Exclusive: U.S. Navy secretary backs SEAL's expulsion review, despite Trump objection

[steve2470]

Source: Reuters

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (Reuters) - U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said on Friday a Navy SEAL convicted of battlefield misconduct should face a board of peers weighing whether to oust him from the elite force, despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that he not be expelled.

“I believe the process matters for good order and discipline,” Spencer told Reuters, weighing in on a confrontation between Trump and senior Navy officials over the outcome of a high-profile war-crimes case.

A military jury in July convicted Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of illegally posing for pictures with the corpse of an Islamic State fighter but acquitted him of murder in the detainee’s death. Gallagher also was cleared of charges that he deliberately fired on unarmed civilians.

Although spared a prison sentence, he was demoted in rank and pay grade for his conviction, which stemmed from a 2017 deployment in Iraq.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-seals-exclusive-idUSKBN1XW2A2

[keithbvadu2]

1. What actions are being taken about the other SEAL who admitted killing the prisoner?

What actions are being taken about the other SEAL who admitted killing the prisoner?

He cannot be prosecuted but he has admitted to a war crime.

[Rebl2]

2. I think

his superiors should make his life as miserable as possible so that he wants to leave.

[Progressive Jones]

3. I think he should become "MIA" on a mission. nt

[Marcuse]

4. Trump says he won't make troops commit war crimes 3/04/16

Donald Trump's debate promise that American troops "will do as I tell them" won't include committing war crimes, the Republican presidential frontrunner clarified Friday.



https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2016/03/04/trump-says-he-won-t-make-troops-commit-war-crimes/|

[Eugene]

5. WaPo: Navy chief says he would follow Trump's instructions on Navy SEAL

Source: Washington Post

Navy chief says he would follow Trump’s instructions on Navy SEAL

By Karen DeYoung and Dan Lamothe
11/23/2019, 7:11:00 p.m

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said Saturday that he would comply with any order by President Trump regarding the case of a Navy SEAL whose continuance in the elite unit is being reviewed by the service after a controversial murder charge.

“I work at the pleasure of the president,” Spencer said, denying reports that he has threatened to resign. “I do not interpret what the president does. I do what he says.”

But Spencer said he did not consider a presidential tweet to be an order.

His statement, made on the margins of an international security conference in this Canadian maritime city, came as Trump’s interventions this past week in three military court cases have unsettled many at the Pentagon, who voiced concerns about the president undermining the military justice system.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/navy-chief-says-he-would-follow-trumps-instructions-on-navy-seal/2019/11/23/0c18c66c-0e31-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html