Seals Face Assault Charges After Terrorist Capture

Three Navy SEALs are facing assault charges after the capture of one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq, Ahmed Hashim Abed. Abed is believed to have organized the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah. The accused terrorist, who had a bloody lip, claims that he was punched in the face and not giving a foot massage, or allowed to listen to his iPod as one might expect when a SEAL team captures you. The SEALs have requested a trial by court-martial.

Comments

seals...

[Anonymous Coward]

they should have used regular Infantry instead...there's be no detention.

I hope

[Whorhay]

That this Court Martial is going to be more of a formality to ensure that the SEAL team members are cleared of all charges and allow the administration to say that they took it seriously.

Re:I hope

[Ash Vince]

Of course it's a formality. They have hopefully already been told by their commanding officer that this is joke and if anything the extra publicity regarding this will help their careers. This way they can be removed from the front line on full pay while someone drags their feet deciding the charges are a joke.

They have done their bit, let them see their families stateside for a while.

Hooah.

Even if this ended up in front of a jury of their military peers, can anyone imagine a conviction? I can't and I would be very surprised if the prosecutor fancies his chances or actually wants to argue this one on the courtroom floor.

Re:I hope

[frosty_tsm]

Of course it's a formality. They have hopefully already been told by their commanding officer that this is joke and if anything the extra publicity regarding this will help their careers. This way they can be removed from the front line on full pay while someone drags their feet deciding the charges are a joke.

They have done their bit, let them see their families stateside for a while.

Hooah.

Even if this ended up in front of a jury of their military peers, can anyone imagine a conviction? I can't and I would be very surprised if the prosecutor fancies his chances or actually wants to argue this one on the courtroom floor.

The military is in the business of killing people. When capturing, they are to subdue the enemy to not put themselves at risk. They are not police officers. They don't read writes, say "come out with your hands up" or carry (normal) handcuffs. If something goes wrong and the target gets killed, it's just another day.

Re:I hope

[Ash Vince]

If something goes wrong and the target gets killed, it's just another day.

Most of the time that is not something going wrong, that is something going right :)

Re:I hope

[Whorhay]

One of my Chairforce friends was deployed with the Army. Because he was a "com troop", a computer programmer in reality, he was assigned radio duty. He told us that once he went out on a mission or some such and they ended up bringing back a prisoner. My friend spent the half hour ride back to the base holding a gun to the prisoner's head, just in case he somehow got free of his restraints. Apparently that was fairly common practice.

all terriots should be given bloody lips

[iamhassi]

IMHO, i think all terriots should be given bloody lips, but that's just me.

Where does it say in the article he was denied a foot massage and his ipod?

Terrorism?

[Anonymous Coward]

I always figured the murder and mutilation of blackwater security guards fell under the category of fair turnabout.

Re:Terrorism?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi there Markos.

terrorist or freedom fighter?

[Anonymous Coward]

One country's terrorist is another country's freedom fighter.

Which of these men was in his native country?

Which country's military forces invaded another sovereign nation?

So let's think about this from another perspective, shall we?

If a foreign "security force" employed by a foreign private corporation was patrolling the streets of a city in the United States shooting up the neighborhood and a U.S. citizen who is part of a local "militia" caught four of these "security guards" and killed them, would that person be considered a terrorist or just a patriotic American protecting his homeland?

Are the Iraqis fighting against the military forces that have invaded their country "resistance" fighters or "insurgents"?

And what is the point of charging soldiers with assault? That is their job, they carry "assault rifles", if the government didn't want them assaulting people, they would not employ them.

Why can't the U.S. media and U.S. government just own the fact that the U.S. military has invaded and is occupying a foreign nation to extract the oil that lies beneath its soil?

Why bother with the dog and pony show? Just be honest: "We want their oil, we have the largest military force on the planet, so we're going to use that force to take that oil. Anybody got a problem with that? Shut up or you're next."

Re:terrorist or freedom fighter?

[n00btastic]

Well said! It is a shame this article didn't receive more comments.

Re:terrorist or freedom fighter?

[RockDoctor]

One country's terrorist is another country's freedom fighter.

That's a very rude thing to say to a country that was founded by freedom fighters and which currently thinks that it's under threat from terrorists. Somehow, they fail to see the hilarious irony of the situation.

Re:terrorist or freedom fighter?

[Anonymous Coward]

Terrorists kill non-combatants in order to terrorize the population. Freedom fighters attack the occupiers. That's why AQIQ has been relentlessly hunted as terrorists (they are) where the shiite resistance groups were fought against with much less intensity and brought into the political system.

However, in your world, anyone who hates Bush is a hero, and anyone associated with Bush is evil, incarnate.

Re:terrorist or freedom fighter?

[St.Creed]

One country's terrorist is another country's freedom fighter.

That's a very rude thing to say to a country that was founded by freedom fighters and which currently thinks that it's under threat from terrorists. Somehow, they fail to see the hilarious irony of the situation.

The British folk might just see it, however.

Re:terrorist or freedom fighter?

[HBoar]

There was an awful lot of 'terrorism' in world war 2 by your definition....

Charge Blackwater for warcrimes

[Anonymous Coward]

If this man get charged in a military tribunal, it is only fair to charge Blackwater for warcrimes after all of the atrocities they were allowed to commit in Iraq.

Jack Bauer

[Fotograf]

Look for Jack Bauer as example. Free the seals. Simple.

Weird news article...

[moz25]

My first thought was: how strange for a supposed news article to have such a sarcastic and opinionated tone. Oh... foxnews.com.

Might as well link to The Onion, at least they put honest effort into their articles.

Re:Weird news article...

[Foobar of Borg]

Might as well link to The Onion, at least they put honest effort into their articles.

And, sadly enough, The Onion tends to be more accurate.

Hmm

[Cwix]

Its war, he has a fat lip, really... you mean that he got a fat lip and a trial, instead of getting shot. Whats the complaint about?

I can almost bet money that either:

a) We haven't heard all or accurate facts about the case, judging from the source (fox news) this is a possibility.

b) This is an extreme example of trying to play fair and give the terrorists a chance to make fools of themselves, by whining, and us to look better for given them a chance

If it is option a, well its hard to make judgment without the info, option b.. they wont get in trouble, for capturing him they probably will, and IMHO, should receive a medal.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

A lesson for all US armed forces

[DigiShaman]

Lesson learned. Never capture them alive. Just kill them where they stand. You will save yourself and our court system future grief. Now onto the next target...