Green Beret officer's Silver Star revoked as Army cites investigation

[CDG]

The only good part of this article is no one's really talking. For once no one is leaking the details. Otherwise, this thing is a bucket of fail and will remain so until more facts are available. Owing to a lack of details taking a side right now is asinine.

Since when do the details of this kind of case not get leaked if it's so sensational that the guy is stripped of his Tab and has awards revoked? It's sad that that has become a barometer, but hasn't it by this point? There's ALWAYS an "official who asked to remain anonymous because they weren't authorized to discuss the situation/case/operation". It is too early to take sides, but there's just something that seems off about this case.

 

[AWP]

Since when do the details of this kind of case not get leaked if it's so sensational that the guy is stripped of his Tab and has awards revoked? It's sad that that has become a barometer, but hasn't it by this point? There's ALWAYS an "official who asked to remain anonymous because they weren't authorized to discuss the situation/case/operation". It is too early to take sides, but there's just something that seems off about this case.

I agree, but it also makes me wonder how people know what's going on.

Americans like the underdog or the guy who stood up to the system, paid for that courage, and who was ultimately vindicated. When these stories pop up I'm skeptical because how much of our conclusions are based on fact, how many actual facts are we given, and how much our conclusions are based on emotion or predispositions of distrust in "the man?" That's one reason I try to separate emotion from the decision-making process.

I view our military and civilian leadership as self-serving moral and ethical cowards and while I don't put anything past them, revoking a SS/ DSC and then his SF tab? I have a hard time believeing this is solely about an interview in Bing West's book, but will wait for further details.

 

[Gunz]

Bing West weighs in:


"In any war, there will be confusing situations where reasonable men can reach different conclusions about what happened and why. But once the CIA and the Army used a single polygraph to launch a fruitless three-year investigation, the judgment of senior officials back in Washington was called into question."

http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...special-forces-hero-duncan-d-hunter-bing-west

 

[Wench]

So...the implication being that two Marines were killed by a bomb, and in short order a bomb maker was killed outside the rules of engagement.

Bing West was embedded with them at that time. I'm sure he would have picked up on something if he was halfway doing his job. Now, years later, this officer stands accused and loses everything. Seems like now would be a good time to say, "For what it's worth, I was there, I didn't hear anything like that and I was in a position to. Period." NOT, "We may never know what happened in the fog of war." Not really helping your boy out there with the dramatic prose, Bing. Nor with the red herrings of aghast horror over the CIA clarifying what might have amounted to a murder charge if substantiated with his employer at the time it happened before they hired him.

To clarify--my comments are in regards to the last article by West that Ocoka posted, and not on the soldier himself or whatever action he may have taken.

 

[CDG]

Latest article on the case: http://www.fayobserver.com/military...cle_7691ac70-f513-52ff-b561-a889ac4c717d.html

Some more details in this article that are starting to paint a slightly clearer picture. Secretary of the Army states that he believes the incident would have directly led to MAJ Golsteyn not being awarded the Silver Star. I don't recall seeing any link between the two before. Also, the Army has initiated the separation process against MAJ Golsteyn.

Based on what I've seen, the MAJ was awarded the SS for exposing himself to enemy fire while helping an injured AFG commando and calling in airstrikes. I don't see where in that a severe ROE violation could have occurred. It would have been one thing if he dropped a bomb in the wrong area and killed civilians or something, but that obviously wasn't the case. I think the Army really needs to come clean about this.

 

[Gunz]

What I'm inferring from all this is that the Army isn't happy by the manner in which the POS "insurgent bomb-maker" was iced. And if that's the case maybe the Army is reluctant to release details for fear of igniting a Muslim backlash or an atomic circus in the media. If they charge the Major with a crime, it becomes public.

 

[Salt USMC]

New details in this case: it appears as though Maj. Golsteyn confessed during a polygraph to capturing an IED maker, killing him, burying, unburying, and then later tossing his body into a burn pit.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/06/golsteyn/

DOCUMENTS: GREEN BERET WHO SOUGHT JOB AT CIA CONFESSED TO MURDER

On September 14, 2011, the CIA sent an alarming message to the Pentagon: a decorated U.S. special operations commando admitted during a job interview with the agency to hunting down and killing “an unknown, unarmed” Afghan man.
The claim triggered an investigation that spanned years and saw U.S. Army Major Mathew L. Golsteyn stripped of his Silver Star. While the admission has been reported in the press, the Army’s investigation into the alleged killing has been largely conducted in secrecy.
The Intercept has obtained internal U.S. Army documents that detail elements of the military’s investigation into the alleged killing and a previously undisclosed letter of reprimand Golsteyn received last year.
“In an interview conducted at the CIA, then-CPT Golsteyn claimed to have captured and shot and buried a suspected IED bomb maker,” an Army memo dated September 29, 2014 reads. “He further went to comment that he went back out with two others to cremate the body and dispose of the remains. In the transcript, CPT Golsteyn stated that he knew it was illegal but was not remorseful as he had solid intelligence and his actions protected the safety of his fellow teammates.”
Following the September 2011 CIA interview, the agency alerted the military of a “possible violation of criminal law.” In October, the Army launched a criminal probe. The next month, Golsteyn was promoted to the rank of major.
Two years later, in November 2013, U.S. Army criminal investigators concluded that Golsteyn had knowingly violated the laws of war, alleging he had committed the crimes of “murder and conspiracy.” Army Secretary John McHugh stripped Golsteyn of his Silver Star and other awards. However, Golsteyn remains in the military and no criminal charges have been filed against him. Golsteyn received the Silver Star in 2011 for his role in a mission to hunt down enemy snipers in Afghanistan.

