The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Pathfinder on November 24, 2009, 07:05:46 PM
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Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576646,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576646,00.html)
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.
And they're being arraigned - NAVY men - on December 7!!!
Seriously, have these people (in the chain of command) gone nuts? I know bho is an effing 'tard and commie, but ZOMG!!
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You've got to be FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!
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>:( This is totally Barbra Striesand >:( A muslim lying to interrogators wouldn't be unheard of, just to cause a problem for our freedom fighters. Total Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
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I have a feeling like that there is alot not being told in that story.
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Obama's side seems to be gaining another victory over the evil Americans.
What I really want to say would get my post deleted.
TAB, the asshole had a split lip, FU
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This can't be! It may be time to circle the wagons. Someone in command should've handled this. First the New York trials look shakey and now this mess. Get your rope ready TB. I had more to say but I can hear my blood pumping in my ears. I should shut-up for now! I'll wait for more info but it doesn't sound good. Someone call Cheney!
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biggest joke Ive ever heard of, what have we come to? :o
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Oslama can't be stupid enough to NOT support these men? Path is right WTF?????????? I'm pissed ! I should sign off for awhile. God help us and these men.
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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.
Never in my life would Dec. 7th, become another day of Infamy on the part of OUR Gov't
Date: 15th century
1 : evil reputation brought about by something grossly criminal, shocking, or brutal
2 a : an extreme and publicly known criminal or evil act b : the state of being infamous
synonyms see disgrace
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Those Navy SEAL'S should be given a medal, not charges brought against them........
And whoever let this happen should be given a lashing!!
This is a total and utter disgrace on so many levels.
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Muslims are only a symptom. The problem is our own f-cking government.
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So what if they gave him a fat lip. He cut our guys heads off. I think they made a mistake requesting a court martial, because they can't prove they aren't guilty.
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No, they did right, we never would have heard how America's defenders are getting f-cked by their own so called leaders if they had just took NJP.
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Change
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Our retarded, worthless government fires them. Blackwater will quickly hire them on at oh... 100,000 times their current salary's! ;D Good for them. ;)
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Yeah, I am wondering if this isn't some knee jerk reaction / witchhunt associated with any and all things Blackwater.
At one point last year, I was kinda in the pipeline to getting selected to be a Diplomatic Security Service agent. It seems the State Department all of a sudden had a big hiring push for DSS special agents. My guess is because they booted the Blackwater guys, supposedly, out of Iraq after that civilian shooting incident/accident.
Alas, my prospective trip to go to FLETC and then onto the DSS training facility somewhere outside of D.C. got cut off because they weren't going to be able to get my background done before I turned 37. Age cutoff for all special agents is 37.
Anywhoo... it might actually be a blessing in disguise... to not work for the State Department / .gov as some body guard...err... bullet catcher role.
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I think if this BS keeps up, Navy enlistments are going to go way down. How many 18 year old high schoolers who think they can swim, enlist into the Navy thinking that some day they will be able to make it to Coronado for BUDS?
At some point, if this BS keeps up, independent "contractors" are going to set up their own schools/weeding out processes instead of waiting for some E-whatever to puch out of the SEALS, Marine Recon, or the Green Berets/Rangers....oh! oh!... can't forget the Air Force PJ's and CCT's too.
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Think about this to Tyler, not only are you a bullet stop, but the person you are supposed to protect is probably either someone you would rather kick in the nuts, or is going to make an agreement that makes you want to puke.
The Muslim extremists are merely foot soldiers for the TRUE enemies of America.
The US Congress. >:(
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The US Congress. >:(
+1 Tom......get your rope!!
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So what if they gave him a fat lip. He cut our guys heads off. I think they made a mistake requesting a court martial, because they can't prove they aren't guilty.
They did the correct thing in asking for a court martial. The board can find that you acted above and beyond the call if they find the evidence supports it. The prosecuting attorney will have to show proof they either abused the terrorist or knew he was abused and failed to report the abuse. The officers career could be over without this being resolved in their favor. I'll bet the Navy just makes it go away.
If poor Haji got his faced jammed on the pavement when they snatched him it just too bad and would not be grounds for disipline.
SEAL's are very good at snatching folks. They spend a lot of time training for that mission.
Yes Tom I know iti's petty BS.
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Next time they should just shoot the SOB's.
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Next time they should just shoot the SOB's.
Works for me.
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lucky he only got a bloody lip.
i would have nailed him and said he was drawing down on me.
fu***ng discrasefull >:(
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Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. They should have made his birth certificate null and void.
