Upcoming Navy SEAL court-martial a case full of secrets
SETH HETTENA
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - The upcoming court-martial of a Navy SEAL lieutenant accused of prisoner abuse is a case full of secrets.
The SEAL is accused of punching an Iraqi detainee in the arm and allowing his men to abuse the prisoner, who later died during CIA interrogation at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
He faces charges of assault, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer at a trial scheduled to begin Monday at Naval Base San Diego.
One secret is the defendant's name. The Navy is taking extraordinary precautions to protect the identity of the terrorist-hunting SEALs. The lieutenant will be referred to only by the first letter of his last name, as will all SEAL personnel in the courtroom - a step experts on military law say is virtually unprecedented.
Swirling around the case are reports that point to the use of CIA interrogation tactics in the gruesome death of the detainee - one of a handful of cases that the spy agency has referred to the U.S. Justice Department for possible prosecution. The CIA inadvertently leaked the names of its operatives to defense attorneys, prompting an unusual retroactive classification by the spy agency.
The SEALs acted as the CIA's warrant squad on dangerous "capture or kill" missions in Iraq, bursting into homes in the middle of the night and carting off suspects. A secret policy governed these missions under the Sea, Air Land or SEAL credo of "speed, surprise and violence of action."
During a pretrial hearing in January, a SEAL officer testified that the SEALs were authorized to use deadly force, their training taught them it was OK to use force to get a detainee's attention. Prosecutors, however, insist they must be held accountable for a mission where things got out of hand.
In November 2003, the SEALs went after Iraqi Manadel al-Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing a month earlier of Red Cross offices in Iraq that killed 12. Documents and testimony show the CIA believed he knew the location of a pile of explosives.
On the night of Nov. 4, they burst into al-Jamadi's apartment outside Baghdad, subdued him after a brief, violent struggle and whisked him back to their base at Baghdad's airport. En route, the SEALs allegedly kicked, punched and struck al-Jamadi with the muzzles of their rifles. They also posed for photos with the hooded and handcuffed prisoner.
The SEALs turned al-Jamadi over to the CIA. A few hours later, he was dead.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press suggest that CIA personnel - not the SEALs - may be to blame for the prisoner's death.
When he died, al-Jamadi was suspended by the wrists, which were handcuffed behind his back - a position known as "Palestinian hanging" that has been condemned by human rights groups as torture, according to investigative files from the Army and the CIA's Office of Inspector General. An Army guard told investigators that blood gushed from al-Jamadi's mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on" when he was lowered to the ground.
"The position that al-Jamadi was placed for interrogation together with the hood (covering his head) was 'part and parcel' of the homicide," Jerry Hodge, the military pathologist who autopsied al-Jamadi last year told the CIA's Inspector General's office.
Hodge found broken ribs and bruised lungs, but found no external injuries that would have resulted from the alleged beating by SEALs. Al-Jamadi's injuries were more consistent with "slow, deliberate application of force," such as someone kneeling on his chest or holding him down with the soles or heels of their boots.
One SEAL testified in January that he watched a CIA employee press his weight against al-Jamadi's chest with his forearm throughout an interrogation in the "romper room" at Camp Jenny Pozzi, the SEAL base at Baghdad's airport.
The CIA Inspector General's office investigated al-Jamadi's death and forwarded its findings to the U.S. Justice Department for possible prosecution. The Justice Department declined to comment. No one has been charged with killing al-Jamadi. So how were the Navy SEALs implicated in the case? The Navy opened an investigation in May when a former SEAL told senior officers he witnessed abuse on al-Jamadi and others. According to the ex-SEAL, the accused lieutenant witnessed his men abusing al-Jamadi, smiled and said "Glad I'm not him."
Nine members of SEAL Team Seven and one sailor have been accused of abusing al-Jamadi and other detainees in Iraq. All but one of the cases have been handled in closed-door proceedings. Earlier this month, another lieutenant received a career-killing punitive letter of reprimand following a hearing before the Navy's top SEAL.
During pretrial hearings in January, several SEALs contradicted the account of the ex-SEAL, who was kicked out of the elite unit for stealing a comrade's bulletproof vest in Iraq - an act that earned him the nickname "Klepto." A lieutenant commander said the ex-SEAL had disgraced himself.
"He's a liar and a thief," he said.
