SEAL UPDATE

SEAL Trials to be Moved to Iraq
- Navy Times Tuesday Jan 12, 2010


A military judge has decided to move the trials for two of three Navy SEALs accused in connection with the alleged assault of a suspected terrorist to Iraq.

Cmdr. Tierney Carlos, the trial judge for the courts-martial of Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class (SEAL) Jonathan Elliot Keefe and SO1 (SEAL) Julio Antonio Huertas Jr., agreed Monday with defense motions to move the trials to Camp Victory in Iraq so the sailors can face the alleged victim, Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the government sought to depose in lieu of a trial appearance. Keefe’s court-martial had been scheduled to begin April 6, while Huertas’ was supposed to begin Monday.

“If he is available for a deposition, then he is available for trial,” Carlos said during the hearing for Keefe Monday.

The U.S. thinks Abed masterminded the 2004 ambush in Fallujah, Iraq, in which four Blackwater security contractors were burned. Two of their bodies were hanged from a bridge.




Burned bodies of two Blackwater contractors hanging from Fallujah Bridge, 2004


Keefe, Huertas and SO2 (SEAL) Matthew McCabe are accused of making false statements in an alleged attempt to cover up the assault, as well as dereliction of duty. McCabe is also charged with assault. All three have pleaded not guilty to all charges.


3rd SEAL Trial to Stay in Virginia
- Navy Times, Friday Jan 15, 2010

NORFOLK, Va. — The trial for the Navy SEAL accused of punching an alleged al-Qaida terrorist while in U.S. custody in Iraq has been postponed until May 3, but the trial will remain in Norfolk.

Capt. Moira Modzelewski granted government prosecutors the continuance on the grounds that most of the evidence in the case is still undergoing a classification review and has yet to be seen by either the prosecution or the defense.

Modzelewski stopped short of moving the trial of Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew McCabe to Camp Victory near Baghdad.



Matthew McCabe


That news comes two days after a different military judge decided to move the trials for the two other SEALs accused in connection with the alleged assault to Iraq.


“We can’t send these guys into harm’s way to get the highest profile terrorists and then have them come back here and fight the system,” Marty McCabe, father of Matthew McCabe, told CNSNews.com.

“They’ve been tracking this guy [Abed] since 2004,” Marty McCabe said. “There was no collateral damage. No shots fired. It is absurd to think they would do anything to him. These guys are pros. If they wanted to do something to him, they would have done it during the capture.”


“I can’t believe the way political correctness has intertwined itself like a snake into our military. What these gentlemen did, if they did it, does not warrant court martial. That terrorist is lucky to be alive after what he did to the Blackwater guys.”

- Dawn West, a Norfolk realtor and an organizer of a rally held December 9th, 2009 outside the front gate of Norfolk Naval Base.