UPDATE:| Navy SEAL cleared of charges in terrorist beating case Washington Examiner
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| Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas was cleared of charges that he failed to prevent the beating of Ahmed Hashim Abed, an Al Qaeda terrorist who masterminded the killing of three American contractors in Iraq: "It’s a big weight off my shoulders," a smiling and composed Huertas said as he left the courthouse |
Opening arguments began Wednesday in the court-martial of a Navy SEAL accused in the abuse of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding the killings in 2004 of four U.S. private security contractors.
Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, wearing his blue Navy uniform, appeared in a military courtroom at the Victory Base Camp outside Baghdad to answer charges of dereliction of duty and impeding an official investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.
Huertas, 28, of Blue Island, Ill., is the first of three Navy SEALs to go on trial in connection with the alleged assault of the Iraqi prisoner, Ahmed Hashim Abed.
Abed was arrested last September on charges of masterminding the grisly killings of four Blackwater security guards whose burned corpses were dragged through the Iraqi city of Fallujah west of Baghdad. Two of the guards' bodies were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River in the insurgent attack.
The SEALs' case has gained widespread sympathy in the United States as well as support from at least 20 lawmakers in Congress who have urged U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to drop the charges.
The sailors could have received a disciplinary reprimand, but insisted on a military trial to clear their names and save their careers.
If convicted by the six-person military jury, their punishment could include jail time.
In a rare ruling in January, a military judge ordered that trials for Huertas and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe of Yorktown, Virginia, to be held in Iraq so that they could face Abed in court. Abed is still being held in Iraq, and the U.S. government refused to bring him to the United States to testify.
Huertas and Keefe are both accused of failing to safeguard the prisoner. Huertas is also accused of attempting to influence the testimony of another SEAL.
The third SEAL in the case, Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe of Perrysburg, Ohio, is charged with punching Abed in the face at Camp Schwedler, a U.S. base near Fallujah. McCabe is scheduled to be court-martialed May 3 in Norfolk, Virginia, where the three sailors are based.
Huertas has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither he nor the other two SEALS have been held in custody.
Keefe's trial also was to begin last week at the court-martial room at the Victory Base Camp, but his legal team was delayed by the volcano eruption in Iceland that grounded tens of thousands of flights across the world.
This is a plain case of another insane move by a government that has gone absolutely crazy.
These men are National Hero's, NOT Criminals! Whether they abused this prisoner or not is not the issue in my opinion. We ask our finest young men to go into these shit holes and fight for us and when they so bravely do, some ass-hole sitting comfortably in a plush office in Washington makes an asinine decision like this one. So a Terrorist that tortured a American GI then burnt to him to death and hung his dead body from a bridge got a fat lip, big friggen deal! I am outraged!
It is such as sad state of affairs that our own government would want to court marital these SEALS!! When the president takes Air Force One to a party, or to play golf or basketball instead of any attempt to run our country! The USA is in a very horrible state of affairs and has shown the entire world very weak leadership-. When he seems to care less about our special forces and all the men and women that risk their lives for our freedom!!! It wants to make me cry that somehow this Socialist has been elected but could really care less about our country or the ones that are making the ultimate sacrifice for all of us-true AMERICANS!
Things like this happen when we let one party get control of both houses of congress. This makes me so disgusted at our politicians I don’t even know what to say anymore.
It is time for ALL VETERANS to stand up not only for our fallen brothers & sisters; we need stand beside & behind those that are severing today. If you disagree with me well that is ok I fought for your right to do so. Just do me one favor, and get out of my way Just remember FREEDOM IS NOT FREE someone has to pay for it.
How in hell! Are these men supposed to fight and protect this country went we tie their hands