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - The upcoming court-martial of a Navy SEAL lieutenant accused of prisoner abuse is a case full of secrets.
The SEAL is accused of punching an Iraqi detainee in the arm and allowing his men to abuse the prisoner, who later died during CIA interrogation at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
He faces charges of assault, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer at a trial scheduled to begin Monday at Naval Base San Diego.
One secret is the defendant's name. The Navy is taking extraordinary precautions to protect the identity of the terrorist-hunting SEALs. The lieutenant will be referred to only by the first letter of his last name, as will all SEAL personnel in the courtroom - a step experts on military law say is virtually unprecedented.
Swirling around the case are reports that point to the use of CIA interrogation tactics in the gruesome death of the detainee - one of a handful of cases that the spy agency has referred to the U.S. Justice Department for possible prosecution. The CIA inadvertently leaked the names of its operatives to defense attorneys, prompting an unusual retroactive classification by the spy agency.
The SEALs acted as the CIA's warrant squad on dangerous "capture or kill" missions in Iraq, bursting into homes in the middle of the night and carting off suspects. A secret policy governed these missions under the Sea, Air Land or SEAL credo of "speed, surprise and violence of action."
During a pretrial hearing in January, a SEAL officer testified that the SEALs were authorized to use deadly force, their training taught them it was OK to use force to get a detainee's attention. Prosecutors, however, insist they must be held accountable for a mission where things got out of hand.
In November 2003, the SEALs went after Iraqi Manadel al-Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing a month earlier of Red Cross offices in Iraq that killed 12. Documents and testimony show the CIA believed he knew the location of a pile of explosives.
On the night of Nov. 4, they burst into al-Jamadi's apartment outside Baghdad, subdued him after a brief, violent struggle and whisked him back to their base at Baghdad's airport. En route, the SEALs allegedly kicked, punched and struck al-Jamadi with the muzzles of their rifles. They also posed for photos with the hooded and handcuffed prisoner.
The SEALs turned al-Jamadi over to the CIA. A few hours later, he was dead.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press suggest that CIA personnel - not the SEALs - may be to blame for the prisoner's death.
When he died, al-Jamadi was suspended by the wrists, which were handcuffed behind his back - a position known as "Palestinian hanging" that has been condemned by human rights groups as torture, according to investigative files from the Army and the CIA's Office of Inspector General. An Army guard told investigators that blood gushed from al-Jamadi's mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on" when he was lowered to the ground.
"The position that al-Jamadi was placed for interrogation together with the hood (covering his head) was 'part and parcel' of the homicide," Jerry Hodge, the military pathologist who autopsied al-Jamadi last year told the CIA's Inspector General's office.
Hodge found broken ribs and bruised lungs, but found no external injuries that would have resulted from the alleged beating by SEALs. Al-Jamadi's injuries were more consistent with "slow, deliberate application of force," such as someone kneeling on his chest or holding him down with the soles or heels of their boots.
One SEAL testified in January that he watched a CIA employee press his weight against al-Jamadi's chest with his forearm throughout an interrogation in the "romper room" at Camp Jenny Pozzi, the SEAL base at Baghdad's airport.
The CIA Inspector General's office investigated al-Jamadi's death and forwarded its findings to the U.S. Justice Department for possible prosecution. The Justice Department declined to comment. No one has been charged with killing al-Jamadi. So how were the Navy SEALs implicated in the case? The Navy opened an investigation in May when a former SEAL told senior officers he witnessed abuse on al-Jamadi and others. According to the ex-SEAL, the accused lieutenant witnessed his men abusing al-Jamadi, smiled and said "Glad I'm not him."
Nine members of SEAL Team Seven and one sailor have been accused of abusing al-Jamadi and other detainees in Iraq. All but one of the cases have been handled in closed-door proceedings. Earlier this month, another lieutenant received a career-killing punitive letter of reprimand following a hearing before the Navy's top SEAL.
During pretrial hearings in January, several SEALs contradicted the account of the ex-SEAL, who was kicked out of the elite unit for stealing a comrade's bulletproof vest in Iraq - an act that earned him the nickname "Klepto." A lieutenant commander said the ex-SEAL had disgraced himself.
"He's a liar and a thief," he said.
posted by Kory Knowles @ 8:09 PM
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