Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

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Boondocksaint375

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WTF..........


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 for their trouble, three of the SEALs, members of the Navy's elite commando unit, are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and 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.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576646,00.html
 
What's wrong with us. This is npthing compared to what that bastard would do to any of those SEALs had roles been reversed. He's lucky they didn't give him a steel toe in the ass
 
Good for them for requesting a trial. This specifically highlights the bullshit red tape that SOF has to put up with for the public to see, and hopefully shake their heads at.
 
Do you think they just laugh at us? And then our top officials are telling the terrorist how sorry we are... It's great that we have some of the finest military in the World, but how long does that last when we have to call out "Hey, I don't want to hurt you, so could you just drop your guns and bombs?" ... "No, well how about just one of the two?" ... "No, you have your American lawyer on the line and he wants to talk to us for scaring you? OK, we will send over our lawyer to confirm." ... " hey, you just killed our guy!" ... "So, is that a no about surrendering?"
 
What a shame,, what kind of message does this send -- for a bloody lip? And the fact that they're releasing these SEALs names pisses me off, too. No need for that.
 
It's the "false official statement" that has me concerned. What is it they weren't truthful about (that probably set this whole mess into motion)?

Having said that, it is just one more sad tale in an increasingly frustrating time to be an American, where you have to worry about your own leadership as much as (if not more than) America's enemies. :(
 
This makes me sick.

A bloody lip? He's lucky he didn't get a security round in the head.
 
First words out of my mouth when I read the title of this thread, "WTF!!!" First words I read when opening the thread, "WTF!!!!"

Hopefully these guys will be found innocent. God bless them. We're doing more harm to our country court-martialing them and take them out of the fight. Let them do their damn jobs because they do it damn good.
 
SOFA KING WE TALL DID!!! :uhh: :mad:

Geez, a bloody lip? And what exactly did he do to 4 Americans?

Whiny bastards they are... my motherly advice? Next time .. oh nevermind...

3 men's lives will be ruined, expensive lawyers and all because Joe Haji lived to see another day when he ruthlessly killed 4 men, OUR men. Anyone on the jury who remembers the images from Fallujah will vote to acquit.

What the heck is wrong with a chain of command that thinks charges were ok? Nice to know they have the boys backs... NOT.

Gotta worry about the men in harm's way and harm just took on a whole new meaning.
 
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