SAVE THE SEALS! Condemn the Terrorists, Not Our SEALs!

[Trip]

Folks, I'm posting this here in this forum because this involves our military, please read it and please may your voice heard, and I know money is tight but enough #$1.00 bills can work wonders..

Thank you

 

Trip.

 

Save the SEALs

...

Wed, December 9, 2009 4:25:18 PM

From:

Gary Marbut-MSSA <mssa@mtssa.org>

...

Add to Contacts

To: mssa@mtssa.org

FYI, see below from Chuck Muth.

 

Gary Marbut, president

Montana Shooting Sports Association

http://www.mtssa.org

author, Gun Laws of Montana

http://www.mtpublish.com

====================

 

MUTH'S TRUTHS

 

 

SAVE THE SEALS!

 

Many of you have written asking me what you can do to help the three Navy SEALs who are facing charges for allegedly splitting the lip and punching in the stomach of one of the world's most-wanted terrorists after they captured him in Iraq in September.

 

But before I get to that, here's an update on their case.

 

SEALs Matthew McCabe and Julio Huertas were arraigned Monday - Pearl Harbor Day, if you can believe that. They're now scheduled to be court-martialed in January. The third SEAL in the case, Jonathan Keefe, will be arraigned later. The judge in the case is Capt. Moira Modzelewski.

 

"If convicted in the special court martial," reports the Washington Times, "the SEALs face a maximum penalty of one year in military confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds of their pay for one year, and a discharge for bad conduct."

 

Condemn the Terrorists, Not Our SEALs!

 

McCabe is accused of assaulting Ahmed Hashim Abed - the terrorist who masterminded the murder of four Blackwater USA civilian contractors, setting their bodies on fire with gasoline, dragging them through the streets of Iraq and hanging two of them from a bridge in Fallujah.

 

I recognize that many bloggers have refrained from linking to any kind of graphic pictures of what Abed and his barbarians did to those four security guards. But hiding the level of brutality exhibited by our enemies in this "war" does nothing to help an often disengaged public understand exactly what these SEALs and all of our military personnel are facing.

 

So here's a link to a VERY graphic picture (you've been warned!) of what

Ahmed Hashim Abed and his goon squad did to a fellow American citizen.

 

Now compare that to a lousy punch in the stomach and a fat lip!

 

Anyway, Larry O'Dell of the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday that "The SEALs have received an outpouring of public support on the Internet, and a California congressman (Rep. Duncan Hunter) has led a campaign urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene."

 

Not likely.

 

From the outrageous prosecutions of our friend (and congressional candidate in Florida) Lt. Col. Allen West..to Lt. Illario Pantano..to Capt. Dave Staffel..to the Haditha Marines..the Pentagon brass seems perfectly willing to let military lawyers trump military warriors.

 

Coming out of the arraignment at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia yesterday, Petty Officer 2nd Class McCabe said he was confident that he'll be exonerated and appreciated the public efforts on his and his colleagues' behalf. "The support is phenomenal," McCabe said. "It makes us feel better, all these people behind us."

 

But our obligation, as the American citizens these SEALs put their lives on the line to defend, isn't to simply make them "feel better." We owe these men far more than that.

 

They Fought for Us; Now Let's Fight for Them!

 

First and foremost we need to take actions to persuade the Defense Department to stop this insane practice of prosecuting highly-trained soldiers for doing the job they were trained to do and sent to do.

 

As Charlie Gittins, the attorney who successfully represented Lt. Pantano in his court-martial for actions in Iraq a few years ago (read "Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy"), put it during Pantano's trial:

 

"I think it sends a bad message to the young heroes who are fighting in Iraq right now that they have to worry about armchair quarterbacks second-guessing their decisions made in a very dangerous place."

 

d**m straight.

 

File a Citizen's Complaint

 

So please take a moment to file a citizen's complaint with Navy spokeswoman Lt. Col. Holly Silkman of Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) - with the full understanding that she is just the public contact person for this case and is NOT actually involved in the decision to prosecute our SEALs. So cut her some slack.

 

Lt. Col. Silkman's phone number is 813-828-4976. Or send emails to holly.silkman@soccent.centcom.mil

 

Now, if you're not one for words here's an excerpt from blogger Chuck Hustmyre's letter to Lt. Col. Silkman which you can copy-and-paste and simply add "Ditto" in the subject line.

 

"I realize you are not responsible for charging these three brave special operators (SEALs) with crimes in the capture of a high-value terrorist target; however, you are the spokesperson of record. Thus, I want to register my complaint with you.

 

"I want to say what an outrage this persecution is. Our fighting men and woman (and I'm not counting chair warmers at the Pentagon or JAG) have enough to deal with trying to capture or kill terrorists without having to worry about being hauled into court for something they should get a medal for.

 

"Can you imagine if our soldiers had operated under these ridiculous rules during World War II? Can you imagine hauling soldiers into court for giving a captured German or Japanese soldier a fat lip? A kid on a schoolyard playground wouldn't get hauled into court for giving another kid a fat lip. Boxers get paid for it.

