Navy SEALs capture most-wanted Iraqi terrorist, but now they're charged with punching him

Catching Up: An amazing story out of Iraq over the holiday with likely domestic political repercussions, involving another possible case of political correctness gone awry:

Three Navy SEAL commandos, who recently captured one of the most-wanted terrorists in Iraq, are now being charged criminally by the Navy for giving the terrorist a bloody lip.

The captive is Ahmed Hasim Abed, who was codenamed "Objective Amber." He's the alleged mastermind of the capture, mutilation and deaths of four Blackwater security guards in 2004 (see photo above).

After patiently tracking the suspect and capturing him, the SEALs turned the prisoner over to Iraqi authorities in September. He then complained of being punched at some point. He was returned to U.S. custody, resulting in....

...the formal action against U.S. enlisted service personnel, by officers apparently still sensitive over past prisoner abuse charges at the Abu Ghraib prison.

So now the Navy has placed formal charges for allegedly roughing up an enemy combatant against three members of its elite commando unit, whose sharpshooters were universally hailed earlier this year for simultaneously blowing the heads off three Somali pirates who'd captured a merchant ship captain.

The three newly-charged SEALs, believing they acted appropriately in and after the clandestine capture operation, have rejected non-judicial punishments and requested formal, separate courts-martial.

Rowan Scarborough of Fox News, who broke the story, quotes Neal Puckett, one of the commando's defense attorneys, as saying:

I don’t know how they’re going to bring this detainee to the United States and give us our constitutional right to confrontation in the courtroom. But again, we have terrorists getting their constitutional rights in New York City, but I suspect that they’re going to deny these SEALs their right to confrontation in a military courtroom in Virginia.

The decision by the Obama administration's Justice Dept. and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder to reject military tribunals for some Guantanamo terrorist detainees and bring them to New York City for civilian trials has raised controversy among those who see the prisoners as military participants in the global war on terrorism, undeserving of the extra legal protections afforded outside the military judicial system.

Now, on the basis of the captive's claim, the Pentagon is charging U.S. service members with physical mistreatment. The captive is a suspect in an incident from March 2004, when four Blackwater-employed security guards protecting food supplies in a convoy in Fallujah were captured, tortured, burned and hung from a local bridge in an iconic, grisly photo that came to portray the unchecked violence in that land.

This SEAL incident comes as internal government investigations continue -- with congressional hearings to follow -- into the deadly shooting spree at the Army's Ft. Hood in Texas in early November. A Muslim U.S. Army major, Abu Nidal Hasan, has been charged with killing 13 fellow soldiers.

Surprising details have since emerged that Hasan's militant antiwar attitude and ties to a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen were known before the shootings but not acted upon, perhaps over political correctness and concerns about targeting a Muslim.

Tomorrow, after three months of deliberation, President Obama is scheduled to detail his newest new Afghanistan strategy in a speech from the U.S. Military Academy. Afghanistan is also the subject of White House talks today between Obama and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Obama is expected, among other things, to outline an exit strategy and conditionally increase the number of U.S. troops on the ground there, as he did in March. That decision brought U.S. military involvement to the current 68,000.

The U.S. SEALs are set to be arraigned Dec. 7.

Related items:

Obama issues special Hajj message to world's Muslims

Guantanamo fallout: White House lawyer resigns, NY trials set

Atty. Gen. Holder on hot seat over NYC trial decision

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[Fred]

This travesty has to stop. I'm writing my senators & congressmen/women (need to be politically correct) to ask them to fight this atrocity of justice.

Side note regarding the trial of KSM in New York. Obama & crew are attorney's. What they are trying to do is to establish a precedent by trying these terrorists by a civilian court. In the future their law firms (e.g., Holder's) and the ACLU can argue for trying battlefield combatants as criminals. In addition, they can argue that everyone in the world has the same rights as any American within America's borders.

