Navy Seal's Court Martial

[xsubsailor]

I don't know if anyone else has been following this or not but the prosecution seems to have developed a little SNAFU in their case 

A medic testifying in the trial of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher – who is accused of killing an injured ISIS prisoner of war in Iraq – shocked trial observers when he testified Thursday that he, not Gallagher, was responsible for the Islamic militant's death.

Special Operator 1st Class Corey Scott, a SEAL Team Seven medic, revealed during cross-examination in the courtroom at Naval Base San Diego that he killed the fighter by asphyxiation. Scott testified that he saw Gallagher stab the fighter, but then he himself held his thumb over a breathing tube that had been inserted into the militant's mouth.

“Did Chief Gallagher kill this terrorist?” Gallagher's attorney Timothy Parlatore then asked Scott.

"No," Scott replied.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/medic-testifies-that-he-not-navy-seal-eddie-gallagher-was-responsible-for-isis-fighters-death

[RED333]

Brothers in arms

[peejman]

I suspect the next SEAL on the stand will have a slightly different version where he's responsible and not the other two. And so on. 

[pop pop]

I hear they are calling his death, a mercy killing. The guy didn't want him tortured after being turned over to another outfit. 

[DaveTN]

https://time.com/5610116/navy-seal-edward-gallagher-isis-murder-trial/

Apparently things have changed a lot since I was in the Navy. Messing with his rifle and firing warning shots at civilians so he couldn’t kill them?? What the heck was going on in that unit??

Quote

Parlatore has argued there is no evidence that supports the murder charge (and that other SEALs will testify to that effect), that the entire case against Gallagher is built upon ill feeling from junior SEALs in his platoon who resented his leadership, and want him booted from the military. 

That doesn’t make sense either. A SEAL unit (or any other small specialized unit) can’t operate that way. This is crazy. "ill feeling from junior SEALs in his platoon who resented his leadership" you have to be kidding me.

I don’t care if he executed an ISIS fighter that was not longer a threat. But if that isn’t the ROE; it looks like he will be convicted. I believe that war should be a terrible violent action that no one will want to participate in. That is really what is on trial here; just how brutal can we be.

[GlockSpock]

42 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

https://time.com/5610116/navy-seal-edward-gallagher-isis-murder-trial/

Apparently things have changed a lot since I was in the Navy. Messing with his rifle and firing warning shots at civilians so he couldn’t kill them?? What the heck was going on in that unit??

That doesn’t make sense either. A SEAL unit (or any other small specialized unit) can’t operate that way. This is crazy. "ill feeling from junior SEALs in his platoon who resented his leadership" you have to be kidding me.

I don’t care if he executed an ISIS fighter that was not longer a threat. But if that isn’t the ROE; it looks like he will be convicted. I believe that war should be a terrible violent action that no one will want to participate in. That is really what is on trial here; just how brutal can we be.

I don't know what happened, I wasn't there. But generally speaking, I would really, really like to think that We (as in, The United States of America) are above shooting at two Iraqi citizens, an old man and a young girl or stabbing a teen that looked about 12 years old when his team was attempting to give the teen treatment.

War is brutal, I don't deny that. But I'm not sure how the above situations fall into the concept of war instead of sport.

Again, I wasn't there. At minimum there was just extreme discord in that unit, which you are correct, that is crazy. At most, perhaps there really was just someone in that unit that enjoyed killing for sport and the rest of the team didn't feel up to it.

[E4 No More]

58 minutes ago, GlockSpock said:

I don't know what happened, I wasn't there. But generally speaking, I would really, really like to think that We (as in, The United States of America) are above shooting at two Iraqi citizens, an old man and a young girl or stabbing a teen that looked about 12 years old when his team was attempting to give the teen treatment.

War is brutal, I don't deny that. But I'm not sure how the above situations fall into the concept of war instead of sport.

Again, I wasn't there. At minimum there was just extreme discord in that unit, which you are correct, that is crazy. At most, perhaps there really was just someone in that unit that enjoyed killing for sport and the rest of the team didn't feel up to it.

According to the Corpsman that teenager was about to be turned over to an Iraqi unit known for raping, torturing, and murdering its prisoners. He clearly saw it as a mercy killing. But as far as the defendant is concerned it sounds as though we could be charged with attempted murder. As far as shooting at civilians is concerned I can't imaging someone of his caliber missing an old man and a young girl unless it was on purpose. On purpose in a combat zone would be warning them to remove themselves from the area before they fall victim to violence. 

[GlockSpock]

5 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

According to the Corpsman that teenager was about to be turned over to an Iraqi unit known for raping, torturing, and murdering its prisoners. He clearly saw it as a mercy killing. But as far as the defendant is concerned it sounds as though we could be charged with attempted murder. As far as shooting at civilians is concerned I can't imaging someone of his caliber missing an old man and a young girl unless it was on purpose. On purpose in a combat zone would be warning them to remove themselves from the area before they fall victim to violence. 

Well..maybe. I'll state that I'm open to the "mercy killing" but that's a huge argument on its own. It could be that "mercy" was their intentions, but it could also be that "mercy" sounds much better than "cold blooded killer".

As far as shooting at civilians, in that instance it was referenced from other squad members that they "tampered with his rifle and also shot warning shots into the air".

Who knows? Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't. I imagine "tampering" in this case means either adjusting his zero or removing the scope entirely if it were on a QD mount, etc.

Edited June 21, 2019 by GlockSpock

[DaveTN]

5 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

I can't imaging someone of his caliber missing an old man and a young girl unless it was on purpose. 

Quote

SEALs added that they “tampered with his sniper rifle to make it less accurate and fired warning shots to scare away civilians before Gallagher had a chance to shoot them.”

