US Navy SEAL cleared in Iraq abuse case
(AP) – 41 minutes ago
BAGHDAD — A U.S. military jury has cleared a Navy SEAL in an abuse case involving an Iraqi prisoner accused of masterminding an attack that left four Blackwater security contractors dead.
1st Petty Officer Julio Huertas, 28, was the first of three Navy SEALs to go on trial for the alleged assault. He was not accused of abusing the prisoner but of failing to safeguard him and attempting to influence the testimony of another service member.
The six-member Navy panel cleared Huertas of both charges on Thursday.
The Iraqi prisoner was accused of planning the 2004 killings in which the guards’ charred bodies were dragged through the streets. Two were then hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates River.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
BAGHDAD (AP) — A jury is beginning its deliberations in the court-martial of a Navy SEAL accused of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding an attack that killed four American contractors.
The six-man jury was expected to come back with a verdict later Thursday. Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas did not testify in his own defense.
The 28-year-old is the first of three SEALs to go on trial for the alleged assault. He’s not accused of abusing the prisoner but of failing to safeguard him and attempting to influence the testimony of another service member.
The Iraqi testified he was beaten and a U.S. sailor told the court he saw the prisoner punched once. But defense witnesses cast strong doubt on the testimony of both men.
Outstanding!!
It made it to trail because the sailors refused non-judical punishment and forced the command to go to trail by courts martial for this very reason.
Excellent! Maybe common sense will carry the day. Hopefully the same verdict will be forthcoming in the trials for the two remaining SEALs.
It is ridiculous that charges were brought against them in the first place. Yes, we, (as a country and a people), need to hold ourselves to a higher moral standard than the fanatical murdering cowards that we are at war with, but you can’t effectively fight a war with your hands tied behind your back. Unfortunately, the liberals believe that capitulation and accommodation are realistic strategies in the war on terror. History shows us the folly inherent in that mindset, and we continue to follow it at our peril.
Glad to see this verdict. Makes sense to me. In war you have to get rough sometimes. This chicken-shit stuff of trying guys for hurting their feelings is absurd. Do what you have to do to get the info you need. If they don’t like it then they should remember next time before they instigate a war against us.
A second US Navy Seal has been cleared of helping to cover up the alleged beating of an Iraqi suspected of killing four Blackwater guards.
A Navy judge found Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe not guilty of dereliction of duty, officials said.
Earlier this week Petty Officer Julio Huertas, 28, was also found not guilty of dereliction of duty.
A third sailor court martialled over the alleged abuse of Ahmed Hashim Abed is yet to go on trial.
Mr Abed was arrested last September and is accused of masterminding the killing of four Blackwater private security guards in Falluja in 2004.
Their bodies were dragged through the streets, burned and hung from a bridge.
PO Keefe was not charged with assaulting Mr Abed, but of failing to protect him in the hours after he was captured and brought to a US military base.
In the previous court martial, a US sailor told the court he saw Navy Seal PO Matthew McCabe punch Mr Abed.
He said PO Huertas and PO Keefe were in the room at the time of the assault.
PO Huertas and PO Keefe were tried in Iraq, as Mr Abed cannot leave the country. PO McCabe will go on trial in May.
US security firm Blackwater is at the centre of controversy surrounding the “outsourcing” of war, where private contractors take on tasks normally carried out by soldiers.