This bit from the middle of the article really jumped out at me:

Military law experts interviewed by The Intercept said that the confession alone was not enough to criminally prosecute him, so Army officials took the only route available to them — an administrative reprimand — to punish him.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jeffrey Addicott, the former senior legal advisor for U.S. Army Special Forces, says the “Army acted correctly” in the case. The Geneva Conventions and corresponding Army regulations “require that whenever we receive information about a grave breach of the law of war we must investigate and take appropriate action,” wrote Addicott in an email to The Intercept. “The admission by the Captain that he had killed an unarmed unlawful enemy combatant in his custody (the 2001 AUMF would classify the person killed as such) and buried the body required further investigation.” Addicott, who currently runs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University in Texas, says the military would need “additional evidence” to obtain a conviction under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“Someone could look at this and say, ‘My God, this is a slap on the wrist for a heinous, unjustified killing,’” says Professor Geoffrey Corn, an international and war law expert at the University of South Texas. “If I had been the JAG officer they came to, it would kill me not to be able to charge this guy.”

Corn, who spent 22 years as a military officer and served as the Army’s senior law of war expert in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, says that in order to criminally charge Golsteyn with murder, prosecutors would have to find corroborating evidence, such as a witness, a body, physical evidence or a co-conspirator. “The fact is that he admits to what — if it’s true — is as serious of a felony as we can imagine: intentional, unlawful killing of a human being, which is premeditated murder,” Corn told The Intercept. “If there was a viable criminal sanction, you’d have to do a general court martial. You’d have to. Nothing else would be credible. And you can’t because you can’t find corroboration for the confession.”

What a strange case this has become.

 

[Brill]

Grave breach of law and punishment is reprimand?

They clearly had ZERO evidence other than the statements made during his poly. So did it happen at all?

 

[pardus]

Grave breach of law and punishment is reprimand?

They clearly had ZERO evidence other than the statements made during his poly. So did it happen at all?

I find it very hard to believe that someone would make something like that up during a poly exam with the CIA, and not show as lying while doing it.

 

[TLDR20]

Grave breach of law and punishment is reprimand?

They clearly had ZERO evidence other than the statements made during his poly. So did it happen at all?

Or it is just that it is inadmissible.

 

[DA SWO]

Or it is just that it is inadmissible.

That is my take.
I have met LTC (R) Addicott and think he and the other retired JAG hit the nail square on the head.
All they can do is QMP him out, but it will follow him forever and I'd bet his employment opportunities go down significantly.

 

[Brill]

Or it is just that it is inadmissible.

Curious as to "that". Sad to see this happen to the Regiment nevertheless.

 

[TLDR20]

Curious as to "that". Sad to see this happen to the Regiment nevertheless.

I was saying that his poly is inadmissible in any court. But an admission was enough for the army to lose its head. I am sad for the Regiment as well.

 

[Etype]

This is a case of the ends don't justify the means.

HOWEVER, let's face it- we are WAY too fixated on the means and more or less unconcerned about the ends in modern conflict.

That goes for this case, others, and the overall approach to how we handle Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

 

[DA SWO]

I just wonder why he applied for the CIA with that in his background?

He could have kept quiet and retired as a Major (or LTC) without saying anything.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

I just wonder why he applied for the CIA with that in his background?

Just based on this part of the story: "In the transcript, CPT Golsteyn stated that he knew it was illegal but was not remorseful as he had solid intelligence and his actions protected the safety of his fellow teammates.”, it seems clear to me that he genuinely believed he was right, and may have actually told the story during the CIA interview because in his mind, he was trying to show them the lengths he would go to "do what was right". I can only try to imagine what was going through the interviewer's minds as they were listening to this unfold in front of them.

 

[pardus]

Just based on this part of the story: "In the transcript, CPT Golsteyn stated that he knew it was illegal but was not remorseful as he had solid intelligence and his actions protected the safety of his fellow teammates.”, it seems clear to me that he genuinely believed he was right, and may have actually told the story during the CIA interview because in his mind, he was trying to show them the lengths he would go to "do what was right". I can only try to imagine what was going through the interviewer's minds as they were listening to this unfold in front of them.

If that's the case then he's a naive fool.

 

[benroliver]

Lol the intercept is always on the ball.

 

[Marauder06]

One of their reporters contacted me a few months back. They were writing a story related to something I published back in 2008 or so and wanted to interview me about it. I politely declined.

 

[SpongeBob*24]

I never understood how "they" can pull something after you make 1 mistake.
It just doesn't add up.....:wall: