Trump Reportedly Preparing Pardons for SEAL, Green Beret Accused of Crimes

[Peter1469]

Trump Reportedly Preparing Pardons for SEAL, Green Beret Accused of Crimes

This is an update to two threads that I have here in the Military forum. The first case is MAJ Golsteyn. He was an Army SoF officer who killed an unarmed Taliban bomb-maker. The other case is Navy Seal Chief Eddie Gallagher who killed a captured ISIL jihadist. For the reasons that I have given in both of those threads I agree that they should be pardoned.

President Donald Trump could issue a pardon on Memorial Day for Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher, former Special Forces Maj. Matthew Golsteyn, and Marine Scout Snipers accused of urinating on Taliban corpses, the New York Times is reporting.

The White House is working with the Justice Department and military services to get the paperwork necessary for the pardons in order, according to the Times.


The president has already voiced support for Gallagher, who is accused of killing a wounded ISIS fighter with his knife, and Golsteyn, who has admitted to killing an unarmed suspected Taliban bomb-maker. Trump had Gallagher released from pretrial confinement by tweeting that he should be moved to a less restrictive environment and he promised to personal review Golsteyn's case, calling the former Green Beret a "U.S. military hero."


Tim Parlatore, Gallagher's civilian attorney, welcomed the possibility of a pardon but stressed he is still working on his client's defense.


"Our primary desire is for Chief Gallagher to go home to his family," Parlatore told Task & Purpose. "Chief Gallagher is innocent of these charges and we are still preparing to exonerate him in court. However, if the president chooses either through a pardon or dismissal to end this nightmare early and send Chief Gallagher home to his family, he would be eternally grateful."


Golsteyn's civilian attorney Philip Stackhouse issued a statement to Task & Purpose saying news that Trump may pardon his client validates Golsteyn's actions.


"We put our warriors in the most difficult situations imaginable and ask them to do the unthinkable: kill," Stackhouse said. "When faced with life or death situations on the battlefield, I think we should take a very hard look at ourselves before attempting to second-guess warrior's decisions made 5, 6, 7000 miles away in a complex kinetic environment, with little to no sleep, and with the weight of war on their shoulders.

[Cletus]

Golsteyn should be pardoned. Gallagher should be hanged.

[Peter1469]

Golsteyn should be pardoned. Gallagher should be hanged.

Agree, disagree.

[Common]

Good, Id much rather give pardons to those that put their ass on the line for this country, than the leader of La Raza who was a murderous terrorist that killed many americans like obama did

[Private Pickle]

Agree, disagree.

Why? Seems like a psycho...

[Lummy]

The whole thing is wrong. This is just mish-mash balderdash, and it demonstrates that you never go to war unless you have to, and you only have to if your country is in peril, and if you have to go to war because your country is in peril, you go because you have to win, and if you have to win, you don't tie your guys' hands behind their backs and penalize them for soldiering because that's just nuts.

What good comes out of prosecuting these guys? Are we going to get better soldiers as a result?

No courtesy that we have shown those people will likely ever be returned. If you're going to penalize soldiers for being soldiers doing their job, then don't go to war.

This is closer to cannibalism than justice.

[Cletus]

Agree, disagree.

So, you think it is okay to stab a wounded, out of combat enemy to death, shoot and kill at least two unarmed civilians (a young girl and an old man) and fire a machinegun into a crowd of noncombatants, among other things?

[Cletus]

The whole thing is wrong. This is just mish-mash balderdash, and it demonstrates that you never go to war unless you have to, and you only have to if your country is in peril, and if you have to go to war because your country is in peril, you go because you have to win, and if you have to win, you don't tie your guys' hands behind their backs and penalize them for soldiering because that's just nuts.

What good comes out of prosecuting these guys? Are we going to get better soldiers as a result?

No courtesy that we have shown those people will likely ever be returned. If you're going to penalize soldiers for being soldiers doing their job, then don't go to war.

This is closer to cannibalism than justice.

If Gallagher was "doing his job", I would agree with you, but he wasn't.

[Peter1469]

Why? Seems like a psycho...

I have separate threads for both cases. I explain there.

That SEAL and his platoon has been best SEALs for the last several years (doesn't consider Team 6). We train these people to kill and expect them to do so. He did.

[Peter1469]

So, you think it is okay to stab a wounded, out of combat enemy to death, shoot and kill at least two unarmed civilians (a young girl and an old man) and fire a machinegun into a crowd of noncombatants, among other things?

It depends on the circumstances. I have been in combat. I have also been a military prosecutor. And military magistrate. And I think this particular case should never have been brought.