 

"This prosecution has likely crushed the morale of our war fighters. It is an outrage."

 

Put Your Money Where Abed's Bloody Mouth Is!

 

The second thing you can do is help these SEALs with their legal defense bills.

 

You see, as Defend the Defenders explains, in cases such as these "the basic legal coverage provided by the military is not nearly enough for a fair and adequate defense in both the court of law and the court of public opinion. Outside civilian counsel is an important component of a successful legal defense."

 

But outside civilian counsel means money out of the personal pockets of the SEALs and their families. The military doesn't pay for this, and the cost can easily bankrupt heroes serving our nation on a military salary.

 

Fortunately for Matthew McCabe - the SEAL accused of actually "assaulting" Abed and facing the most serious charge - he's been able to retain Neal Puckett as his attorney.

 

Puckett has a long history of successfully defending and protecting military personnel facing such charges, including one of the Haditha Marines and Lt. Col. Allen West. Indeed, as longtime News & Views readers may recall, we did an extensive radio interview with Mr. Puckett back in 2004 about the West case.

 

Unfortunately, such a defense ain't cheap. So...

 

If you'd like to make a donation toward Matthew McCabe's legal fees, and you should, please send a generous check or money order in any amount made out t

 

The Law Firm of Puckett & Faraj, PC

2181 Jamieson Ave, Suite 1505

Alexandria, VA 22314

 

And indicate on the check that it is "For SO2 McCabe."

 

(For the record, donations to SO2 McCabe's legal defense are NOT tax deductible..but I can't imagine any American making such a donation to this American hero just for a tax write-off.)

 

In Conclusion

 

There appears to be some question as to whether or not George Orwell ever actually wrote or said, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

 

But it's true regardless of who said it.

 

As we go about our daily lives - Christmas shopping in malls with never a thought of being blown to smithereens by a suicide bomber - three brave Navy SEALs are being prosecuted for capturing a man responsible for burning fellow Americans alive and dragging their charred bodies through the streets of Iraq.

 

These men aren't thinking about stockings and candy canes.

 

They're thinking about saving their military careers.

 

They're thinking about clearing their names.

 

They're thinking about staying out of jail.

 

And they're thinking about how they're ever going to pay for their legal defense in this outrageous prosecution.

 

Think about that.

 

And then please think about doing something about it.

 

Your friend in freedom,

Chuck Muth

 

P.S. To this day, a lot of Americans know nothing about the Navy SEALs. If you fall into that category, I can't recommend highly enough that you pick up a copy of "Lone Survivor" by Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. It not only chronicles the unbelievable training these men go through, but how the current military "rules of engagement" in our war on terror led to the unnecessary deaths of Luttrell's SEAL team on a mission in Afghanistan.

 

That said, here's an excerpt of the official philosophy of the U.S. Navy SEAL I culled from Marcus' book:

 

"We train for war and fight to win. I stand ready to bring the full spectrum of combat power to bear in order to achieve my mission and the goals established by my country. The execution of my duties will be swift and violent when required, yet guided by the very principles I serve to defend.

 

"Brave men have fought and died building the proud tradition and feared reputation that I am bound to uphold. In the worst conditions, the legacy of my teammates steadies my resolve and silently guides my every deed. I will not fail.

 

"I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of my strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of a fight."

 

Now it's time for US to protect them. That is OUR mission. WE must fight on their behalf. We cannot fail. We must not quit. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.

[PoGo]

From what I’ve read, the charges against these men are “striking the detainee, dereliction of duty for failing to safeguard the detainee, lying to investigators, and impeding an investigation.”

 

The officers themselves demanded to be court-martialed, instead of accepting a nonjudicial reprimand, in order to clear their records.

 

As much as we, the citizens of the USA, honor our military members, our military isn’t above the law. Should this case continue on to trial, evidence will support their innocence or guilt. I, myself, have not seen any evidence either way, so, I will await further facts as the case progresses.

 

As for donating money to their defense fund, how can one decide the worthiness of a cause without the facts?

 

[Granny]

Respectfully stating my humble "opinion" on worthiness of THIS cause.

 

Americans ambushed and murdered, Bodies burned and dragged through the city. Two of the bodies hanged on bridge over Euphrates River for the world press to photograph. BTW one of the murdered was former SEAL.

 

Terrorist (one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq) ringleader of other terrorist intent on killing any Americans and Jews that they can.

 

Said terrorist, captured without incident after five year search. Few hours later, alleges one punch to midsection and a fat lip, while being detained. Under the circumstances of charges being brought in this case, the following may be true: "The one lesson that can be learned from this is, dead men tell no tales.Our men and women in the field would be better off killing whatever terrorists they encounter instead of bringing them in alive. These three Navy SEALs would have less to worry about if they had put a bullet in Ahmed Hashim Abed’s head."

 

Appreciate the Geneva treaty and importance of avoiding torture and abuse of prisioners. A fat lip hardly qualfies as torture. It's likely mr terrorist was given a fat lip. Why, if, who, I don’t really care. His slight injuries doesn't compare with murder. Regardless, since murderous terrorist are probably liars too, hardly inclinded to believe much of what he reported. Again, don't care, especially since part of their training is to make allegations. These kinds of cases are very dangerous to future welfare of our defense system.