It’s been 44 years since I was in the Navy and I was never a SEAL. But I have trouble believing that statement came from any SEAL. Gallagher and his rifle could be providing protection for them on an operation. Have things changed so much that a whole team would let one member put all their lives at risk?? I just don’t buy it.

[E4 No More]

31 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

It’s been 44 years since I was in the Navy and I was never a SEAL. But I have trouble believing that statement came from any SEAL. Gallagher and his rifle could be providing protection for them on an operation. Have things changed so much that a whole team would let one member put all their lives at risk?? I just don’t buy it.

As a former Marine I can't imagine being in a combat zone absent my rifle to allow anyone the opportunity to screw with it.

[GlockSpock]

34 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

It’s been 44 years since I was in the Navy and I was never a SEAL. But I have trouble believing that statement came from any SEAL. Gallagher and his rifle could be providing protection for them on an operation. Have things changed so much that a whole team would let one member put all their lives at risk?? I just don’t buy it.

 

2 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

As a former Marine I can't imagine being in a combat zone absent my rifle to allow anyone the opportunity to screw with it.

With zero evidence as to support my theory, but I personally wondered if the defendant made some sort of comment such as "Those people over there are dead" and started to aim his rifle in their direction. In haste, someone could theoretically twist the knobs on his scope quite hastily and fire some warning shots into the air.

Just a guess.

[GlockSpock]

To be quite honest, the entire story and case seems very odd, even moreso as more information is released.

[DaveTN]

30 minutes ago, GlockSpock said:

 

With zero evidence as to support my theory, but I personally wondered if the defendant made some sort of comment such as "Those people over there are dead" and started to aim his rifle in their direction. In haste, someone could theoretically twist the knobs on his scope quite hastily and fire some warning shots into the air.

Just a guess.

He is a Chief Petty Officer, that is almost as high as you can go in the enlisted ranks and is generally more respected than young Officers. Enlisted men don’t tell a Chief what to do or how to do it. Even Officers treat Chiefs differently than the rest of the enlisted ranks. The “Junior Seals” making statements stuff just doesn’t make sense to me….. Unless things have really changed.

Of course no one is going to talk. I suspect he will be convicted of something and this will go away. They have him charged with everything including “Failure to do right on Friday Night”.

[Capbyrd]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:55 AM, GlockSpock said:

But generally speaking, I would really, really like to think that We (as in, The United States of America) are above shooting at two Iraqi citizens, an old man and a young girl or stabbing a teen that looked about 12 years old when his team was attempting to give the teen treatment.

I'd love to think that, too.   But I highly doubt its the case.   

[btq96r]

On 6/21/2019 at 1:44 PM, E4 No More said:

As a former Marine I can't imagine being in a combat zone absent my rifle to allow anyone the opportunity to screw with it.

It's easy enough to see.  He wouldn't be carrying around the sniper rifle all the time, but keeping it secured in the unit area until it was time to go out on missions while he had a pistol to walk around the base camp with.  If he was in the chow tent or something, the team members would have had a chance.  Not saying I think it's true or not, just that they would have had the opportunity. 

[owejia]

A young girl or a 12 yr old boy can kill you just as dead as a 21 year old solider.

[owejia]

The prosecution forensic expert testified no stab wounds in the victim . Sounds like some body tried to screw this guy over big time, Maybe the prosecuting attorney was trying to make a case out of nothing, something very wrong with this whole trial. Maybe a vendetta against him by some of his underlings . Probably will never know the truth.

[E4 No More]

11 hours ago, owejia said:

A young girl or a 12 yr old boy can kill you just as dead as a 21 year old solider.

IIRC, they were younger than that in Vietnam.

[DaveTN]

17 minutes ago, owejia said:

The prosecution forensic expert testified no stab wounds in the victim . 

This forensic expert??

Quote

 

A pathologist testified Monday at a Navy SEAL’s murder trial that a wounded Islamic State militant in Iraq could have died from a stabbing described by other witnesses.

Dr. Frank Sheridan said he couldn’t determine a cause of death because of a lack of evidence. There was no body, no photos of a knife wound and only photos and video shot by other SEALs — not investigators.

 

 

[E4 No More]

2 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

This forensic expert??

 

Without evidence he could have died from many things.

[owejia]

4 hours ago, E4 No More said:

IIRC, they were younger than that in Vietnam.

I was there.

[DaveTN]

7 hours ago, E4 No More said:

Without evidence he could have died from many things.

Correct. There is no body. He could have died from old age. Or it could be a PhotoShop Hoax. 

But like I said… I think they want him convicted of something…anything.

EDIT:

You changed your screen name so I gotta ask. Are you a reserve or something? Are you now an E-5 or did you get busted down to E-3? 

Edited June 25, 2019 by DaveTN

[E4 No More]

8 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Correct. There is no body. He could have died from old age. Or it could be a PhotoShop Hoax. 

But like I said… I think they want him convicted of something…anything.

EDIT:

You changed your screen name so I gotta ask. Are you a reserve or something? Are you now an E-5 or did you get busted down to E-3? 

LOL! I've been out since 1986.

[DaveTN]

1 minute ago, E4 No More said:

LOL! I've been out since 1986.

Well that’s why I asked if you were a reserve, I thought you were kinda old and grumpy to be an E-5. 

[E4 No More]

2 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Well that’s why I asked if you were a reserve, I thought you were kinda old and grumpy to be an E-5. 

I'm old and grumpy enough to be a Master Gunnery Sergeant by now!

There are many times that I wonder what my life would have been like had I stayed in. I probably would have stayed in if I didn't have a wife and three kids. I know I'd have been more likely to have gone through the program to become a mustang had I stayed in. My CO pushed me fairly hard for that but the Marine Corps life is much harder on spouses.