A US military jury has cleared a US Navy Seal of helping to cover up an attack on an Iraqi suspected of killing four Blackwater guards in 2004.
The BBC reports:
PO Huertas and PO Keefe are being tried in Iraq, as Mr Abed cannot leave the country. PO McCabe will go on trial in May.
Mr Abed was arrested in September of last year and is accused of masterminding the killing of four Blackwater private security guards in Falluja.
Their bodies were dragged through the streets, burned and hung up on a bridge where they were photographed by the news media.
The three are reported to have opted for a military hearing instead of an official reprimand in an attempt to clear their names.
The US security firm Blackwater is at the centre of controversy surrounding the “outsourcing” of war, where private contractors are taking on tasks usually carried out by government soldiers.
Ahmed Hashim Abed — thought to be behind the slayings and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja in 2004 and captured in summer — made the accusations against the three servicemen, said Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command
Punched him? Shock of all flippin’ shock…they PUNCHED him…? Oh no…how dare they? I’ve been sitting on my butt here at home for the past 21 years. I’ve been engaged in the war only to the extent that it’s been covered on television; which has been minimal at best and generally favors the enemy, and I wanted to punch this miscreant. I can only imagine the reaction to someone who has been shot at, run over IEDs and who has witnessed the brutal, barbaric treatment of military and civilians alike at the hands of the Jihadist at the moment of capture. I can understand why that reaction would not be to shake his hand, pat him on the shoulder and thank him for putting up a good fight and providing worthy competition.
This war is not a game. These people are savages. The murder and later defilement of the Blackwater Security agents was horrific and reminiscent of Iranians who dragged the charred bodies of Americans though the desert as President “Peanuts” Carter’s ill-advised and poorly executed attempt to free the embassy hostages came to an end. The same scene played out in Mogadishu when our brave men suffered casualties to a Blackhawk helicopter. It seems that defilement of corpses is an integral part of Moslem war fighting as his using women and children as human shields. To my mind, were these 3 brave men to be charged for anything, it would be for not doing enough damage to this savage.
