The careers of three Navy Seals are on the line because of a bloody lip? Tell me this isn’t true, please!
Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist
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.”
November 24th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
where do I sign up to baby site the prisoner for a few minutes? I have a blackened eye I’d like to give him to match his split lip.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I’d be happy to take a turn…
November 24th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Hopefully they’ll be acquitted due to lack of evidence. And maybe some admiral will have a private counseling session with these men about keeping things neat, tidy, and quiet when dealing with such things. Being Navy SEALS, they should learn to be a little more discreet when taking care of some extra “business”, and staying out of the public eye.
November 25th, 2009 at 7:04 am
I’m flummoxed, really.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:46 am
this is bullshit – what else can i say…
November 25th, 2009 at 7:04 am
It is. Total bullshit.
November 25th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
All this policy of giving American Citizens’ rights to enemy combatants taken prisoner on the battlefields of foreign countries means one thing to our military…
Take no prisoners. They’re far easier to deal with when they’re dead.
’nuff said.
November 25th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Amen!
November 25th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Damned shame that if they kill those Jihadi assholes they’d then be tried for murder.
There are too many who believe our military is the enemy. Starting with that Nazi sympathizer Soros and that sumbitch at 1600 Pennsylvania wandering around with Soro’s arm shoved up his asshole far enough to make his lips move.
November 25th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I for one cannot wait til 2012!
November 26th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Mother fuckin’ asswipes — going after our SEALs for a bloody lip? After what that guy did? Puhleeze!
November 26th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Thank you! They should have dispensed with him instead of putting themselves in harm’s way from their own fucking government.
This just makes me so fucking angry…
November 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
That shit ain’t right!
November 26th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Nope, it ain’t.