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We should go back to Stormin Norman Schwarzkopf's motto: "It's God's job to judge them, it's our job to arrange the meeting."
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This is an outrage-more PC -why did they capture him?
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Having been through a Summary Courts Martial myself, these men are far better off doing that than an Admirals Mast. At least they can plead their case and get a chance at aquital. At Admirals Mast, you're pretty much admitting your guilt and allowing the CO to determine your fate.
I wish them well and hope that the system does it's job and lets them live normal lives. As to their military careers? I'd say that these types of charges may limit their ability to remain active but considering the current state of our military, should they be aquited, they should be allowed to remain.
God Bless them in their fight against these charges.
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Having been through a Summary Courts Martial myself, ...
Do tell. ;) ;D
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I emailed a USN friend in Bahrain working for CENTCOM and they had not even heard about it!!!
Needless to say they are extremely PO'd now.
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Do tell. ;) ;D
Long ago, in a different time and place, smart people can do stupid things. I was aquited, finished my hitch and was Honorably Discharged on Sept 23, 1981 and have a Good Conduct award as well. The system works when you have good people looking out for you!
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This is long, and for that I apologise, but it gives much insight.
I was listening to Limbaugh yesterday when this guy called in:
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Greg in North Carolina, great to have you on the phone here, sir. Welcome to EIB Network.
CALLER: Hi, Mr. Limbaugh, how are you?
RUSH: Fine, sir.
CALLER: Good. I just wanted to call and kind of give a little more insight on this SEAL team situation. I was in the teams for 20 years. I have multiple-decade military service and came in not long after Vietnam. I also worked for Blackwater for a few years in Iraq and know one of the guys that was killed at Fallujah quite well. But, anyway, the point I'm going to get at here is that I think there's quite a bit of evidence that this is kind of a backwash from the situation of a couple months ago when the SEAL operators rescued Captain Phillips off the coast of Somalia. You may recall that situation.
RUSH: Yes, I do.
CALLER: Well, the truth behind that situation is that the SEAL operators were kept off the scene for well over 36 hours. There was a lot of foot dragging by the commander-in-chief's people in letting them in the theater. After they were in theater and in place they were given a very restrictive ROE: Rules Of Engagement. The ROE was so restrictive that really they couldn't engage their targets. There were two previous opportunities to rescue Captain Phillips, and they were not allowed to take those opportunities.
RUSH: Let me stop you here because people may not know. We're talking Somali pirates. We're talking about the Maersk cargo ship that a bunch of Somali pirates, teenagers, took over. One of them eventually died, and the media credited Obama -- honest to God, folks, the media credited Obama -- with giving the order to pull the trigger. Now you may resume the story, sir.
CALLER: Okay. When they finally did engage the hostiles, they did it liberally interpreting the ROE, and the on-site commander finally was kind of fed up with the situation and gave them a weapons-free command and they were able to engage and rescue Captain Phillips. The fallout from that was immediate and rather violent in its anger. The White House people -- I don't know the president himself, I just know their representatives with the chain of command -- were absolutely livid with this and they did not want the rescue to be conducted in the way that it was. You know, I cannot prove this because I would have to give names and I'm not giving names for obvious reasons. But the bottom line is that on very good, solid inside information, the national command authority past the Pentagon was not happy.
RUSH: So let me cut to the chase here. So what I think I hear you saying is the blowback that you mentioned is, this is payback for the SEALs violating the ROE on this captain of the Maersk; and this is the chain of command reasserting itself, letting everybody know who's boss and what's going to happen to you if you don't follow orders?
CALLER: That is my rather experienced opinion -- and, frankly, the opinion of others. I am very close to the special operations community here in North Carolina, and, you know, that opinion is surfacing. These people are very vindictive -- and you have to understand, Mr. Limbaugh, you're very pro-military, and you always say wonderful things about our people in service, and we greatly appreciate it. But I do have to say this, and I'd like to make this one point. I've had two sons, by the way. My two eldest sons have done multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. The military of today is not the military that fought World War II. It is not even the military that fought the first Gulf War. It is a military that has been thoroughly politicized. It is a military that is suffering the fallout of Patricia Schroeder's ridiculous, politically correct policies that still have great power and sway in the military. And I'm just going to have to tell you: I do not mean to impugn the junior personnel in the military, the line troops, the junior officers. I'm not talking about these people. These people are doing a fine job. They're outstanding people. But the senior ranking, the civilian and senior ranking military personnel are thoroughly indoctrinated and on board with this politically correct agenda that's in the military.
