yep, there's nothing like a good "wintersoldiering."

[marksiwel]

SoOoOoOoOo, if the Navy Seals went a step farther, and broke both his arms, broke his legs, and beat him while he was unconscious, should they have still been brought up on charges.

So we have a bloody lip here, is that chargeable? Where do YOU draw the line?

[The Annoyed Man]

SoOoOoOoOo, if the Navy Seals went a step farther, and broke both his arms, broke his legs, and beat him while he was unconscious, should they have still been brought up on charges.

So we have a bloody lip here, is that chargeable? Where do YOU draw the line?

I'm not trying to legitimize giving a restrained/unconscious prisoner a savage beating. But ask any cop whether or not in the scuffle to arrest someone, a perp got a bruise, or a fat lip, or a bloody nose from them. It happens. That's not a beating, that's a "legitimate" injury sustained while resisting arrest.

I used to work in an ER, and if a suspect got hurt during his arrest, the cops would bring him to us to get checked out and treated if necessary. Again, it happens, but the injuries are typically not a big deal — usually something like a skinned knee (or a fat lip) that needs a disinfectant and a bandaid, sometimes a cut that needs a couple of stitches at worst.

I'd be willing to bet your next paycheck ( ) that the prisoner in question here resisted arrest. I would be further willing to bet that there was a scuffle and that his fat lip is a result of that scuffle. Barring other (reliable) witnesses who are willing to step forward with a story of having seen the SEALs in question administer a beating to a helpless prisoner, that seems like the most likely probability. These guys are also desiring of a court martial because it will require certain rules of evidence and they will have a chance to testify, and the ridiculousness of the charges will become evident.

Does that make some kind of sense to you?

[Purplehood]

Just in case any of you are unfamiliar with Captains Mast, Office Hours or NJP (all terms used for the judicial process that they refused), accepting any of these in lieu of a court-martial is an automatic presumption/acceptance of guilt. The Commanding Officer can let you off completely or throw the book at you, but only in a limited manner, as the punishments allowed are less than those in a Court Martial.
I am not a lawyer or a military lawyer, but that is my understanding of the process.

[C-dub]

That's the way it was when I was in. My squadron tried to railroad me because I didn't show up for some event that the entire squadron was at. However, I and another guy were never told about the required meeting and I was asleep in my room in the barracks. No one knocked on my door or I also would have been there. Anyway, they told me the CO was so mad that he wanted me at Captain's Mast. I wouldn't admit guilt and threatened them with requesting a Courts Martial if they took me to Captain's Mast. The other guy with me was a little panicky and I kept telling him to shut up and let me do the talking and we'd be fine. Every officer in the chain of command came and talked to us right up to the XO. I told the XO that if they insisted on Captain's Mast I would officially request a Court's Martial because I did nothing wrong and could prove it. The XO finally told the CO and they dropped the whole thing.

I wish that would have been the case here.

[Purplehood]

That's the way it was when I was in. My squadron tried to railroad me because I didn't show up for some event that the entire squadron was at. However, I and another guy were never told about the required meeting and I was asleep in my room in the barracks. No one knocked on my door or I also would have been there. Anyway, they told me the CO was so mad that he wanted me at Captain's Mast. I wouldn't admit guilt and threatened them with requesting a Courts Martial if they took me to Captain's Mast. The other guy with me was a little panicky and I kept telling him to shut up and let me do the talking and we'd be fine. Every officer in the chain of command came and talked to us right up to the XO. I told the XO that if they insisted on Captain's Mast I would officially request a Court's Martial because I did nothing wrong and could prove it. The XO finally told the CO and they dropped the whole thing.

I wish that would have been the case here.

LOL, I too have been in similar situations. It usually was a result of a superior forgetting to tell somebody something and then wanting the fallout to roll downhill. Sometimes you just had to stand up for yourself.

[marksiwel]

Does that make some kind of sense to you?

No, that makes perfect sense, thats what I figured happened, I have friends who are cops and have done much worse than that getting a suspect into some cuffs and all within reason.
Just because charges were brought up doesn't mean anything really, its kind of a good thing that charges CAN be brought up even if they are a waste of time. Think of it as checks and balances.
It puts the Justice into Military Justice.

[Purplehood]

Does that make some kind of sense to you?

No, that makes perfect sense, thats what I figured happened, I have friends who are cops and have done much worse than that getting a suspect into some cuffs and all within reason.
Just because charges were brought up doesn't mean anything really, its kind of a good thing that charges CAN be brought up even if they are a waste of time. Think of it as checks and balances.
It puts the Justice into Military Justice.

In my opinion that was the worst aspect of a Military career. It is all subject to the whim of the Commanding Officer from any perspective that you care to choose. The CO is the DA and Grand Jury all rolled into one.

