Recently a team of Navy SEALs captured Ahmed Hashim Abed, the terrorist who murdered and then mutilated three Blackwater security guards in Fallujah in 2004. Now three of the Navy SEALs face a court martial for prisoner abuse.
The alleged abuse is said to have taken place after Ahmed Hashim Abed was in custody. The three Navy SEALs in question have refused a non judicial punishment and have opted for a court martial.
According to Fox News:
“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.”
In other words the three Navy SEALs are facing a court martial for beating a prisoner and then trying to cover it up.
Hot Air’s Allahpundit suggests that the strategy of going to a court martial is a smart one on the part of the Navy SEALs. The Navy SEAL court martial is taking place against the highly controversial spectacle of a show trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and several other terrorists in New York City.
“The last thing The One needs after shipping KSM off to NYC for his close-up is the image of SEALs being hauled off to prison for busting some jihadi in the face. In fact, according to Fox, the SEALs requested a court-martial rather than nonjudicial punishment, presumably because they know full well how awful this looks for the military. Prediction: Wrist slap.”
It would be a bitter irony for President Obama if at the same time Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is denouncing the United States as a cesspool of infidels in open court, a trio of hero Navy SEALs is being put on trial for roughing up a prisoner. The military, under Obama, cannot go too easy on the Navy SEALs. So doing would insure the wrath of the media. But punishing American heroes for giving one of the worst examples of human debris a beat down runs the risk of angering everyone else. Despite the embarrassment of Abu Ghraib, most people, to quote Katherine Hepburn, would observe that people like Ahmed Hashim Abed and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could be, “Peeled like a pear and God himself would call it justice.”
The murder and mutilation of the Blackwater guards precipitated a series of major battles in which a Marine force was obliged to liberate Fallujah from terrorist control.
Sources: Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist, Rowan Scarborough, Fox News, November 24th, 2009
Three Navy SEALs court-martialed after giving most-wanted Iraqi terrorist a fat lip, Allahpundit, Hot Air, November 24th, 2009
