You'll remember the three Navy SEALS who captured a dangerous terrorist murderer in Iraq and instead of a commendation are now facing a court martial because the jihadi complained to Iraqi authorities that they allegedly hit him in the mouth.
In the latest gesture of appeasement, two of them are being shipped to Iraq for trial, while the third is going to appear in a special court martial proceeding next week:
During this preliminary hearing, military court judge Cmdr. Tierney Carlos declared that he would like to have the cases of Navy SEALs Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe moved to Camp Victory in Iraq. The ruling will give the court the ability to question Ahmed Hashim Abed – the alleged victim.
The lawyer who represents Jonathan Keefe had requested that Abed be brought to the United States for questioning regarding the case.
The charges are all linked to an alleged incident involving Abed, the suspected perpetrator of the killing and burning of four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, Iraq. Abed had complained to investigators that he was subjected to physical abuse – he was said to have been punched – while he was in detention.
Jonathan Keefe is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false official statement. Julio Huertas faces the same charges as well as impeding an official investigation.
Carlos reportedly said the following as he made the ruling for Keefe: “It doesn’t make sense to me that the alleged victim is available for deposition and not available for trial. In order to prevent prejudice to the accused, this case should be tried in Iraq.” Carlos said further: “This deposition will not be a substitute for the alleged victim’s appearance.”
The deposition Commander Carlos is referring to came from the Iraqi authorities, just as the original charges against the SEALS did. As I remarked earlier, it's easy to punch yourself in the mouth or bang your face against a wall and say that those evil Americans did it - especially when some of your sympathetic countrymen swear to it and the American military, at the behest of Washington, is bending over backwards to prove how Muslim friendly they are.
If this jihadi cockroach Ahmed Hashim Abed is unable or unwilling to come to the US to be questioned in open court, these charges should have been dropped then and there.
Instead, these brave warriors have to have their lives put on hold and get shipped back to Iraq for Abed and the Iraqi's convenience.
This is the bogus Haditha Marines all over again.
In fact even if theSEALS did smack Abed around a little in the course of capturing him in what was by all accounts a dangerous mission, what are we saying by putting these men on trial?
If we allow our warriors to be demonized merely for doing their job superbly, the day will come when no one will step up. This is not only unfair and absurd,it's suicidal.
Apparently Congressman Burton ( R- IN) is mounting a campaign to go directly to Major General Charles Cleveland, the Commanding General of Special Operations Command Central to have the charges dismissed. His latest letter to the General is here.
Please contact your local Senators, Congressmen and State Representatives and ask they get involved.
( Hat tip and a commendation to long time Joshua's Army member Joyce C for initially sending this my way)
3 comments:
I would think the morale of our fighing men and women has to be extrodinarily low right now. I could not imagine how it could not be.
Our military is being worn down in continuing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the "war on terror" to the point that even its basic fighting ability is being compromised and now this. These Navy Seals took down men who were far more dangerous to America than Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan ever were or likely ever could have been. This is their reward for this?!!? Truly disturbing. If America is to survive, our government and the voting public will need to rearrange their priorities.
If only I could be in charge. If I were, all troops, military assets, and intellegence personnel would be withdrawn immediately from the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. This would happen as soon as our transport vehicles could get them out. These forces and other assets would be redeployed to defensible positions along the borders.
This accomplishes two things. 1.)It allows us to deploy our personnel in defensible positions rather than waste them in fruitless efforts to bring "demcoracy" to the middle east or attempting to halt Russian expansion into Eastern Europe or trying to prevent China from capturing Tawain. 2.)Preumably our fighting men and women signed on to defend America. By securing our borders they would be doing this. I would expect morale to go up tremendously. I think this is important. I think the importance of a military with high morale cannot be over estimated. As morale goes up, I would expect enlistments to increase as well.
I disremember which founding father it was who said. I think it was John Adams. To roughly paraphrase, while America should be a friend of liberty every where it ultimately can only guarantee its own. This is something we need to keep in mind.
If we allow our warriors to be demonized merely for doing their job superbly, the day will come when no one will step up. This is not only unfair and absurd,it's suicidal.
something about hair and a sack comes to mind.......but i just don't know how to put it into words........
have a good sabbath.
Hi Louie,
Todah Rabah, Chaver...which is Hebe for thanks very much bro!
RightBackAtcha,
Rob
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