Arizona has covered part of the Navy Seal story under Trump Tweets because of Trump's firing of Richard Spencer, the Navy Secretary, and Trump's follow-up tweets on the matter. I won't revisit that discussion. However, the New York Times has now published an article on the personal accounts of the Navy Seals who turned in Chief Eddie Gallagher for his alleged misconduct. As we know, the case became public because of Trump's intervening on behalf of Eddie Gallagher, whom he called a "war fighter". Rather than continuing to cover this story under Trump Tweets I have started a new thread.
New York Times, December 27, 2019: Anguish and Anger From the Navy SEALS Who Turned In Edward Gallagher
A few excerpts from the Seals of what they observed about Gallagher's behavior.
“The guy is freaking evil,” Special Operator Miller told investigators. “The guy was toxic,” Special Operator First Class Joshua Vriens, a sniper, said in a separate interview. “You could tell he was perfectly O.K. with killing anybody that was moving,” Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a medic in the platoon, told the investigators.
"SEALs who spoke to Navy investigators painted a picture of a platoon driven to despair by a chief who seemed to care primarily about racking up kills. They described how their chief targeted women and children and boasted that “burqas were flying.”"
In one incident, platoon members say they saw Gallagher fatally stab a wounded teenage Islamic fighter with a hunting knife. Photos of the event show "Chief Gallagher, surrounded by other SEALs, clutching the dead captive’s hair; in one photo, he holds a custom-made hunting knife...“I think Eddie was proud of it, and that was, like, part of it for him,” Special Operator Miller told investigators."
Chief Gallagher was acquitted of all but one charge in the civilian deaths because of inconsistencies in the stories by his fellow Navy Seals. The single minor charge related to the photographing of the teenage fighter that he had stabbed. However, what makes the story more disturbing is the follow-up claims of total innocence by Gallagher.
“My first reaction to seeing the videos was surprise and disgust that they would make up blatant lies about me, but I quickly realized that they were scared that the truth would come out of how cowardly they acted on deployment,” Chief Gallagher said in a statement issued through his lawyer.
“I felt sorry for them that they thought it necessary to smear my name, but they never realized what the consequences of their lies would be. As upset as I was, the videos also gave me confidence because I knew that their lies would never hold up under real questioning and the jury would see through it. Their lies and N.C.I.S.’s refusal to ask hard questions or corroborate their stories strengthened my resolve to go to trial and clear my name.”
You know the rest of the story of how Trump has made Eddie Gallagher a celebrity...a "war fighter". "Rick Haas, a retired command master chief who served in the SEALs for 30 years, said in an interview with The Times. “The teams are now divided over this, like I’ve never seen happen before.” "
And there you have it. The Divider-in-Chief has sought to use Eddie Gallagher's misconduct to his personal advantage and divide our most elite fighting force.