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April 23, 2010
One Of The Three US Navy SEALs Cleared In Iraq Abuse Case
EXCELLENT video on what happened......It was 2004: Fallujah, Iraq. Four civilian U.S. contractors were transporting supplies for a catering company. They were ambushed, killed, their bodies burned and dragged through the streets, then hung from a bridge on the Euphrates River. A NAVY SEAL TEAM captured one of the military's "most wanted" terrorists, the one responsible for the heinous crime.
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One of the Navy SEALS was cleared of charges in Iraq yesterday.
The SEALS were accused of mistreating a wanted Iraqi terrorist who was behind the murder of 4 US contractors in Fallujah in 2004.
U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL Thursday of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors.
The contractors’ burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the former insurgent hotbed of Fallujah, in what became a major turning point in the Iraq war.
The trial of three SEALs, the Navy’s elite special forces unit, has outraged many Americans who see it as coddling terrorists.
On Thursday, a six-man Navy jury found Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas not guilty of dereliction of duty and impeding the investigation. The jury heard too many differences between the testimony of a sailor who claimed he witnessed the Sept. 1 assault at a U.S. base outside Fallujah and statements from a half-dozen others who denied his account.
Smiling and composed as he left the courthouse at the U.S. military's Camp Victory on Baghdad's western outskirts, Huertas said he felt vindicated.
"It's a big weight off my shoulders," said Huertas, 29, of Blue Island, Illinois. "Compared to all the physical activity we go through, this has been mentally more challenging."
Huertas said he would rejoin the SEALs, the Navy's elite special forces, as soon as possible. His was the first trial of three SEALs accused in the assault of Ahmed Hashim Abed and its alleged cover up.
The case has drawn fire from at least 20 members of Congress and other Americans who see it as coddling terrorists to overcompensate for the notorious Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Thursday's verdict was met by anger and sad shrugs from Iraqis who said they no longer expect to see U.S. troops held accountable for atrocities or other abuses.
Huertas did not take the stand to defend himself, but is expected to testify in Keefe's trial, which begins Friday at the military base in Baghdad. Lombardi said Huertas is expected to offer few, if any, details of the case, and will testify that he was cleared of the same charge that Keefe also is accused of: dereliction of duty. Many of the same witnesses in Huertas' trial also will testify in Keefe's, although a new jury will be seated.
Only McCabe, of Perrysburg, Ohio, was charged with assaulting Abed, and his is the only trial to be held at the Virginia Naval base where the three SEALs are stationed. His trial is scheduled to begin May 3.
Wild Thing's comment........
These guys shouldn't even be on trial. That alone is a gross injustice! To put these men & their families through this is so wrong. It makes my blood boil.
Posted by Wild Thing at April 23, 2010 03:55 AM
Comments
The PC REMF's at the Pentagon are pushing this. Neither Bush nor Obama took a stand to defend the troops under their command.
Posted by: BobF at April 23, 2010 09:05 AM
This is great news. Gives me hope! I agree that this should not even be happening in the first place.
FYI ~ Sgt Lawrence Hutchins of the Pendleton 8 was just acquitted!! I've been writing to him and sending him books since 2006 when he arrived in the US in shackles. His trial was a joke.
You can go to United America Patriots to find out about the other warriors that are sitting in prison for doing their job "too well" for some - too many are being held because of politics, political correctness and someone's career agenda.
Corey Clagget's attorney will be on our blog talk radio show this coming Monday at 9:30 pm est:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/profile.aspx?userurl=twanablevins
Hope you all join us!
We need to defend those who defend us!
Posted by: yankeemom at April 23, 2010 09:38 AM
BobF., yes PC is killing our troops it really is upsetting.
I am glad at least we have good news so far for one of our guys.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 23, 2010 05:15 PM
Yankeemom, thank you for the link. That is great! You are awewsome Yankeemom, thank you
so much for sharing about sending books to Sgt. Lawrence.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 23, 2010 05:17 PM
