I’m not offended!

[David Lockmiller]

(07-05-2019 08:07 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 07:00 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  David, I wasnt in the court . I didnt hear any of the evidence. I do know that this man was found not guilty of murder. If the prosecution thinks there has been mis-trial I assume that there is a course of action that they can take.
( Although, as has been pointed out, double jeopardy prevents someone being re-tried on the basis that someone else didnt like the result)

As far as justice is concerned I dont think that 'making eye contact' in the court room has any relevance. You say that the person killed was young and unarmed. I think its well known that ISIS will use children as combatants. As far as being unarmed, I'll take your word for it. But it would be impossible, I suggest, during a combat situation to be certain as to who is and who is not armed.

Justice is something I leave to the courts. Do they make mistakes? Yes. But I am certain that they heard more evidence than you or I have read about. They saw and heard the witnesses. I do not try to second guess legal verdicts.

But it would be impossible, I suggest, during a combat situation to be certain as to who is and who is not armed.

I agree, especially in modern warfare in the Middle East. "Armed" today does not necessarily mean with a gun, rifle, or knife. Unwrap their garments, and the enemy may very well have an arsenal of explosives strapped to him/her and the willingness to die in order to take an infidel with him/her.

Also, don't we need to take into consideration that this was a military court, not a civilian one? And, those "comrades" who made a secret pact to "get" their strict chief in trouble - can we call that a conspiracy? And, wasn't it reported that the first chief prosecutor was dismissed for something like tapping into the defense's emails? Seems to me that there are lots of folks to point fingers at besides the accused.

Navy SEAL Chief Accused of War Crimes Is Found Not Guilty of Murder
NYTimes July 2, 2019

The SEAL command initially downplayed the platoon members’ reports about the chief, and did not start an investigation of the alleged crimes for more than a year, allowing the trail of evidence to grow cold. The lead prosecutor was removed from the case in May after he was caught improperly attaching tracking software to email messages sent to defense lawyers, leaving his replacement with just a few weeks to catch up before trial. And a key witness changed his story on the stand to favor Chief Gallagher.

Navy SEAL War Crimes Trial in Turmoil Over Claims Prosecutors Spied on Defense May 17, 2019 NYTimes

The Gallagher case in particular has been the subject of a steady stream of leaks in recent months. Even after the Navy judge in the case, Capt. Aaron Rugh, imposed a gag order, important information has sometimes reached reporters before some of the lawyers involved in the case have seen it.

According to a court motion filed by the defense, the clandestine tracking software was sent in an attempt to catch the leakers and sanction them for contempt of court. Judge Rugh and the lead prosecutor, Cmdr. Christopher W. Czaplak, worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the United States attorney’s office in San Diego to deploy the software, and met three times to discuss the action without defense lawyers present, according to the motion.

[N]o formal investigation was begun for nearly a year, and by that time, much of the physical evidence in the case, including victims’ bodies, could not be recovered.

Navy SEALs Were Warned Against Reporting Their Chief for War Crimes
April 23, 2019 NYTimes

Stabbing a defenseless teenage captive to death. Picking off a school-age girl and an old man from a sniper’s roost. Indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine-gun fire.

Navy SEAL commandos from Team 7’s Alpha Platoon said they had seen their highly decorated platoon chief commit shocking acts in Iraq. And they had spoken up, repeatedly. But their frustration grew as months passed and they saw no sign of official action.

Tired of being brushed off, seven members of the platoon called a private meeting with their troop commander in March 2018 at Naval Base Coronado near San Diego. According to a confidential Navy criminal investigation report obtained by The New York Times, they gave him the bloody details and asked for a formal investigation.

But instead of launching an investigation that day, the troop commander and his senior enlisted aide — both longtime comrades of the accused platoon leader, Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher — warned the seven platoon members that speaking out could cost them and others their careers, according to the report.

The clear message, one of the seven told investigators, was “Stop talking about it.”

The platoon members eventually forced the referral of their concerns to authorities outside the SEALs, and Chief Gallagher now faces a court-martial, with his trial set to begin May 28.

But the account of the March 2018 meeting and myriad other details in the 439-page report paint a disturbing picture of a subculture within the SEALs that prized aggression, even when it crossed the line, and that protected wrongdoers.

According to the investigation report, the troop commander, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Breisch, said in the meeting that while the SEALs were free to report the killings, the Navy might not look kindly on rank-and-file team members making allegations against a chief. Their careers could be sidetracked, he said, and their elite status revoked; referring to the eagle-and-trident badges worn by SEALs, he said the Navy “will pull your birds.”

The enlisted aide, Master Chief Petty Officer Brian Alazzawi, warned them that the “frag radius” — the area damaged by an explosion — from a war-crime investigation of Chief Gallagher could be wide enough to take down a lot of other SEALs as well, the report said.

As Chief Gallagher’s men were sounding an alarm about killings in Iraq, his superiors were lavishing praise on him. An evaluation quoted in the investigation report called Chief Gallagher the best chief of the 12 in the team, and said, “This is the man I want leading SEALs in combat.”

A few days after the March 2018 meeting, the chief was awarded a Bronze Star for valor under fire in Iraq.

A month later, the seven platoon members finally succeeded in spurring their commanders to formally report the killings of the three Iraqis to the Navy Criminal Investigation Service, by threatening to go directly to top Navy brass and to the news media.

Chief Gallagher was arrested in September on more than a dozen charges, including premeditated murder and attempted murder. If convicted, he could face life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty and denies all the charges.