[marksiwel]

Does that make some kind of sense to you?

No, that makes perfect sense, thats what I figured happened, I have friends who are cops and have done much worse than that getting a suspect into some cuffs and all within reason.
Just because charges were brought up doesn't mean anything really, its kind of a good thing that charges CAN be brought up even if they are a waste of time. Think of it as checks and balances.
It puts the Justice into Military Justice.

In my opinion that was the worst aspect of a Military career. It is all subject to the whim of the Commanding Officer from any perspective that you care to choose. The CO is the DA and Grand Jury all rolled into one.

All I can think of is when my sister the Airforce Pilot was ordered to do something stupid and dangerous on her C130 while it was in Flight, she almost fell out of the plane, but her Co-Worker caught her, when she complained her CO telling him it was dangerous and unfair, told her "Whoever the Military was Safe or Fair?"

[The Annoyed Man]

Does that make some kind of sense to you?

No, that makes perfect sense, thats what I figured happened, I have friends who are cops and have done much worse than that getting a suspect into some cuffs and all within reason.
Just because charges were brought up doesn't mean anything really, its kind of a good thing that charges CAN be brought up even if they are a waste of time. Think of it as checks and balances.
It puts the Justice into Military Justice.

Agreed, but my problem here is that the accused are going to have to jump through some long and expensive hoops to prove their innocence, all because some pin-headed martinet of a rear-eschalon blankety blank had to power to do so, and then went ahead and did it. I keep harkening back to the Haditha Marines story, and how grossly unfair and damaging the charges were to each of them; and in the end, they were all acquitted. And I read just 2 or 3 days ago that their Captain, who had also been charged with some kind of coverup or something, was just acquitted also.

And I get real angry about stuff like that because you have fundamentally decent men, doing a very hard job, under circumstances that the rear-eschalon puke who brought the charges in the first place could not measure up to, and with exacting requirements.... ....and all because the idiot who filed the charges bought a terrorist's made up story hook, line, and sinker.

[The Annoyed Man]

Here is a significant update to this story:

SEALs court martial: Navy judge orders trials moved to Iraq
DailyPress.com
By Hugh Lessig
10:42 p.m. EST, January 11, 2010

NORFOLK — Two of the three Navy SEALs accused of mistreating a suspected terrorist will have the chance to confront their accuser in open court — in Iraq.

A military judge ruled Monday that the two trials should be moved to Camp Victory in Baghdad where Ahmed Hashim Abed is being held in U.S. custody.

Abed is the alleged planner of the March 2004 ambush that killed four Blackwater employees.

The three SEALs are credited with capturing Abed, and accused of mistreating him afterward. One of the three allegedly punched him in the stomach and all three face charges relating to an alleged cover-up.

The ruling is a victory for defense attorneys who wanted to question Abed face to face. Prosecutors sought to go forward with a videotaped deposition instead.

"If he is available for deposition, he is available for trial," said Cmdr. Tierney Carlos during a procedural hearing at Naval Station Norfolk.

Moving the trial to Iraq, with all of its logistical challenges, was apparently preferable to whisking a high-profile terror suspect halfway across the globe and onto the world's largest naval installation in a case that has already attracted national attention.

The trials moved to Iraq are for Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe of Yorktown and Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Julio Huertas.

Keefe faces an April 6 trial. Huertas' case will be heard later that month.

Both are charged with dereliction of duty and making false statements during the subsequent investigation.

Huertas faces an additional charge of impeding the investigation by trying to influence the testimony of a witness — a 3rd class petty officer.

Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Matthew McCabe is accused of the actual assault. He faces a hearing Wednesday before Capt. Moira Modzelewski on whether his trial, set for next week, should be continued.

As of now, McCabe's trial has not been moved. That could change given Monday's ruling, as the court might want to keep all three cases tied together.

Monica Lombardi, the attorney for Huertas, said she was pleased at the turn of events.

"This is the complaining witness," she said. "He's the alleged victim. Is he telling the truth? Is he lying? I want members of the jury to see this person. They can judge for themselves whether to believe his allegations or not."

However, the judge rejected her request to compel prosecutors to further explain two of the charges against her client.

Huertas allegedly tried to influence the testimony of the third class petty officer who said he witnessed the punch. But Lombardi said she has received no detail on what Huertas is accused of doing.

The third class petty officer was guarding the makeshift detention facility where Abed was being held, Lombardi said.

I'm no lawyer, so I can't say if this is a good or bad thing for the SEALS concerned. Their defense attorney seems to think it is a good thing, and that may be true, but does it establish a bad precedent or bad policy? Other's more knowledgeable can expound.