ZCZC
BFF-15
US-ARMY-IRAQ-CRIMES-TRIAL-CONFLICT
Elite US Navy SEAL facing war crimes charges for killings in Iraq
LOS ANGELES, April 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Stabbing a teenage prisoner to
death, picking off a young girl and an old man with a sniper rifle and firing
a heavy machinegun into a residential area: these are some of the charges
facing an elite US Navy SEAL on trial for war crimes while deployed in Iraq.
Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a decorated 39-year-old veteran
of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, is still a hero in the eyes of
many Americans and the rightwing Fox News channel — and his case may even
become a factor in next year’s presidential elections.
Around 40 Republican members of Congress have written an open letter
demanding Gallagher — who denies the charges against him — be set free
until he stands trial. One has even called on President Donald Trump to step
in and have the case dismissed.
Trump has weighed in on the case on Twitter, saying that he had intervened
to ensure that Gallagher — who was nominated for the Silver Star for his
service — “will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he
awaits his day in court.”
Trump said the move was made “in honor of his past service to our Country.”
Gallagher, a platoon commander of SEAL Team 7, will face a military
tribunal at a Navy base in San Diego on May 28. He was arrested last
September and has been held at the base ever since.
He was arrested after men under his command in the elite Navy unit were so
horrified by his actions that they complained to their superiors, but were
warned that their accusations could damage their careers, according to
reports in The Navy Times and The New York Times this week.
Gallagher now faces charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder and
obstruction of justice. He could be sentenced to life in prison if found
guilty.
The crimes he stands accused of were committed in 2017 during a deployment
in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. US special forces were fighting
alongside Iraqi troops to take back parts of the town from Islamic State
group fighters.
His lawyer did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
– ‘Propaganda manna from heaven’ –
According to testimony at a preliminary hearing last November, members of
Gallagher’s Alpha platoon were so disturbed by his behavior that they
tampered with his sniper rifle to make it less accurate, and would fire
warning shots to make civilians flee before he could open fire on them.
“They said they spent more time protecting civilians than they did fighting
ISIS,” Special Agent Joe Warpinski of the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service told the military court.
Their chief allegedly boasted about the number of people he had killed,
including women, according to The New York Times.
In May 2017, Iraqi troops captured a wounded teenage Islamic State fighter
who appeared to be around 15 years old.
Two members of the SEAL team said that as a medic was treating the
fighter’s wounds, Gallagher stepped up without a word and stabbed the
prisoner in the neck and side several times.
He then posed for a photo holding up the teenager’s head in one hand and
the knife in the other, the two SEALs said. He went on to stand over the
youth’s body and perform a re-enlistment ceremony while another member of the
team held up a US flag, they said.
According to the charge sheet, soldiers from his unit tried on several
occasions to alert their superiors about the alleged war crimes, but without
success. Seven of them said they were told they could face retaliation if
they went public with the case, but finally managed to bring their concerns
to a higher-ranking officer.
Gallagher’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Jacob Portier, reportedly posed
in the photo with the dead teenager and is himself facing charges for failing
to report the crimes and for destroying evidence.
Navy prosecutor Chris Czaplak said Gallagher had “handed ISIS propaganda
manna from heaven” by deciding to “act like the monster the terrorists accuse
us of being.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/1008 hrs