Trump pardons Army officers, restores Navy SEAL's rank in war crimes cases

[rooster59]

Trump pardons Army officers, restores Navy SEAL's rank in war crimes cases

By Idrees Ali

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher prepares to answer a question from the media with wife Andrea Gallagher after being acquitted on most of the serious charges against him during his court-martial trial at Naval Base San Diego in San Diego, California, U.S., July 2, 2019. REUTERS/John Gastaldo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned two Army officers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and restored the rank of a Navy SEAL platoon commander who was demoted for actions in Iraq, a move critics have said would undermine military justice and send a message that battlefield atrocities will be tolerated.

 

The White House said in a statement Trump granted full pardons to First Lieutenant Clint Lorance and Major Mathew Golsteyn, and ordered that the rank Edward Gallagher held before he was convicted in a military trial this year be restored.

 

"For more than two hundred years, presidents have used their authority to offer second chances to deserving individuals, including those in uniform who have served our country. These actions are in keeping with this long history," the statement said.

 

A Pentagon spokesperson said the Department of Defense has confidence in the military justice system.

 

"The President is part of the military justice system as the Commander-in-Chief and has the authority to weigh in on matters of this nature," the spokesperson said.

 

In recent weeks, Pentagon officials had spoken with Trump about the cases, provided facts and emphasized the due process built into the military justice system.

 

In 2013, prosecutors accused Lorance of illegally ordering the fatal shootings of two men on motorcycles while on patrol in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. He was found guilty of two counts of murder.

 

Last year, Golsteyn, an Army Green Beret, was charged with murdering an Afghan man during a 2010 deployment to Afghanistan.

 

Gallagher, a decorated SEAL team platoon leader, was accused of committing various war crimes while deployed in Iraq in 2017.

 

In July, a military jury acquitted him of murdering a captured Islamic State fighter by stabbing the wounded prisoner in the neck, but it convicted him of illegally posing with the detainee's corpse. That had led to his rank being reduced.

 

Golsteyn received word of his pardon from Trump, who spoke with him by telephone for several minutes, Golsteyn's attorney Phillip Stackhouse said in a statement.

 

"Our family is profoundly grateful for the president's action. We have lived in constant fear of this runaway prosecution," Golsteyn was quoted saying in the statement.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the president's action.

 

"With this utterly shameful use of presidential powers, Trump has sent a clear message of disrespect for law, morality, the military justice system, and those in the military who abide by the laws of war," Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, said in a statement.

 

In May, Trump talked about how he was considering pardons for U.S. troops charged with war crimes, a move he acknowledged would be controversial but that he said was justified because they had been treated "unfairly."

 

The overwhelming majority of pardons are granted to people who have already been convicted and served time for a federal offence.

 

But presidents have occasionally granted pardons preemptively to individuals accused of or suspected of a crime.

 

The most famous such case was the blanket pardon President Gerald Ford bestowed on his predecessor, Richard Nixon, after Nixon's resignation during the Watergate scandal in 1974.

 

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Sandra Maler and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-16

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[Tippaporn]

Good on Trump.

[JustAnotherFarang]

9 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

Good on Trump.

I am aware of First Lieutenant Clint Lorance case as it is being streamed on Netflix but it is clear to everyone watching, including all of the men in his company who testified that he committed a war crime and was duly sentenced.  Trumps pardon is a disgraceful effort to curry favour with the idiots he hopes will blindly vote for him again and judging by the low brow intelligence of his supporters, they probably will

 

JAF

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

22 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

But presidents have occasionally granted pardons preemptively to individuals accused of or suspected of a crime.

 

The most famous such case was the blanket pardon President Gerald Ford bestowed on his predecessor, Richard Nixon, after Nixon's resignation during the Watergate scandal in 1974.

I hope the next president won't do that with the current president...

[JAG]

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I hope the next president won't do that with the current president...

Oh but he will, if/when he agrees to go quietly...

[Chelseafan]

I have the utmost respect for those who protect our values and our freedom, what these people go through must be hell.

Perhaps we should put the American Civil Liberties Union on the front line for a few months rather than letting them rant from behind their desks safe and sound.

 

 

[Enoon]

2 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I have the utmost respect for those who protect our values and our freedom, what these people go through must be hell.

Perhaps we should put the American Civil Liberties Union on the front line for a few months rather than letting them rant from behind their desks safe and sound.

 

 

 

Perhaps you failed to notice that his behaviour was first reported by soldiers who were serving alongside him and under his command......."in the front line."

 

"Another accusation was that Gallagher's sniper work during his 2017 deployment became indiscriminate, reckless, and bloodthirsty..............he took "random shots" into buildings.............. at least two militarily pointless shots, shooting and killing an unarmed old man in a white robe as well as a young girl walking with other girls........... boasted about the large number of people he had killed, claiming he averaged three kills a day over 80 days, including four women.........known for indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine gun fire with no known enemy force in the region."

