William (01-29-2019)
Captdon (02-10-2019)
Update- Judge dismisses two charges stating that they are not crimes.
A judge has dropped two of the charges against a Navy SEAL who is facing a high-profile war crimes prosecution.
Navy Capt. Aaron Rugh, the judge in the court martial of Chief Petty Officer Edward R. Gallagher, 39, stripped away two of the charges against the SEAL -- one related to his re-enlistment next to the body of a slain teenage ISIS fighter, and another related to him allegedly operating a drone over the corpse.
The other charges stand.
ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
It looks bad for him There are medics working on the guy when he stabs him to death.
Liberals are a clear and present danger to our nation
Pick your enemies carefully.
Peter1469 (02-06-2019)
It is looking even worse for the guy.
It is a fairly long article. Perhaps he was burnt out from too much combat and lost his way.
Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward “Eddie” Gallagher not only stabbed to death a teenage wounded Islamic State prisoner of war during a 2017 deployment to Iraq, , according to an officer in his chain of command, but the SEAL also called in “false target coordinates to engage a mosque," tried to push his platoon into pointless and potentially catastrophic firefights with insurgents and became so mentally unstable that he should’ve been relieved from duty but wasn’t.
Those allegations are contained in a proffer from the officer sent to military officials on Wednesday seeking immunity from prosecution in the sprawling war crimes case roiling California-based SEAL Team 7.
Proffers are legal documents that outline what potential witnesses will say on the stand in a court-martial trial in exchange for immunity from prosecution for crimes they also might’ve committed.
Military prosecutors have charged Gallagher with killing the Islamic State detainee on May 3, 2017, shooting at innocent civilians with his sniper rifle at other times and later attempting to coerce potential witnesses to conceal his alleged war crimes.
His commanding officer at SEAL Team 7′s Alpha Platoon outside Mosul in mid-2017, Lt. Jacob X. “Jake” Portier, also faces a raft of charges for allegedly trying to conceal his chief’s crimes.
According to copies of the documents obtained by Navy Times, Wednesday’s proffer and another drafted on Jan. 17 for a senior enlisted leader in SEAL Group 1 not only divulge new allegations against both Gallagher and Portier but they also question how eager several of their superiors at Navy Special Warfare were at probing the war crime accusations.
Copies of federal search warrants also obtained by Navy Times show that investigators have been tracing electronic communications across the SEAL community and have seized cellphones of those involved.
The twin proffers and search warrants are the clearest indications yet that there are active probes into senior enlisted and commissioned SEALs, a potentially damning indictment of the culture of the usually tight-knit community of clandestine commandos.
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Ethereal (02-13-2019)
He may have. He needs to plead that way. The evidence is not on his side.
Liberals are a clear and present danger to our nation
Pick your enemies carefully.
Agree.
And a key point we need to remember is that the Navy sure as hell does not want to be prosecuting one of their SEALS. For this situation to arise there has to be some pretty overwhelming evidence supporting the charges.
Could be that the guy snapped under the conditions he was exposed to. Or maybe he was or is a genuine nutter. The details should come out in the trial and hopefully be appropriately accommodated in the sentencing (if a guilty verdict is returned.)
The Navy should be respected for addressing this issue publicly and thoroughly.
Volvo
“Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”
Captdon (02-10-2019),nathanbforrest45 (05-16-2019),Peter1469 (02-10-2019)
Update: Iraqi general to testify that Seal did not kill ISIL prisoner.
That is a twist in the case.
I am against the US going after our warriors who fight our dirty wars for us. Don't send us to war if you can't stomach the way that we fight it.A judge ruled this week that an Iraqi general eyewitness who says Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher did not kill a wounded ISIS prisoner while deployed must be called to testify in the case.
The judge determined Tuesday that Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abbas al-Jubouri is a “necessary witness” and must be brought to trial, one of Gallagher’s defense attorneys, Colby Vokey, told American Military News late Wednesday.
“Our investigator finally got through and talked with Abbas. Our investigator later took the stand and spoke to the judge about it. The general was there before, during and after [the ISIS prisoner] died, and he said Eddie didn’t kill him,” Vokey said. “He also said many complimentary things about Eddie.”
Vokey noted that the government might say that the State Department won’t allow Abbas to travel, as he might be on a no-fly list, but that this development in the case is huge for the defense.
This is in line with previous reports that there is also video of the alleged incident, and that Gallagher did not kill an ISIS prisoner. Rather, the prisoner had already been shot and lost too much blood, and was dying.
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MisterVeritis (05-16-2019),nathanbforrest45 (05-16-2019)
He should have been relieved of duty and sent to psych after intentionally calling in false coordinates. Perhaps his chain of command should be facing charges too.