[Jeanne S. Specht]

This is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard of- it can't be true! These brave military Seals have just performed a most heroic act by capturing a dangerous terrorist, and they are being charged with punching the terrorist in the capture? Our government can't be that stupid! Americans should rise up in defense of the Seals who put their lives on the line to protect us.

[Lonni]

This is ridiculous! Either we have a "war" on terror or we don't. If it's a "war" then the rules of "war" apply to whomever is active in such "war". That negates "civilian" trials for the participants in the "war". What happened to common sense in our government?

[Sandra]

THIS is what is wrong with what has become my America...we forget who the bad guys are....
I say give this Navy Seal the biggest, most prestigious medal which can be bestowed on a hero....
Bloody lip!!.....I'd have made him DEAD.

[I support our side]

What is the matter with our leaders? They just don't "get it" when it comes to fighting the global threat from terrorists. We catch the guy who tortured and killed four of our own citizens - and somehow he gets punched along the way. So the Obama administration punishes our own brave Navy SEALs? The enemy is bent on killing us, all of us, and ObamaNation treats it like a playground spat - send these boys to the principal's office. We are on the road to self-destruction.

[Cav16]

if these guys are found guilty this will kick off a revolution! I am sick of this PC BS. Even worse is the spineless Navy chain of command who brought these charges.

[cici]

I remember the photo of the Blackwater employees. Guess we will end up giving these POS mega bucks, lots of ammo & return them to fight another day and hang our service men & women out to dry...I have never been more ashamed of my country since the thugs in DC grabbed control...from capitol hill to the white house and the so called justice department in-between.

[Jack Kinch(1uncle)]

Demos cause most of the violent crime, and demo congress against profiling. We are overpopulated with demos.

[Simon]

What type of penalty would the guys be getting for a bloody lip? Bet the families of the blackwater men are pleased for some closure

[steve rodriguez]

And our foreign enemies laugh in our face because of our weak President!!!

[steve rodriguez]

President Obama don't forget to read them their Miranda rights!

[C Goldberg]

This is wholly egregious and if the charges were not so nefarious-in light of what the killers did...I am sickened that our top notch Seals and others are being restrained in all ways to do what they need to do. The fact that the killers hung our people up like animals and our Seals did not KILL them nor torture them...nor degrade and humiliate them, ALLEDGEDLY only punching him...no doubt while trying to arrest him...

I am not for war but in war one must be aggressive and violence is par for the course-if the pansie who was punched doesn't like the sweaty nature of war maybe he should avoid leading terrorists and he won't get "punched"...I am a woman and with what they did to our folks-well, a punch would of been "nice" compared to what many others would do as well. War is HELL=for all, not just the losers-but even those given a job are being hogtied to do it, and still perform above and beyond nomads.

[Clare]

What kind of NUTS do we have in government and how do we get RID of THEM? This "Seal" story is so stupid, we peons might just as well surrender to the "enemy" now and be done with it. Eric Holder is an ivory league law school graduate? That school should be hiding their head in SHAME!

[steve rodriguez]

Since when can't we even punch the enemy (terrorist)?

[Politics as Usual]

I love how people just BLINDLY BLAME OBAMA. It was the Navy Seals's captain who moved forward with the investigation.... Who is that Obama?

This entire RIGHT vs. LEFT battle needs to stop.

[Enough Already]

Political correctness is out of control.

An Army psychiatrist who sees no patients and makes treasonous statements in class gets a promotion, because we don't want to offend the Muslims.

But we throw some SEALs (who unlike Hasan, aren't scared of deployment) to the wolves because they punched some terrorist, because we don't want to offend the Muslims.

Time to stop caring what the Muslims think and run the military like a military.

[Susan]

I am soooo sick of the Enemy getting ALL the rights. I cannot believe that these Brave & Honorable men who are Top-Notch and the Best of the BEST are being treated like this! Why train these men to become Experts in defending our Country if we don't stand behind them when they do theri JOB?
I am PROUD of the SEALS! They are the one's who come to our defense and SAVE many with VERY little thanks! Well, we SEE how they are thanked. This is a PRIME example. I'm sure the families of the one's hanged, tortured & burned, as well as the "Cargo Ship" victims are VERY proud of these men and we should not allow these men to be "abused & punished" by our System!

