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US Navy moves to kick SEAL Trump pardoned out of unit
WASHINGTON, Nov 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US Navy on Wednesday began a
procedure that could remove from its elite SEALs unit an officer accused of
war crimes whom President Donald Trump pardoned last week.
Along with three other unidentified members of his unit, Edward Gallagher,
40, was “notified today that a process will start to evaluate and look at
their continued service as SEALs,” spokeswoman for US special forces Tamara
Lawrence told AFP.
A panel of Navy SEAL officers will convene in December to decide whether
Gallagher can remain in the unit, Lawrence said.
The panel will give its opinion to the commander of the US Navy special
forces, Rear Admiral Collin Green, who will make recommendations to US Navy
command, which will make a final decision, she added.
In July, Gallagher was acquitted of charges related to the stabbing death
of a wounded Islamic State prisoner in Iraq, and of other killings of
civilians.
But he was convicted of posing with the slain fighter’s body in a group
picture with other SEALs.
Gallagher’s case was championed by Fox News, which is closely followed by
Trump, and last week the president reversed the military court’s decision to
reduce Gallagher’s demotion following his conviction
He also pardoned a former US soldier convicted of murder and a Green Beret
charged with killing a suspected Taliban bomb-maker.
Lawrence declined to say whether the proceedings started on Wednesday had
been opened in response to Trump’s moves.
“Discussions have been ongoing since before the president’s action,” she
said, but the sailors concerned “were notified today.”
The procedure is administrative and not legal, and even if they are
excluded from the SEALs, they will be able to continue serving in the Navy.
BSS/AFP/AU/07:25 hrs