The SEAL didnt think Gallagher was working on a severely wounded detainee, but the platoon chief was soon assisted by another SO1. And he told Warpinski he wasnt alone in the southern tower Lt. Portier, a staff sergeant from Marine Forces Special Operations Command and an SO1 from DEVGRU were with him. Eddie Gallagher [17] For the most serious charge of murder of a prisoner, according to the defense, Gallagher stabbed a corpse and embellished a story out of misplaced bravado; the prisoner had already died of his wounds. Thank you. Thats something the other medically-trained SO1 also told investigators; He returned to the area and was surprised to find the prisoner dead. Portier, he said, gathered all of the team members together and took a photograph of the team.". That's how protective some of these folks are. Hes since been advanced to chief, the same grade as Gallagher. I didn't want to spread the names and wanted to see what they thought before even hitting publish but it's out there. [9], Gallagher was involved in controversies and investigations, but received few formal reprimands. One aspect of this video that I find really interesting is that it's obviously from a larger-scale project. [54] "The guy is freaking evil," Special Operator First (SO1) Class Craig Miller said. Gallagher always maintained his innocence. In a statement Thursday, May 10, 2018, coalition spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon said that U.S.-backed Syrian forces have captured five senior Islamic State group leaders. He insisted they all made the story up because THEY were afraid of [6] The defense also called eyewitnesses, with Marine Staff Sgt. Small enough to be transported in a backpack, the quiet, hovering UAVs can unleash tiny, but potent, missiles to blow up enemies, miles away from where operators are remotely piloting the drones. But the one thing that they did have were these photographs that Gallagher sent out to people in the United States and other members of the platoon with him posing with a knife up to the dead detainee. And others have declined to participate in the ongoing NCIS probe, including a Marine staff sergeant and a pair of Navy explosive ordnance disposal technicians attached to the platoon during the 2017 deployment. Theres nothing in that video thats not already public, he told the newspaper. "[53], After the verdicts, sentence and pardon, the New York Times revisited the case and accessed, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), investigative reports and also videos of interviews in which six SEALs under the command of Gallagher had separately extensively detailed his ongoing prohibited combat zone behavior, sometimes crying as they recounted the abuse. We had given him the benefit of the doubt for a long time, but all that did was enable him. With him are Gallagher's wife, Andrea; his brother, Sean (third from left); Rep. Ralph Norman, R-N.C. (second from right); and Rep. Steven King, R-Iowa (right). They were looking at an image of what appeared to be a male detainee and Gallagher said, He was on the ground and I just started stabbing him. Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher celebrates after being acquitted of premeditated murder at Naval Base San Diego, July 2, 2019, in San Diego. Other Alpha Platoon members told investigators that Gallagher bragged about killing girls, but prosecutors conceded it wasnt clear whether those statements if they were made at all reference either or both of these incidents.. To the lieutenant, Gallagher was "putting their platoon in an extremely vulnerable position for a mission that was not even authorized, an argument that ended both his conversation with the chief and the proposed raid, according to the letter provided to Navy Times. The decorated Navy SEAL had been accused stabbing the wounded teenage captive back in 2017. Edward R. Gallagher (born May 29, 1979)[1] is a retired United States Navy SEAL who was accused of war crimes. The accusations against Eddie were numerous, with the most prominent being the alleged murder of an Iraqi prisoner of war. "Not a single one of us could have imagined that we would have to report a friend and mentor. After two weeks of testimony, Chief Edward Gallagher was found not guilty of murdering a suspected ISIS prisoner in Iraq. He referred NCIS to an SO1 who served as a sniper during the deployment. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. (third from right) speaks at a rally on Capitol Hill supporting Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher, facing war crimes charges for actions in Afghanistan. Task and Purpose has written about it. The only thing he was convicted of was posing in a photo with the dead captive's body. Well, they addressed it in the sense of, they said that this was dark humor. The SO1 told Warpinski that Chief Gallagher knew a considerable amount of Bible scripture but does not practice it, instead using religion as an excuse for his actions.. Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on June 9, 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Gallagher The fact is that we reported these crimes to Portier, who said he would handle it. They say its obstruction of justice or intimidating witnesses, but its really just telling the truth and telling the truth isnt obstructing justice, he said. To Gallaghers attorney Parlatore, the SO1s interview is the classic example of a witness whos trying to connect dots for investigators by grasping on to events and conversations that likely arent related but end up unfairly portraying the platoon chief as someone hes not. WebAnswer (1 of 13): I will admit out right that I havnt liked Eddie since he was my buddy Daves LPO. Dillon called the arrest a "significant blow to Daesh," using the Arabic acronym for the extremist group. Although they had the NCIS hotline number for days, legal files indicate that not one of the SEAL witnesses called it. The SO1 told Warpinski that at first, he thought Islamic State fighters were shooting civilians. [9][1] This resulted in him being confined in the brig for a time with heavy restrictions on his ability to communicate, although this confinement was later lessened. [55], In March 2020, David Martin of CBS News interviewed Gallagher, his wife, and his attorney on the CBS program 60 Minutes.[56]. The guy is freaking evil, Miller told the investigators. [1], The defense also claimed that the lead NCIS agent slanted witness statements and interviews to be more hostile to Gallagher than warranted in his notes. [20][21], In May 2019, defense lawyers accused the prosecution of sending both them and Navy Times reporter Carl Prine an email that included a Web beacon. Multiple witnesses are expected to testify that they were far less effective in combat because their focus shifted from fighting ISIS to protecting civilians and they lost faith in Gallagher as a platoon chief because he was firing indiscriminately at civilians," a file states. According to his first lawyer, Colby Vokey, Gallagher did not pay Vokey's specified rate, and he filed an arbitration claim against Gallagher. They trust us with the lives of their people because of the standards to which we hold each other. So there was a feeling today that maybe Gallagher would serve no jail time at all, at least wouldn't get a sentence of any jail time. They also portrayed the SEALs in Gallagher's platoon Gallagher is 40 years old now. So Gallaghers trial ultimately will ask a panel of officers and senior enlisted sailors to weigh the credibility of witnesses mostly junior SEALs testifying about what they allegedly saw or heard, and then evaluate their possible motives for expressing their recollections that way. Eddie Gallagher After President Trump brought the issue up at a meeting with Chief of Naval Operations John M. Richardson, Admiral Richardson took up the request personally. They have no body in this case, very little forensic evidence. Investigators found no bodies, so no autopsies were performed. To the SO1, it was a sign that Gallagher was putting his beliefs into action. [33], After the trial, it was considered possible that Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Corey Scott, the SEAL Medic whose surprise testimony dismantled the prosecution's case, would be prosecuted for perjury; however, Chief of Naval Operations John M. Richardson stripped Navy prosecutors of their authority to charge Scott with perjury. Gallagher's accusers painted him as a bloodthirsty warrior who was out of control in Iraq in 2017. The guy is freaking evil, Miller told the investigators. No one wins in this story. Click here. Eddie Gallagher says SEALs lied in A telling text seems to suggest that one of the SEAL witnesses at one point tried to get others in the platoon together to make sure their stories jibed with what theyd tell investigators, according to evidence files provided to Navy Times.

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