Trump Orders Navy to Strip Medals from Prosecutors in War Crimes Trial

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Trump Orders Navy to Strip Medals from Prosecutors in War Crimes Trial

By Peter Baker
July 31, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump intervened Tuesday once again on behalf of a Navy SEAL who was charged but acquitted of war crimes in the death of a captured Islamic State fighter in Iraq, ordering the military to punish the prosecutors who tried the case in the first place.

Mr. Trump angrily lashed out at the Navy for awarding commendations to prosecutors in the murder trial of former Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, and he publicly instructed Pentagon officials to strip them of the medals. His announcement was a remarkable rebuke by a president of his own Navy leadership.

“The Prosecutors who lost the case against SEAL Eddie Gallagher (who I released from solitary confinement so he could fight his case properly), were ridiculously given a Navy Achievement Medal,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Not only did they lose the case, they had difficulty with respect to information that may have been obtained from opposing lawyers and for giving immunity in a totally incompetent fashion.”

He added: “I have directed the Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer & Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson to immediately withdraw and rescind the awards. I am very happy for Eddie Gallagher and his family!”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/us/politics/trump-navy-seal-war-crimes.html

[Loge23]

1. Wake the F up, America

This reads like a parody site report.
The military, the IC, and all decent Americans have to wake up to this horror misleading the country.
This should drive the above listed into Code Red.

[Pachamama]

2. I thought this was a parody...until I realized its not

This is really happening

OMG

[Raven123]

3. Does the Navy give out such medals so easily?

Not defending Trump, but I really don’t understand the criteria for those medals

[FredSanderson]

4. High honor and service is not just limited to fighting forces.

Any other comment on this dictatorial impulsive and childish act?

[Angleae]

6. Criteria is only a little more than "you didn't screw up today"

"You suck up well, here's a medal"
"You made me look good, here's a medal"
etc

And as memory serves, it only takes an O-5 to approve an achievement medal (maybe O-6). It doesn't go up to SECNAV or CNO.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. Trump doesn't know how the Navy works.

Technically any naval personnel aware of an unlawful incident can and sometimes must prefer charges. So, if the chargers were brought by his fellow Seals, they would have had to prosecute the case.

If the prosecutor wins or losses, he did his job. They can't pick and choose what cases they have to prosecute. The Navy Achievement award is frequently given out as an end of tour award and an award for a significant record of duty or specific accomplishments. Kind of vague but the CO Normally has full control on who gets them if the CO is an O6 or above.

So now Trump is going to micro manage courts martial and awards? What a f*cking clueless f*ck.

I'm So glad I'm not in the Navy anymore.
.

[Raven123]

8. Wish the NYT article had been so informative.

Would contrast the role they are obligated to fill versus the impulsive, immature and power-fixated Trump.

[Marcuse]

7. War crime, like the rest of the criminal law, is just something to be gotten around.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-apparently-wasnt-kidding-about-targeting-terrorists-families

In December 2015, near the height of the race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, then-candidate Trump endorsed torturing detainees -- even "if it doesn't work" in producing valuable intelligence -- simply because he saw it as a worthwhile thing to do.

He added soon after, "[T]he other thing is with the terrorists, you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. But they say they don't care about their lives. You have to take out their families."