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“Everything is about winning,” and while Seals have to abide by the Geneva Convention and have laws of engagement, “You can get away with things. “No one wants to attack a warrior,” he told me, on condition of anonymity. There’s a sense, he said, that Seals must stand united no matter what, that they're bound by a culture of secrecy. I want to level-set this a little bit.”īut a former member of Seal Team Six, the US Navy’s "Tier One" unit tasked with carrying out the most dangerous missions, told me that the culture surrounding the Seals mean it's very difficult – almost impossible – for a Seal to call out a comrade for wrongdoing. was painted as a bloodthirsty fiend but he is highly decorated, married with children. There is a presumption of guilt and they pile on things to discredit an individual. “In the military system it’s gone beyond that. “The American judicial system is based on the presumption of innocence and you must be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt,” Gurfein told me before the verdict. Yet in an interview ahead of the trial, Gurfein, himself a retired Marine who once ran for political office as a Republican, told the American Conservative magazine that the Navy had “ambushed” Gallagher. If there was a conviction, there was also talk of a presidential pardon. Glad I could help!" Back in March, Trump had demanded Gallagher be transferred to "less restrictive confinement” rather than a holding cell awaiting trial. Several hours before the sentence was announced, Trump tweeted his congratulations to Gallagher and his wife, Andrea: “You have been through much together. Parlatore said the photos of his client posing with the corpse were “in poor taste, but not criminal”.Īnd then there was President Donald Trump's intervention, which added another layer of sensationalism to an already lurid trial. What’s more, a pathologist testified that he couldn’t determine the cause of death because there was no body. If the jury believed Scott then they would have to acquit Gallagher, who had been charged with murdering the teen. Scott claimed it was he, not Gallagher, who had killed the Isis prisoner that he had asphyxiated the militant by holding down the 17-year-old's breathing tube, after Gallagher stabbed him, as an act of mercy because he didn’t want him to suffer and worried that should he survive he would be tortured by Iraqi forces. Then, the courtroom was rocked after one witness for the prosecution, First Class Petty Officer Corey Scott, a Seal medic, seemed to change his story on the stand from what he’d told prosecutors privately before the trial. A couple of weeks after they alleged he murdered the militant, Seal snipers told the court that Gallagher shot a schoolgirl and elderly man that they hadn’t actually witnessed it but had heard shots coming from Gallagher’s position in his sniper’s nest, that the man and child then fell to the ground and that Gallagher had “confirmed the kills” over his radio. The prosecution called seven Seals to testify against Gallagher, two of whom claimed they saw him stab the Isis militant in the jugular. The jury was made up of enlisted personnel – five Marines and two sailors (including a Seal) – most of whom had seen combat in the Middle East. In a story for the New York Times before the trial began, national correspondent Dave Philipps wrote: “With scant physical evidence and witnesses under enormous pressure, the outcome is anything but clear.” What was more clear was that the court martial proceedings – which would inevitably be covered religiously by the US media – would shed light on the culture and working practices of one of the most secretive and elite units of the American military.
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