RUSH: Yeah. I'll tell you the most recent example of it. A glaring example was General Casey, more concerned about the "diversity" in his Army than the loss of life at Fort Hood.
CALLER: General Casey, sir, and Wesley Clark are not the exceptions in the upper echelons. They are the rule. Those are the kinds of men that are running the show and they will throw the junior personnel under the bus to save themselves every time. And that is my opinion. Again, I don't mean to impugn any of the junior people.
RUSH: We know what you mean. We know exactly what you mean.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Everything's been politically correctized -- chickified, if you will. That's one of the things I call it. Can you hold on for a break?
CALLER: Certainly.
RUSH: I want you to explain to people what you meant. I think I know what you meant by the Patsy Schroeder stuff, Tailhook and all that, but I want you to explain exactly what you mean by that 'cause I'm sure you've got a lot of people curious.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We rejoin our call with Greg from parts unknown in North Carolina, a former member of the Navy SEAL team who has two sons who served two tours each in Iraq and Afghanistan. What was it that Pat Schroeder did when she was a member of Congress from Colorado?
CALLER: I guess the question would be: What didn't she do? She was very influential in passing legislation and putting pressure on the military to basically and fundamentally feminize the military. I can speak most clearly about the Navy, 'cause that was my experience at the time, especially when Admiral Kelso -- who was the CNO at the time -- kind of completely caved in after Tailhook and started instituting things like putting females on man-o-war, having the mixed training companies in boot camp and the like. And what Patricia Schroeder did was, with a really rather small cabal of very ambitious military officers -- who, by the way, violated military rules and regulations by petitioning in uniform on Capitol Hill for these changes, but nobody seemed to notice that -- were able to pass a lot of regulations through the Navy and the other branches that have, frankly, incorporated women into areas of the military where, being old-fashioned, I do not believe that they belong. And this has caused numerous problems throughout the military. Beyond that, I'm not exactly sure what else you would like me to add.
RUSH: No, I thought that's what you were talking about but I wanted people to hear you say it. Pat Schroeder was very liberal, huge feminist, and I wanted you to say the feminization. My word for it is chickification. But it's happening throughout our culture. It's happening throughout the media as well. And it's turning people soft and touchy-feely and so forth. And I know what you mean: There's no room for that on the battlefield.
CALLER: There is none. And I'm very concerned about the future of our nation's military. Again I do not mean to minimize the dangers that our military personnel are facing in this war. However, it isn't a full-scale, knock-down-drag-out between conventional fighting forces. I am concerned that if we ever do engage in that sort of warfare again -- and I think it's ultimately inevitable, I'm afraid -- that our military is not in the place where it needs to be.
RUSH: Meaning? This is scary. Meaning they're not committed to victory, that there are other things which take precedence?
CALLER: Absolutely, sir. And, frankly, there's a billion Chinamen that are becoming more and more bellicose by the day, are being armed at our expense and with our expertise, and are becoming a growing threat by the day, and I --
RUSH: I wouldn't worry about that. Obama charmed them on that trip over there. He bowed down.
CALLER: I saw that, as he bowed to their prime minister as well.
RUSH: Greg, I gotta go. I'm outta time sadly, but it's wonderful that you got through. A Thanksgiving blessing this audience got to hear you today. Thank you, sir.
CALLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Limbaugh.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: My friends, one of the most famous lines ever uttered by Patsy Schroeder was, "I have a vagina, and I know how to use it." And I replied, "I have a brain and I have a penis, and I only have to use half of either." Tailhook taught every officer that to advance, you gotta be PC. That's another liberal legacy. It just destroys everything it purports to improve.
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Long ago, in a different time and place, smart people can do stupid things. I was aquited, finished my hitch and was Honorably Discharged on Sept 23, 1981 and have a Good Conduct award as well. The system works when you have good people looking out for you!
Unfortunately these guys are stuck with BO looking out for the enemy.
They're screwed.
To comment on Bic's post,
I remember Pat Schroeder well, Reagan sent her and Ron Dellums to Grenada on a fact finding mission and before they came back to report to their employers, (US ) and the President, they submitted their report for the approval of the Cuban dominated Govt of Grenada.
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Something tells me that if a SEAL reeaaallllly wanted to "abuse" a detainee, the only thing left would be blood stained rags.... and even they would disappear ;D. Like many here, I'm getting feed up with all the PC "Wiz Kid's", not only in the chain of command but in government in general. (It's reminiscent of JFK's "Wiz Kid's" back in the 60's, and many of us remember how well that went.) I'll put my trust in the SEALS and the men and women on the ground!
Well at least we'll all have a chance to "stand up" in 2010.