 

In their judgement he was quite definitely not doing the "right thing".

 

Perhaps you should go and serve with them?

 

Eddie Gallagher (Navy SEAL) - Wikipedia

 

 

Edited November 16, 2019 by Enoon

[Redline]

2 hours ago, Tippaporn said:

Good on Trump.

The generals asked him not to do it-he just lost more respect from top military ranks-funny watching him cut off his own legs????

[Puchaiyank]

Most people believe in second chances...especially the dead!   ????

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I have the utmost respect for those who protect our values and our freedom, what these people go through must be hell.

Perhaps we should put the American Civil Liberties Union on the front line for a few months rather than letting them rant from behind their desks safe and sound.

 

 

Not quite that simple.

[spidermike007]

Again Donald is pandering to his devotees, and ignoring the rule of law. When a significant number of his fellow soldiers speak of the atrocities this terrorist US sniper has committed, you know the extent of his guilt. These good men and women did not make that stuff up. 

 

The reality is that the military is a weak spot for Trump. When his time to serve his nation came, he showed us what a coward he is, with five deferments. When General Kelly served as his chief of staff, he ignored all of his good advice. When the joint chiefs advised Trump not to pull out of Syria he ignored them too. One can assume most of the military despises the man and has little respect for Trump. 

 

This ill advised pardon is a weak kneed plea for votes at a time when total lack of honor is bring exposed to the world. Don Donald is going down. One can only hope he will not be pardoned after he loses the election next year. 

[giddyup]

3 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I have the utmost respect for those who protect our values and our freedom, what these people go through must be hell.

Perhaps we should put the American Civil Liberties Union on the front line for a few months rather than letting them rant from behind their desks safe and sound.

 

 

They still have to abide by a code of conduct, not slaughter innocent civilians indiscriminately. The US is about as popular as a pork chop in a synagogue in the middle east as it is for creating an illegal war.

Edited November 16, 2019 by giddyup

[bristolboy]

3 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I have the utmost respect for those who protect our values and our freedom, what these people go through must be hell.

Perhaps we should put the American Civil Liberties Union on the front line for a few months rather than letting them rant from behind their desks safe and sound.

 

 

So you have respect for the soldiers  who reported him in the first place?

Edited November 16, 2019 by bristolboy

[bristolboy]

Another foreign policy coup for Trump. First he decides to go back into Syria in order, according to his own stated reason to protect the oil. Then he proposes awarding it to Exxon which would be illegal. And of course, that is going to ingratiate the US even more in the Mideast. Now he absolves soldiers who committed war crimes in the Mideast.

[puck2]

To get it across in one sentence:

 

A criminal supports criminals.

 

Our dog has a good moral. Trump's is far below some animal standard as shown again in this case. And there are a lot of idi@ts who defend such a lousy character.

 

It will take a long time for successors of this LOTUS (Liar Of The ....) to "make America great again", if possible at all. This slouch has destroyed the credibility of the USA.

 

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

3 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I have the utmost respect for those who protect our values and our freedom, what these people go through must be hell.

Perhaps we should put the American Civil Liberties Union on the front line for a few months rather than letting them rant from behind their desks safe and sound.

 

 

I suggest you spend some time reading up on how the civil liberties of people in America where won and the hell civilians went through to win their liberty.

 

Alternatively feel free to continue in your ignorance.

[Chomper Higgot]

This stinking PoS (I’m talking about Edward Gallagher not Trump) not only committed war crimes, he handed the enemies the US is fighting recruitment gold and provided the evidence they need to convince the civilians in the contested territory that they should fear US troops.

 

Hardly surprising Trump gave him a pardon, he recognizes a fellow enemy of American values and American interests.

[mtls2005]

It's not exactly clear who is financing Edward Gallagher's defense/pardon, but he has some powerful friends.

 

Marc Mukasey (son of former AG and Chief Justice of USDC in SDNY) is lobbying hard for this. And Fox News host Pete Hegseth had been lobbying Trump for months, for pardons for Gallagher, Golsteyn, Lorance and Slatten.

 

It seems like most in the military are against this sort fo reversal of military justice, for all the obvious reasons.

[BobBKK]

Good decision it was war and I don't grieve for any dead ISIS scum.

[George Aylesham]

Visit the memorial to the dead in Mai Lai -its a sad and chilling place. And Calley was finally let off by Richard Nixon.

[Morty T]

5 hours ago, JustAnotherFarang said:

I am aware of First Lieutenant Clint Lorance case as it is being streamed on Netflix but it is clear to everyone watching, including all of the men in his company who testified that he committed a war crime and was duly sentenced.  Trumps pardon is a disgraceful effort to curry favour with the idiots he hopes will blindly vote for him again and judging by the low brow intelligence of his supporters, they probably will

 

JAF

 

 

Spoken like a true wannabe. You saw the Netflix portrayal, congratulations. I do hope you realize that was a work of fictional. 

[giddyup]

49 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Good decision it was war and I don't grieve for any dead ISIS scum.

