Navy SEALs’ case stronger with immunity for witnesses and good results from lie detector

The Washington Times says the case is weakening against 3 Navy SEALS facing various charges over the detention of a suspected terrorist in Iraq. The Times said, “Maj. Gen. Charles Cleveland last week signed grants of immunity for five Navy colleagues of the accused.” The paper said some of those receiving immunity "are expected at trial to flatly contradict the prosecution's key witness..."

And The Times reported a surprise development in the SEALs' case at a fundraising rally in Scottsdale (Ariz.).  Petty Officer Matthew McCabe announced he had passed an “independent lie detector test on the question, ‘Did you strike Abed?’”

Ahmed Hashim Abed was captured without incident in September, 2009. Abed is believed to be the mastermind of the 2004 murders and desecration of bodies of independent contractors, some former military, in Fallujah. Terrorists hung the bodies of the contractors from a bridge, a sharp statement with full implications ignored by media. Muslims bury the dead as soon as possible, eschewing embalming or disturbing the dead in any way.

The treatment of the contractors’ bodies signified the most egregious desecration possible in Islam.

After Abed was detained, a master-at-arms outside the Naval Special Warfare Community accused McCabe of striking the detainee, allegedly in the gut.

McCabe and fellow SEALs Petty Officer Julio Huertas and Petty officer Jonathan Keefe are also charged with making false statements about the incident.

Abed remains in custody in Baghdad.

Various groups have been formed to support the men in light of expenses associated with hiring a private attorney.

Jack Lynch, President of the UDT-SEAL Association, said in February the SEALs chose a court martial rather than a Captain’s Mast because, “They didn’t want to be judged by those outside of our SEAL community.”

The public has had a hard time understanding why charges were brought in the first place. Those familiar with the rigorous, challenging training SEALs undergo believe it would be completely out of character for a SEAL to risk everything to deliver a gut punch to a detainee after he was brought in. Some members of the public don’t care either way, reacting to the sometimes cumbersome rules of engagement US troops face confronting an enemy who can choose to behead the innocent, blow up civilians with IEDs and use civilians as shields.

Besides all that, al Qaeda makes it a point to teach terrorists to claim they’ve been injured, well aware of sympathetic Western media and leftwing groups who ignore the brutality al Qaeda practices.

A number of support groups have formed, including two at Facebook with more than 118,000 members in Support the Navy SEALs Who Captured Ahmed Hashim Abed and more than 264,000 members in the Facebook group Americans United AGAINST the Prosecution of 3 Navy SEALs.

Maritime Tactical Security oversees funds for the defense. Those who wish to help should contribute to the fund because our men will need all the help they can get.

Republican members of Congress have called for dismissal of all charges against the SEALs. (by Kay B. Day/March 30, 2010)