Does Trump’s Navy SEAL pardon undermine military justice? – By Anna Mulrine Grobe (CS Monitor) / Nov 27 2019
At the heart of a presidential pardon for a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes is the question: Do many American war fighters believe that the current rules of war are unfair?
When the secretary of the Navy was forced out this week by the secretary of defense, it was just the latest and most high-profile fallout from the case of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes – but championed by the president of the United States.
But while the departure of Secretary Richard Spencer may have capped the saga of Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, it has brought the debate over Mr. Trump’s pardon of Chief Gallagher and other convicted U.S. war criminals into stark relief. Though the president undoubtedly has the power to issue pardons, military officials are now grappling with the lasting impacts those pardons could have.
Critics warn that the notion of the need to protect war fighters from sentences their commanders and comrades in arms might impose could undermine the military justice system. It raises the question, too, of whether the impulse to protect the less than 1% of Americans who have been fighting the nation’s wars for the past 17 years – sometimes in the face of fear or under the strain of multiple deployments – also means pardoning the war crimes a small minority may commit.
Mr. Trump’s decision to intervene in the Gallagher case will have consequences, says retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and now a visiting professor of strategic studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “This undermines chain of command in the military, and efforts to hold [troops] accountable – and it in effect undermines the righteousness of those young soldiers who have said, ‘My leader has done something wrong.’”
“We’re gonna protect our war fighters”
Chief Gallagher was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing to death a teenage Islamic State terrorist – who was injured and being held prisoner by U.S. forces – while deployed to Iraq in 2017. He was also charged with attempted murder for firing sniper shots at an Afghan schoolgirl, and with “wrongfully posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty” after texting a photo of himself and the ISIS teenager’s body to a friend with the caption: “I got him with my hunting knife.”
He was reported for this behavior by several members of his SEAL team platoon, whose concerns were initially sidelined by SEAL commanders. Chief Gallagher denied the charges, arguing that they were made by troops who resented his tough style.
President Donald Trump signaled earlier this year that he might preemptively pardon Chief Gallagher before his court martial hearing. He also weighed in periodically with supportive tweets and orders to move Chief Gallagher to less restrictive confinement as he awaited trial, which the Navy carried out. “He was one of the ultimate fighters – tough guy,” the president said this week. “These [insurgents] are not weak people. These are tough people. And we’re gonna protect our war fighters.” Mr. Trump added, “Somebody has their back, and it’s called the president of the U.S., OK?”
A military court of his peers ultimately found Chief Gallagher guilty in June of only one count – posing with a “human casualty.” They also bumped him down in rank, meaning he would get less retirement pay. In the aftermath of the ruling, the president restored Chief Gallagher to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, allowing him to retire with full benefits. Mr. Trump also objected to Chief Gallagher being stripped of his Trident pin, a prized symbol in the Navy SEAL community, and so he was allowed to keep it, despite initial Navy plans to convene another hearing of Chief Gallagher’s peers to decide whether it would be stripped from him or not.
Continue to article: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/1127/Does-Trump-s-Navy-SEAL-pardon-undermine-military-justice
President Donald Trump, shown here during halftime of the 119th Army-Navy game on Dec 8, 2018 in Philadelphia, said “we’re gonna protect our war fighters.” Mr. Trump added, “Somebody has their back, and it’s called the president of the U.S., OK?”