[Roland]

This is the most ludicrous crap I have ever heard of, of this country giving these Seals a court marshal or captain's mast for doing their job. We send thes service personnel in harms way, and then not let them complete their task. Tell these big wigs to stand down and let the military do their job. Anchors away and Hurrah!

[Lee Higdon]

If these politically correct bastards want to give America to the terrorist,they need to go to the front line and have a few rounds go past their heads and see how nice the are then.I am so ashamed of our leaders rollin over and taking it in the ass.But what can you expect from a bunch of liberals bastards.

[Citizen]

FoxNews:GOP Lawmakers Rally to SEALs' Aid in Court Martial...
Finally, lawmakers are getting it right. We need to stand up for these Heroes. There is already a fund drive started by former SEALs to help these commandos financially. Their website:

www.maritimetacticalsecurity.com

They spent over 6 months in Iraq fighting for us, away from their families. This is what they get for Christmas from the Grateful Nation! (???)

[Patricia]

Please tell me this is some sort of sick joke. I am absolutely disgusted and sickened by the actions that "our" (?) U.S Military
has place against these brave men and women. First off, these fine American citizens did not
have to chose to join "our" (?) military. They did so because they love their country and made the choice to defend it.

How appalling that "our" (?) military is so soft that they are chastising these very brave people, that I have nothing but the
utmost respect for, and all this for giving this hoffific man a so called bloody lip. ( again I have seen no evidence of this).....What the heck is going on?
Where is our country headed?

Is the intention to scare off any and all of our fine young men and women from enlisting?

Please explain to me why we give so many rights to criminals and no rights for the victims and their families....really makes me cry for the victims.
( Let's keep in mind that the 4 men murdered left behind, daughters, sons, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers and so many more that loved them dearly)
Could you imagine seeing your loved one being tortured right before your eyes. Could you imagine being helpless to the situation in watching them suffer?
And lastly, could you imagine that 5 years later, the monster responsible for this was finally captured by some of the best people in our military, only to
find out that the low life that murdered your loved one has filed charges he received a fat lip and now these very very brave men/women could go to
prison (????)

So sick about this I actually want to vomit!!!!!

Bloody lip...I'll show him what a bloody lip looks like at the end of a hook!!!!!!!

[Kevin]

This is ridiculous! These men & woman in our armed forces are putting their lives on the line for their country and this is how we support them. Nothing has been said was this provoked did the terrorist start this? This is aboslutely insane. When you are deemed a terrorist and on the most wanted list for other crimes committed you have lost your damn rights. If we were anywhere else in the world you would not get that kind of treatment. we cuddle our criminals and terriorists.

[pauline gerhoff]

save our heros

[Delores Smith]

TO L.A.TIMES
Where are our 3 Navy Seals now and what is the status of their case? Enough is enough. We need to let all Terrorists know that they do not fall within the rights of our U.S.Constitution. The Preamble to our Constitution clearly states "We the People of the United States in order to form a MORE PERFECT union...(close enough)" Terrorists are not People of the United States, but are people determined to destroy us. I saw photos of the men that were dragged through the streets and hung. You are barbarbic and IMPERFECT, and when you choose to terrorize anyone, have a copy of your own Constitution in your pocket.
Our 3 honorable Navy Seals made only one error in judgement. They should have sent him to Allah for his bed of Virgins. Thank you, Navy Seals. Americans will never stop fighting for your justice and release.
L.A.Times, please update this story so that we know current status. Thank you.
Delores Smith
Delores109@cox.net
Mesa, Arizona

[Pat Miletich]

At what point did talking about socialism and charging our own hero's become accepted in this country??? The silent majority has smoke rolling out it's ears, and you can bet that election day in November will speak volumes. Our hero's are off limits!!!

Pat Miletich
5x UFC champ