printAnother of the many stories covered and analyzed on BAB for its significance ahead of the rest was that of Petty Officers Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Heurtas. The three Navy SEALs stand accused by Ahmed Hashim Abed—thought to be behind the premeditated murder and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja in 2004—of punching him. The real scandal is that our bloated behemoth of a military, the Navy in this instance, is acting like the state bureaucracy that it is and proceeding at full throttle against the these patriots.
Read “Make Me Thankful: Don’t Enlist!.”
The common refrain you’ll hear from your garden variety neoconservative is that Obama is to blame.
Please! Bush was every bit as hateful when it came to unleashing his bloodhound, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, on Border-Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, to give but one example of Bush’s many betrayals.
“The state’s ‘rules of engagement’ rule-out any meaningful defense of American lives and property; they are rigged against America’s defenders and favor her infiltrators.”
Don’t expect the megaphones for the Republican-cum-neocon cabal to be capable of articulating this reality. At core, they are tribalists and collectivists who cleave to their own no matter what.
This is nothing new. All through our middle east involvement the troops have been taking it in the shorts from the government and the suckups in the military who seek to advance their careers by bootlicking various politicians. As usual, the troops are the scapegoats.
Notice that the charges against the Seals include:
– making a false statement to the US Government (!!!) and
– impeding the investigation
In other words, completely bogus nonsense PILED ON to extract a plea and get a dishonorable discharge, thus covering the Government’s butt. Our “leaders” Clinton, Bush, and Obama can prosecute low level military for “making a false statement” when the first statement they uttered as President (“will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”) is a colossal lie.
However, bombing a wedding party or Canadians is just a big OOPSIE while punching some gangster is a set-an-example offense. Abu Ghraib never went beyond the enlisted ranks for criminality. Meanwhile, George “Slam Dunk” Tenet get a “Medal of Freedom” for his brilliant intelligence work.
Two officers are witnesses to the crime – yet the only SUBSTANTIVE charge is “dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee,” – how can a petty officer Second Class be derelict in front of two officers?
Join the Navy and be treated like manure unless you get “too big” to be prosecuted.
The investigation has to include the parade of people who were responsible for his promotions and his fitness reports.
Truly embarrassing and contemptible. What ever happened to “the buck stops here?” This is a problem with the volunteer army. Either there is a war to win and thus all should be drafted – men, women, no exemptions except for physical of mental deficiencies (although the latter could cover a lot of people), or there is a war not to fight. This is independent of whether one believes in preemption or not.