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| Navy Seals were heroes ... even before they were proven innocent |
| 2010-06-21 |
| “Where do I go to get my reputation back?' former Labor Secretary Ray Donovan famously asked after being acquitted of fraud and larceny in 1987. That same question, in spades, could be asked by Matthew McCabe and his fellow Navy Seals who were charged with crimes related to the apprehension and detention of a terrorist who said he was “roughed up' by his guards. Not just any terrorist either, but a man who had engaged in the most brutal of crimes as the mastermind of a deadly attack on four American security guards in Fallujah, Iraq Fortunately, on May 6, McCabe was found not guilty of assaulting Ahmed Hashim Abed. That meant three strikes for Navy prosecutors, who also failed to get convictions against McCabe's fellow Seals, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe. Let's suppose that one of them really did take a punch at Abed, as the prosecutors alleged. So what? I mean, do I really need to defend the use of force by the American military in apprehending an enemy combatant? Democratic Congressman Tip O'Neill often noted that “Politics ain't beanbag,' but apparently some politicians these days think that war is. Face it, these three Navy Seals were heroes, not ruffians. And there is absolutely no reason to think they are anything but honorable either. They were following orders — not pursuing vigilante justice — when they participated in a raid to capture Abed. They say they didn't touch Abed and I believe them. But do you have any idea how many Germans captured by American soldiers in World War II were summarily executed? It wasn't just a few. And the soldiers from America's “Greatest Generation' who did what they had to do to win that war weren't treated as criminals, but rather lauded as heroes. Nor was Abed just some common foot soldier captured on the field of battle. He was demonstrably evil, just as evil in his own way as Hitler and Osama bin Laden. His treatment of those four American security guards he murdered was psychopathic at best and bestial at least. The guards were killed by gunfire and grenades, then had their bodies burned and dragged through the city. Finally, two of the mutilated bodies were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River for the press to photograph. Abed was sending a message to America — We will do whatever it takes to destroy you and to win this war. And when America put its three Navy Seals on trial, it was sending a message to Abed — You already have won. Now the jurors have sent a message of their own — Not so fast. Unfortunately, the Obama administration and the power structure in Washington, D.C., seems intent on making our military into “the enemy.' So it is up to “we the people' to weigh in. United we stand; divided we fall. But if we don't reclaim the proud heritage of “Don't tread on me' soon, we may be doomed to fail. What can you do? Start by urging your congressman and senators to support Rep. Kay Granger's “Service Member Relief Act' (HR5374), which provides for the reimbursement of legal fees incurred by soldiers, like Matthew McCabe, who are acquitted on charges of abusing terrorists. Then pray that someday we live in a country where it is not necessary to have a bill like Granger's House Resolution 1025, which declares among other things that “members of the Armed Forces must be allowed to fight terrorists without the fear they will be accused of wrongdoing due to political correctness.' That resolution was introduced in January and has been buried in committee since February. Big surprise. What do you want to bet the Congress of the United States is afraid to support our heroes? |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 Wonder if the guy who took the plea deal feels like amorn yet? |
| Posted by: chris 2010-06-21 11:17 |