 

Betty Kilbride, author of "Soul of American Warriors," based in part on her experiences as an embed with the Marines in Iraq in 2006, said she believes Mr. Abed's accusation is part of a systematic effort by the terrorists to achieve asymmetric victories against a military they cannot defeat. "The main objective of the terrorists is to undermine the authority and divide the brotherhood of our military," she said. "They know how to use our laws against us." A famous al Qaeda training manual instructs detained terrorists always to accuse their captors of torture, though a single punch should hardly qualify.

 

(MODS: Please delete or move this "opinion" to Edge forum as needed)

[Trip]

From what I’ve read, the charges against these men are “striking the detainee, dereliction of duty for failing to safeguard the detainee, lying to investigators, and impeding an investigation.”

 

The officers themselves demanded to be court-martialed, instead of accepting a nonjudicial reprimand, in order to clear their records.

 

As much as we, the citizens of the USA, honor our military members, our military isn’t above the law. Should this case continue on to trial, evidence will support their innocence or guilt. I, myself, have not seen any evidence either way, so, I will await further facts as the case progresses.

 

As for donating money to their defense fund, how can one decide the worthiness of a cause without the facts?

 

 

I won't debate the facts or lack of them with you, the only fact I care about is we sent them, they did their job and if some chithead got a fat lip too bad, he's lucky they didn't just kill him, I'd say that before they get all the information out of him they can he will have more then a fat lip, these are the ones who cut off heads with a dull knife and video it and put it on the net.. he took Americans and after "maybe" killing them he burned their body's and hung them up to allow the world to see how bad he is....

 

Well now he can show how tough he is, water boarding is too easy on him, The America of today would have lost WW2 in short order, we havse become a gutless, wimpy bunch of pansy' more worried about gay rights or abortion rights then the lives of those who serve our nation...PC will be the downfall of this nation..

 

Sorry, I wasn't slamming you, just your attitude about the whole subject... I don't need all the facts, we know who he is, what he did, when he did it and now we get to pump him dry of all he knows, then I'd say smear him with pig fat and shoot the SOB in the guts and let him die slowly.... but I'm just a gentle soul... others might take a hard line on it all....

[Louis1]

Would be funny if not so sad.

 

With the current mindset of too many people, 75% of the "Greatest Generation", including most of the males of that age in my family, would have been prosecuted as "War Criminals, Murderers, and Torturers".

 

Very effective brainwashing.

[Trip]

In some ways I came down kinda hard with my reply...

 

Let me try to clear it up a bit....

 

If you are accused of a crime in the military you get a legal officer assigned to you, most times it will be the most JR. Second LT. who is scared of everybody of higher rank, now no matter how sharp he is his defense will depend on how the wind blows. In other words politicly speaking. If the higher brass want you hung by the toenails then that's what will happen, period. If the word comes down from the dark side ( white house etc) your going to get hung, guilty or not, right or wrong... BUT if you can get a good civilian lawyer their chances of screwing you are much less. this is a fact.

 

As for requesting a Courts Martial this is a good thing, IF you know your right and have a good enough lawyer, Now if found guilty, the whole mess works it's way up higher in the chain of command, each reviewing officer can lessen the punishment and as it gets higher it can be reviewed and even changed to maybe a fine of a months pay and return to unit, as long as the Belt Way hacks stay out of it, regardless you will still have a CM on your SRB and that follows you forever...

 

In this case I believe the push for charges is coming from the White House, and I think the highest powers want these guys hung out to dry.... As pay back for the killing of the Pirates by the Seals without the WH saying go.

 

As I said before and will again, we trained them, we sent them, we told them, go catch this guy, they did, maybe he fought them, maybe he tripped, maybe he banged his own head into a wall and lied about what happened, frankly I don't care, however he was treated it wasn't bad enough for all this crap.

 

Believe me if it was one of out troopers and he had them they would be beaten daily, finger nails pulled out and most likely slowly beheaded with that dull knife I mentioned earlier...

 

I can also say for sure, turn him over to a couple of old Corps Marines and he would tell everything he knows in 5 minutes...is it right? who cares, if his dying a slow painful death saves one of out people then go for it.... no pity here and I can also say that some of you folks best start learning to think hard because when the SHTF it will be too late , If you have to stop and think before you pull the trigger then your as good as dead...

 

Again, I'm sorry if I hurt anybody's feelings but we are in a war for our very survival and our leaders won't even call FT Hood what it was... A Terrorist attack...

 

Our troops, our country, right or wrong and I'm sticking by that.

 

And just for the record, I am a Former Marine and I'd be very willing to question this scum bag... not because I'm a bad ass, or sick in the head, I'd do it because it needs doing and I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

PC will destroy America if we let it!

[PoGo]

Thank you for sharing.

[The MacKinnon]

Al Qaeda thugs are tried in a civilian court with all the trimmings. The Navy Seals are served up to the gods of ideologues.