With January upon us, the trial for two of the Navy SEALs charged with assaulting a prisoner draws nearer. Despite the public outcry and the attempted intervention of several lawmakers, the military seems to be standing their ground and is bent on pursuing the case.
In the interest of presenting all sides to the story, we are also sharing with you what is apparently the reason why the military believes this trial should push through. A feature shares the response of Army Major General Charles T. Cleveland of Special Operations Command Central to the letter sent by Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana and several of his colleagues that call for the dropping of charges against the Navy SEALs.
The letter from Cleveland reportedly reads: “The abuse of a detainee, no matter how minor, creates strategic repercussions that harm our nation’s security and ultimately costs the lives of U.S. citizens. I must ensure that the service members under my command abide by the laws passed by Congress and follow the lawful orders of their superior officers.”
He is said to have indicated further in his letter: “Despite what has been reported, these allegations are not founded solely on the word of the detainee, but rather, were initially raised by other U.S. service members. While the assault and resulting injury to the detainee were relatively minor, the more disconcerting allegations are those related to the sailors’ attempts to cover up the incident, particularly in what appears to be an effort to influence the testimony of a witness.”
Basically what we are getting from Maj. Gen. Cleveland’s statements is that the court martial is more because of the alleged cover-up of the Navy SEALs of the incident that of the actual mistreatment of Abed. And Cleveland does not seem to provide any indication that the military will heed any calls made thus far to drop charges against the SEALs.
January 3rd, 2010 - 5:27 am
It seems like this general is trying to make a name for himself at the expence of two of our service men.
January 3rd, 2010 - 6:58 am
It is a sad day when a Seal is punished for trying to protect his country. Although, there are rules of engagement set forth by Senoir officials,lawmakers, and on behalf of the American people. The average American citizen has been put through this everyday. Propaganda to enact laws,invade countries, and to ensure corprate America footholds on new soil. My heart is with the Seals first and formost. They have watched brothren die in the field of combat. I am also proud of the Senior officials who have went as far as to uphold the rules of engagement. My discust is with the law makers who are thinking of thier political careers by calling for a dismissal of charges. Do they really understand how dishonerable this is. Do they even know what honor is..”GOD SAVE MY COUNTRY” This punishment will not show the terrorist, and extremists victory. It will show them that there are morals, and honorable engagements. One thing our soldiers have in common with the terrorists, is they are fighting for what they believe in. How can we believe in something a lawmaker is going to rescind as soon as it doesn’t look good on his\her record..
January 3rd, 2010 - 7:07 am
The higher in the chain of command you attain the less likely you are willing to risk your stars to back thoes who serve under you.
January 3rd, 2010 - 7:16 am
LET THESE “HEROES” GO… SAD, when the terrorists have more rights than the fallen Americans HAD or what these Seals have now… I am one pissed off American,, who can’t believe the political bullshoot our Soldiers fight outside these wars. I am no vet, but feel STRONG on this. TRUELY,,, this IS crap to do against people who are the HEROES of this great nation.. The ones who want to bring these charges SHOULD be brought up on TREASON charges themselves.. SO WRONG!!
January 3rd, 2010 - 8:08 am
Shame on the brass for wanting to prosecute these two heros. Take PC out of the military and let our guys do the job they are trained for. It’s getting ridiculous.
January 4th, 2010 - 6:43 am
General Cleveland is an honest and good commander. Let the military justice system work – it’s better than the civilian counter-part. As General Cleveland said in his letter to the Senator, the limit of harm done to the prisoner is not the issue, it is the fact that a crime has been reported and it must be investigated and tried. We should want a disciplined military – not a mob. If these guys are real heroes as many of you say, they will be cleared of all charges.
January 5th, 2010 - 3:50 am
[...] Gen. Charles Cleveland, the Commander for the Special Operations Command Central, already gave his response to the letter sent by Rep. Dan Burton and several of his colleagues in Congress. The letter from [...]
January 6th, 2010 - 7:01 am
I am a retired Marine Corps judge advocate and infantry officer and say that Major General Cleveland is correct and the SEALs screwed up. A lot of the commentators, if not most, have never served in the military and don’t understand the need for discipline. The main reason for the court-martial is that the SEALs requested it– they had been given a break with the initial offer for NJP. The reasoning by Congressman Burton is idiotic–he should know better, as he served in the Army in the late 50’s. The services can’t have people disobeying orders and lying about them. The media hasn’t helped– with headlines like “Navy SEALs court-martialed for capturing terrorist.” The injury was purportedly done AFTER the bad guy was in custody. The SEALs had a duty to protect their prisoner– not use him as their personal punching bag. To let this go would send an even worse signal and lead to things like My Lai– if you don’t remember that, look it up. These people are not being punished for doing their jobs– they are being punished for NOT doing their jobs.
January 6th, 2010 - 8:28 am
Look, if lieing in a report is whats going to bring these 3 men down,,, it is wrong. We have had presidents, dem and rep, who have lied,, one even under oath to a federal grand jury.. Polititions are a bad example to set for everyone,, an honest one we’ll never see.. The day we believe what these lowlife terrorists say, it’ll be shame on our men. War is hell, let these guys do their job, which they do outstanding at, even if it is with a bloody lip to the trash we fight. DROP the charges, give them a metal instead.
January 6th, 2010 - 9:55 am
The one I want to see go down is Gen. Cleveland. Release these men.
I have been in touch with both my U.S. Senators and my Rep. and have demanded action from them. I encourage each of the readers of this blog to do the same.
We are fighting this war hand cuffed. PC is bringing this nation down.
January 6th, 2010 - 5:29 pm
This has nothing to do with ‘PC’. MG Cleveland, an officer who has served this country well for over two decades, is being villified for doing his job. He has no other choice. There are standards for discipline and integrity that he has to maintain. To call his actions ‘PC’ is utterly ridiculous and those who do so have no idea what they are talking about.
To put it another way, the SEALs aren’t being punished for doing their job- they are being punished for NOT doing their job in the way they are supposed to do.
By the way, the SEALs are not in custody, so the General does not need to ‘release’ them.
January 11th, 2010 - 9:01 am
This should have been better managed by the chain of command who has “overwatch” responsibility. There is no way that these extremely valuable assets should have been exposed to this kind of scrutiny for an alleged stomach punch.
If people cannot handle what goes on in a war then they should just get out of the business of war and rotate stateside. Bad things happen to bad people (and oftentimes good people) in a war.
If the punch in the stomach actually occurred then it was probably wrong; however, we have a responsibility to our taxpayers to keep these SEALs operational and not allow this to turn into a media circus.
The example that is being set is that mothers and fathers should not let their children grow up to be in the military. The slightest infraction puts them in front of the Captain or Courts Martial to effectively ruin their careers. If the military cannot stand together to prevent this kind of circus then how can we trust our children to trust one another on the battlefield?
January 22nd, 2010 - 1:15 pm
[...] to Help Accused Navy SEALs — USNavySeals.comCharges Against Navy SEALs Will Continue – US NavySeals.comJudge moves military trials of 2 Navy SEALs accused of mistreating detainee [...]
March 4th, 2010 - 8:39 am
TYPICAL REACTION FROM A GENERAL WHO’S OPINION OVERPOWERS WHAT IS RIGHT, KEEP IN MIND THE BLACKWATER GUYS WITH THEIR HEADS CUT OFF HANGING FROM THE BRIDGE.
A PUNCH IN THE STOMACH ??? MAYBE GENERAL CLEVLAND NEEDS APUNCH IN THE CHOPS