How would you know they are Isis, do they wear different clothes to the rest of the population? It has been proven that those soldiers who were convicted killed innocent civilians. I suppose the My Lai massacre only killed Viet Cong?

[giddyup]

18 minutes ago, Morty T said:

Spoken like a true wannabe. You saw the Netflix portrayal, congratulations. I do hope you realize that was a work of fictional. 

Are you saying he wasn't convicted of war crimes (then how has he been pardoned), and that his fellow soldiers all gave ficticious accounts of what happened? Ridiculous.

[yogi100]

2 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

Perhaps you failed to notice that his behaviour was first reported by soldiers who were serving alongside him and under his command......."in the front line."

 

"Another accusation was that Gallagher's sniper work during his 2017 deployment became indiscriminate, reckless, and bloodthirsty..............he took "random shots" into buildings.............. at least two militarily pointless shots, shooting and killing an unarmed old man in a white robe as well as a young girl walking with other girls........... boasted about the large number of people he had killed, claiming he averaged three kills a day over 80 days, including four women.........known for indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine gun fire with no known enemy force in the region."

 

In their judgement he was quite definitely not doing the "right thing".

 

Perhaps you should go and serve with them?

 

Eddie Gallagher (Navy SEAL) - Wikipedia

 

 

Lt Calley and his thugs committed a much more serious atrocity in Vietnam and none of them served time.

 

If one administration sets a precedent subsequent administrations will follow it.

 

Blair and Bush were never charged with anything either over Iraq and Afghanistan. They started it all off.

 

There is a good film out at present that deals with the legality of the Iraq war. Official Secrets. 2019 starring Keira Knightley.

 

If Trump sees it then he'll hopefully keep US troops in the USA.

[BobBKK]

47 minutes ago, giddyup said:

How would you know they are Isis, do they wear different clothes to the rest of the population? It has been proven that those soldiers who were convicted killed innocent civilians. I suppose the My Lai massacre only killed Viet Cong?

DYOR one was a bomb maker but i guess you have not come across many of those in your armchair. Kill as many as possible they are scum. 'Been proven'?  links, evidence and stuff like that?

[Mick501]

Cue the usual TDS brigade.

 

Training people to kill, subjecting them to the horrors of war, and then asking them to behave as saints is irrational.  Judging split second decisions with 20/20 hindsight is slippery ground.  Soldiers can not be given carte blanche, but must be judged on the lenient side when their silicon chips go haywire.  The prosecution process over many years is punishment in its own right, and on any objective view the punishment has already been sufficient.  Very likely each one was suffering PTSD at the time of their actions.

[Sujo]

8 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

DYOR one was a bomb maker but i guess you have not come across many of those in your armchair. Kill as many as possible they are scum. 'Been proven'?  links, evidence and stuff like that?

Try reading that was his own soldiers that complained about him.

 

Im not sure those soldiers were sitting in armchairs.

 

Kill as many as who? Every muslim is the enemy and must be shot eh?

[giddyup]

17 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

DYOR one was a bomb maker but i guess you have not come across many of those in your armchair. Kill as many as possible they are scum. 'Been proven'?  links, evidence and stuff like that?

 

7 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Try reading that was his own soldiers that complained about him.

 

Im not sure those soldiers were sitting in armchairs.

 

Kill as many as who? Every muslim is the enemy and must be shot eh?

 

13 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

Cue the usual TDS brigade.

 

Training people to kill, subjecting them to the horrors of war, and then asking them to behave as saints is irrational.  Judging split second decisions with 20/20 hindsight is slippery ground.  Soldiers can not be given carte blanche, but must be judged on the lenient side when their silicon chips go haywire.  The prosecution process over many years is punishment in its own right, and on any objective view the punishment has already been sufficient.  Very likely each one was suffering PTSD at the time of their actions.

That's understandable in the heat of battle, but not when you have local civilians riding a motorbike half a klik away that pose zero danger. 

[giddyup]

23 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

DYOR one was a bomb maker but i guess you have not come across many of those in your armchair. Kill as many as possible they are scum. 'Been proven'?  links, evidence and stuff like that?

Proven in a court of law, with first hand evidence given by the soldiers that were there. What more do you need? Your attitude was exactly what got him convicted.

[scorecard]

37 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

Cue the usual TDS brigade.

 

Training people to kill, subjecting them to the horrors of war, and then asking them to behave as saints is irrational.  Judging split second decisions with 20/20 hindsight is slippery ground.  Soldiers can not be given carte blanche, but must be judged on the lenient side when their silicon chips go haywire.  The prosecution process over many years is punishment in its own right, and on any objective view the punishment has already been sufficient.  Very likely each one was suffering PTSD at the time of their actions.

"Soldiers can not be given carte blanche, but must be judged on the lenient side when their silicon chips go haywire."

 

And of course you would offer the same leniency to enemy soldiers who kill yanks in battle etc.